We recently connected with Shereese Murphy and have shared our conversation below.
Shereese, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
I knew very early on that I wanted to be an actress! There is story in my family that when I was 4 years old I would walk back and forth on the couch while home alone was playing and recite it word from word (ha). My daddy had such a love for movies coming up and I just felt like whatever those people are doing and how they made me feel that I wanted to do that for other people too so yeah I knew early on that this was my path.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Sure. Well my name is Shereese Murphy and I am proudly from Kansas City Kansas which I affectionately call “The Dotte”. I got into acting first through my high school “Wyandotte” I was in performing arts and ran into this crazy white lady Sarah Lamar ( I love her) who further fueled my love for musical theatre and the art of acting, her passion for the arts you couldn’t help but match that energy however I never performed at school because my grades were terrible 😂. The end of senior year a friend of mine at the time brought me on for my first film called “Models” and from there it was no turning back, I was really bitten by the bug. I was such a awkward and scared girl at the time of my life and fear had gripped me that I didn’t know my worth in life and as a creative, I so desperately wanted to be famous and out of kc but never really did anything to move it forward until 2017 when I performed at Just off broadway theater in a powerful play “A Cry For Help” written by LaShenna Flowers, it was first lead role, I got to show off my dramatic chops and sing which I love to do. If it had been any time for 2017 I would have been no good as far as going out to LA to pursue this dream, I would’ve messed it up for sure. In this current moment and space that I’m occupying I am most proud of my fearlessness, I don’t judge myself or the characters, I just do! If I want to be serious and confront my husband with a bat on stage I will, if I want to be wild and crazy and roll across the stage I will just ask Katherene Garry 😂 she has taught me so much about comedy and allows me so much freedom that she trust that if I throw my wig off that somehow within the hysterical laughs of an audience that I can reel it back in.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
I feel like we as entertainers don’t really get as much respect as we should get which is sad because we’ve seen proof from the writers strike and from the sag/aftra strike that if we go away there would be little left. Outside of seeing certain professions in person actors and writers spark the initial thought… for example if I didn’t watch A Different World which was based on a hbcu (Historically Black College University) I wouldn’t have known such institutes existed, If I didn’t see What’s love Got to Do With It and fell in love with Angela Bassett work I wouldn’t have know that the possibility of being an black actress existed. I feel like for society and how they can support is by going and supporting your local theaters such a Bird Comedy Theater in your area, some shows are free but spend a little money as part of a donation, go over to that booth where they are vending, join that group to bring more awareness to the film industry. As artist we fo a lot and pour a lot of ourselves into this work to keep people entertained but it takes a village an if you are doing the thing as mentioned above then I think we moving in the right direction creating a healthy thriving ecosystem.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
My ultimate goal is for me to get that EGOT which might sound outlandish or far out there for some but it’s something that I believe is in arms reach. If you don’t know an EGOT is the Emmy’s, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. Only a few black actors/actresses have them and I want to be next in line. As of right now though the goal is to continue to push myself, I would love to push out a show or two between this year as well as the next year with me as a writer.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Shereese Murphy
- Facebook: Shereese Murphy