#CaribbeanActors: Lorraine Toussaint

Big up Lorraine Toussaint anyweh she deh!

We're highlighting the work of Caribbean-born, Diaspora, and 2nd generation Caribbean screen actors in the #CaribbeanActors series.

On the heels of the annual descent into Trinidad for carnival, love for the red and black does not stop! Trinidadian actor Winston Duke (‘Black Panther’) is set to be honored at the Sun Valley Film Festival; and some exciting casting news for veteran actor Lorraine Toussaint.

On Feb 28 Variety reported that Lorraine Toussaint has joined the cast of the CBS’ reboot ‘The Equalizer’. In the pilot, she’ll star as Frieda “Aunty Fry” Lascombe alongside Queen Latifah who leads the series as Robyn McCall, “an enigmatic figure who uses her extensive skills to help those with nowhere else to turn”.

Toussaint is well known for many roles over her long career depending on what your consumption preferences are - we loved her ‘OITNB’ and ‘Roseweood’, and celebrate her presence in Storm Saulter’s feature ‘Sprinter’.

In the clip below, she talks about how the way she was packaged by the matriarchs in her family allowed her to position herself to get ‘upscale roles’ early in her career. A lesson for actors, read: brand yourself for the roles you want. Watch the interview on the Build Series:

In her interview with Talk Soop, Toussaint talks more about her early life in Trinidad and describes how ‘The Village’ mirrors our yearning for community in a society riddled with fear and otherness.