Our friends at JETmag.com caught up with veteran actress Lynn Whitfield to chat about her latest movie,King’s Faith.
It’s a faith-based film that centers around an African-American family that takes in a troubled Caucasian guy. Here, Whitfield explains what attracted her to the project, and why it’s the type of film that can empower everyone.
What’s the premise behind King’s Faith and what attracted you to the project?
I thought it was an inspiring story. This time it’s sort of a role reversal. A young Caucasian guy, who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, who comes out of a youth detention or whatever that would be for that age group, and is a foster kid aging out of the system. Then an African American family, who has just lost their son, being in grieving, takes in this young man. I thought it was interesting. The woman I play, Vanessa Stubbs, who plays the wife of the family who takes in the young man, is grieving the loss of her son still. Grieving is like a thing unto itself. She was questioning God’s choices for her life and not really the willing person who wanted to take in this White kid. I just thought that her emotional life was really interesting. Being a mother, I thought it was a real interesting look at some of the choices and consequences of choices that youth have right now. For me it was an interesting character to play.
You do a lot of philanthropic work in real life. Were the issues concerning foster care always on your radar, or did this movie allow you the opportunity to learn more about the system?
It actually did afford me the opportunity to learn a little bit more about the foster care system because you hear so much about the bad parts about the foster system and how kids are mistreated. It allowed me to take a look at the wonderful part of the foster care system and how you can take a kid at any age, before adulthood, and deposit things in their lives to help them to be more successful human beings. I hadn’t really thought about that. So it allowed me to get a great appreciation for people who have the generosity and courage of spirit and heart to actually do this kind of work. There are so many African children as well who are undesirable and are getting older, and nobody wants an older child. To put myself in their shoes and see how frightening and sad that could be for some children—it gives me the opportunity to encourage people to take a look at older kids sometimes and see what you can do; if you can find it in your heart to take them in and give them a shot at life.
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article courtesy of Joy105.com
