Los Angeles-based actress Bev Flowers has a role in the upcoming series “Playing Dirty”. It’s the role of a lifetime, and the series itself is based on a bestselling series by author Kiki Swinson. Barely Twenty-One, Bev caught the attention of director Wes Clark and the rest is history-in-the-making.
Kreyolicious: How did your interest in acting come about?
As a little girl in Haiti, I always wanted to be a dancer. My mother had me in dance classes and so I fell in love with my first artistic expression at that time. My interest in acting started when I was a little girl living in Miami with my guardians. I was in this acting class in middle school, and I had a wonderful teacher and we did the play “Annie”. I enjoyed being a part of the show and that is when I fell in love with acting. Around that same time, I started teaching myself how to model by putting books on my head and walking over and over again. I am just absolutely in love with art in every way. I enjoy expressing myself whether it’s by acting, modeling or dancing. It runs through my veins.
Kreyolicious: Growing up, what was your biggest fear?
My biggest fear growing up was that I would never be reunited with my mother ever again. When I was little, my mom decided she could not take care of me anymore in Haiti. A friend of my mom told her she has a cousin who is childless in Miami who would not mind taking me in. Therefore, my mom made the sacrifice of sending me, her only daughter, to a complete stranger at the time in hopes of a better life than the one she could provide me. At my young age, I understood why she had to do that, but I always feared I wouldn’t see her again. She had promised me she would come join me, but every time she tried getting a visa, she got denied. I ended up spending twelve years without seeing my mom, and we are still not leaving together now. As I got closer to Twenty-One, the fear went away knowing I could file for her, but now she is terminally ill, and so, the fear of not reuniting with my mom and giving her all I ever dreamed of is back and it is very painful.
I’m so sorry about your mom. [pause] You share a quote on your social media recently where you encouraged your fans and followers to have “queen ambition”. And speaking of royal ambition, Queen Elizabeth II once said, “It’s all to do with the training: you can do a lot if you’re properly trained.” Was there ever a seemingly impossible thing that you achieved? How did you do it?
During my second year of college, I was 19 years old at the time. I got pregnant and automatically I went into panic. I felt like I was going to be a failure in life because society made me believe that if I had a child young, I could not amount to anything. However, with the support of my sons dad and his family, I ended up snapping out of that mentality. I was told I would not be able to graduate in four years like I intended because now I was pregnant. I was told I needed to stay home and care for the baby. I do not take no for an answer, so I had my son August 26th Via C-section and I went back to school full-time, taking seven classes, just two weeks after giving birth. I actually learned how to walk again on my way to classes. I did that for the last two years in college, while working 60 hours a week, and taking care of my son. I worked 10hrs a night and went to class during the day. I just graduated in May on time with surprisingly marvelous grades. Now, I have a Bachelor’s in Psychology with a minor in theater, and my son is two. My point for that long story is that nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it. I really stand by the Queen ambition quote, which relates to what Queen Elizabeth II stated, once you have the ambition, you will train yourself to be discipline enough to get what you want.
Kreyolicious: You have a starring role in the upcoming TV series “Playing Dirty”, based on acclaimed author Kiki Swinson’s novels. What was the process like from audition to selection?
Yes, I have been blessed enough to be cast as Jeunesse Chisolm in Kiki’s Playing Dirty series, which is based on her bestselling novels by the same name. My character is the daughter of a Haitian drug lord, Sheldon Chisolm, played by Haitian actor and model Wilnor Tereau and together we run a powerful drug empire. Funny story, inittially I was just the assistant to the director of the show, Wes Clark. I was during more behind the scenes stuff. During the audition process, I was the one reading the script with every actor that came to audition for parts. However, Wes Clark, saw something in me and decided to create a character for me and that is how I ended up in the show. At the moment, I am the only character that is not in the book. The character Jeunesse was created specifically for me. I am so thankful and bless. I am so happy to be working with such an amazing group of people who have become like family to me.
[Bev Flowers photos: MFI Photography]
CLICK HERE to keep up with actress Bev Flowers on Instagram.
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