We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Toni Dewese. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Toni below.

Alright, Toni thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Actually 3 stand out:

1. Playing Mamie Till , mother of slain teen Emmett Till

2. Portraying a redeemed crack addict prostitution

3. Being a part of the WHOSE IN THE BOX campaign to stop gun violence and death amongst teens

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am an actor who believes that every role/character that I portray has the potential to reach someone in the audience in a positive manner. That’s my aim every time I step on stage or go in front of a camera. I give 100 percent of myself to the project and I give God the glory for giving me the talent and skills tat I utilize.
As an older, African American female, I’ve found that a lot of producers and directors are looking for younger talent, or different races, but I don’t let that limit me personally.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

My story of resilience lies in the fact that about 7 years ago, I was suddenly stricken with SEVERE Bell’s palsy. This is a condition that causes dramatic facial paralysis. In most cases, ithe patient fully recovers with no lasting signs, but I was unfortunate that was not the case for me. I woke up one morning to get ready fior work, and in the middle of getting dressed, noticed a very radical droop on one side of my face, and basically, I haven’t recognized ‘Myself” in over 7 years. My pictures at first had a tendency to make me appear extremely deformed, and this caused a huge depression at first because I had to learn to be back in front of people wiithout being ashamed of my looks. But my journey as an artist has certainly helped me overcome that, and has provided me a platform of healing and extreme confidence building. I know now that’s it’s not the outside of me that determines the inside core of what I have to offer.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My goal is to bring more awareness to the acting community for African Americans In a lot of our communities , theater is not a priority. Many yoing, and even some older people have never seen a stage play. I want to be a voice to not only let them know about the productions, but also to introduce new talent and create and interest and awareness of what’s available for them that have a desire to pursue this path.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Toni Dewese
• Facebook: Toni Dewese

Image Credits

Toni Dewese