Affectionately known as “The Ice Queen” for her villainous antics on Tyler Perry’s “The Haves and the Have Nots”, actress Angela Robinson proves to be quite the angel in real life. Since most of us have a hard time separating Robinson from her infamous role on television, we decided to engage the long time actress in a real discussion about her role on the show, her thoughts on social trends in Hollywood and her life off the big screen.
Los Angeles Sentinel: You have so many fans that have grown to love you as the villainous queen on “The Haves and the Have Nots”. What can we expect from your character Veronica Harrington this season?
Angela Robinson: Well, definitely more intrigue, more of the things you’ve grown to love about Veronica, if she gets out of this car, we don’t know. I’m hoping you get to see some other sides of her too; you just have to tune in and watch.
LAS: How has this role changed your personal life?
AR: It’s changed my personal life because people recognize me, which is still kind of odd and strange to me. Even with no makeup and a baseball cap people walk up to me and they go Veronica, and I feel like I need to reach for the lipstick. It’s also given me a platform to do and talk about other things that matter to me, and so for that I’m appreciative. I’ve been acting a long time and I had dreams of being an actor even longer, so being able to do what I love is such a blessing. It’s helps me want to inspire other people to do the same.
LAS: Do you find TV more gratifying that theatre, or do you love them both equally?
AR: I love them both the same, but in terms of gratification, theatre. I love them both the same for different reasons, but there’s nothing more gratifying than having an audience right there with you and you getting that immediate response to how they feel about the work you’re doing.
This format, especially with the social media edition to what we’re doing with the live tweeting, you still kind of get that feel of what people think, but they’re still talking about work you did five or six months prior. But the theatre, it’s right there, it’s immediate and nothing beats that.
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LAS: Hollywood has unofficially dubbed 2018 as “The Year of the Woman.” What would you say about this declaration and staking woke in Hollywood?
AR: “I’m glad everybody’s gotten on board with “The Year of the Woman” but every year of my life has been the year of the woman to me. I just really feel that we get on so many bandwagons. All of a sudden, now it’s the year of Black people on TV. I just don’t want to be on a bandwagon anymore.
I just want it to always be the year of human dignity and raising people up no matter their gender or race or sexual orientation. I want that to be the thing that we just decide to do and not just have this sort of faddy, trendy thing. I think that’s great, I just want it to last.
I always give the example of the Black supermodels in the 80s. It was like so exciting, and today you look at the catwalk and you go, what happened? We don’t want to be a fad, let’s just try to strive to do right by people.
LAS: How do you spend your time when you’re not working?
AR: I love spending time with my family. I have probably the most amazing husband that ever lived. So, spending time with him is great and my family and my church. I also run a business called The WhiteRobin Group, and we are a consulting firm for our artists, seasoned and new. We teach actors and motivate artists. I write an inspiration blog for artists. I do a lot of motivational speaking, so I’m on the road a lot. I’m a spokesperson for the United Negro College Fund, so I stay busy.
LAS: What business advice can you offer to women and young girls looking to pursue their gifts and talents full time?
AR: Whatever it is that you’re doing, whether it’s acting or painting or dancing, whatever your craft, there has to be a service component. When you decide to do what you’re doing, figure out how I can I serve through this? I think we make the biggest difference and the biggest impact in the world through our gifts.
Many times that service can be monetized as well, so then it becomes a business. We tend not use our gifts to make a living, we tend to think the gift is meant to be the thing that we do on the side and that’s really not true. It is supposed to be the thing that feeds you; it’s supposed to be the thing that makes room for you. It lives in your belly until it comes out, so you may as well not take it to the grave.
And just as Robinson continues to live out her gifts on and off the big screen, she’s inspiring all of us to do the same. Be sure to catch Robinson on the latest season of “The Haves and the Have Nots” on OWN.
