# Born in a small Georgia town, Actress Ellia English, did not limit her dreams, starring as Aunt Helen on The Jamie Foxx Show, regular on HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm."

An episode of [Money Making Conversations Master Class](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1264705641), 14 Jun 2024, 30 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/b1db7263-d1a3-4d00-8976-af62012aab44/e9b5f32b-9bea-4036-906d-b10600f52da4/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=35a10561-3e1b-4d05-a529-af62012aab6a

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald, interview Georgia native Ellia English. known for memorable roles on The Jamie Foxx Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Good Luck Charlie, Arli$, and numerous theater productions. The conversation explores her journey from a small town in Georgia to Broadway, television success, improvisational acting, caregiving, faith, and her upcoming YouTube comedy series My Sisters and Me. About Ellia English Ellia English is a: • Television actress • Broadway performer • Singer • Writer • Producer • Georgia native Her notable credits include: • Auntie Ray on Curb Your Enthusiasm • Helen King on The Jamie Foxx Show • Mary Lou Wentz on Good Luck Charlie • Miss Hattie on Arli$ • Broadway productions including Ain't Misbehavin' Throughout her career, she has balanced acting, music, theater, and storytelling. Key Themes of the Interview 1. Small-Town Roots, Big Dreams Ellia grew up in: Covington, Georgia She eventually moved to New York City to pursue professional theater. Like many aspiring performers, she experienced fear and uncertainty when leaving home. She recalled arriving in New York and finding herself unexpectedly alone in a part of Manhattan she was completely unprepared for. Despite the challenges, she relied on: • Faith • Determination • Preparation • Support from mentors and industry contacts Lesson Success often requires leaving familiar environments and embracing discomfort. 2. Faith Guided Her Journey One of the strongest themes throughout the interview was faith. Ellia shared how growing up in church helped prepare her mentally and spiritually for life's challenges. When she arrived in New York feeling overwhelmed, she reminded herself: "I don't believe God brought me this far to leave me." Faith became an anchor during moments of uncertainty. Lesson Confidence often comes from trusting something greater than yourself. 3. Becoming a "Triple Threat" While pursuing theater in New York, Ellia learned that success required multiple skills. Broadway performers were expected to: • Act • Sing • Dance This pushed her to expand beyond acting alone. Her Broadway experience included starring in: Ain't Misbehavin' The award-winning musical celebrating the music of Fats Waller. Lesson The more skills you develop, the more opportunities become available. 4. Information Creates Opportunity When discussing advice for young people relocating to major cities, Ellia stressed the importance of preparation. Unlike when she started, today people have access to: • Google • Online research • Social networks • Maps • Industry resources Her advice: Be informed before making major life decisions. Lesson Preparation reduces fear and increases confidence. Landing The Jamie Foxx Show One of the highlights of the interview was hearing how Ellia landed the role of: Helen King on The Jamie Foxx Show. She explained that the casting process involved: • Large open auditions • Multiple callbacks • Competitive rounds At the final callback, she had the opportunity to improvise with Jamie Foxx. Their chemistry immediately stood out. Rather than strictly following the script, they played off each other's energy. That improvisation ultimately helped her secure the role. Lesson Sometimes success comes from showing your authentic personality rather than simply following instructions. The Importance of Improvisation Ellia discussed…

## Transcript

[0:05] Speaker 1: Welcome to Money Making Conversations.
[0:06] Speaker 2: It's the show that shares the secrets of success experienced
[0:08] Speaker 2: firsthand by marketing and branding expert Rashawn McDonald. I will know.
[0:12] Speaker 2: He's given me advice on many occasions. And in case
[0:14] Speaker 2: you didn't notice, I'm not broke. You know, he'll be
[0:17] Speaker 2: interviewing celebrity CEOs, entrepreneurs and industry decision makers. It's what
[0:21] Speaker 2: he likes to do. It's what he likes to share.
[0:24] Speaker 2: Now it's time to hear from my man, Rashawn McDonald.
[0:27] Speaker 2: Money Making Conversations.
[0:29] Speaker 1: Here we go.
[0:32] Speaker 3: I am Rushawn McDonald, and I host the weekly Money-Making
[0:34] Speaker 3: Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this show
[0:38] Speaker 3: provides are for everyone. It's time to stop reading other
[0:42] Speaker 3: people's success stories and start living your own. My next
[0:45] Speaker 3: guest is Georgia native Elia English. She has an indelible
[0:49] Speaker 3: career in television, theater, film, and the jazz clubs. And
[0:53] Speaker 3: from her memorial television roles as Auntie Ray on HBO's
[0:57] Speaker 3: Curvy Enthusiasm, love her. Anne Helen on Jamie Foxx Show.
[1:01] Speaker 4: That's where I met her.
[1:02] Speaker 3: Mary Lou Wentz on Disney's Good Luck Charlie. And as
[1:06] Speaker 3: Henny on Lifetime movie of the week, Petals on the Wind.
[1:10] Speaker 3: She was on the show to talk about her career,
[1:12] Speaker 3: upcoming YouTube show, and the final season of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
[1:16] Speaker 3: Please welcome to Money Making Conversation Masterclass show, Elia English.
[1:21] Speaker 4: How you doing, my friend?
[1:22] Speaker 1: I'm doing wonderful. Thank you for asking. How are you,
[1:25] Speaker 1: my Richelle?
[1:26] Speaker 4: I got my legs crossed. I'm ready to talk. I'm
[1:28] Speaker 4: ready to talk.
[1:29] Speaker 1: I'm ready.
[1:30] Speaker 4: I'm ready.
[1:31] Speaker 1: It is a pleasure.
[1:32] Speaker 4: Well, thank you.
[1:33] Speaker 3: It's really exciting to have you on the air because,
[1:35] Speaker 3: you know, you and I met way back in, I
[1:38] Speaker 3: want to say about 98, when I was co-executive using
[1:40] Speaker 3: the Jamie Foxx show, watching his career and watching your
[1:43] Speaker 3: career grow and blossom and grow to diversity. You know,
[1:47] Speaker 3: when I say diversity, it's I just knew you as
[1:49] Speaker 3: an actress. Now, I didn't know you could sing. You've
[1:53] Speaker 3: become an author. Talk about diversifying yourself along the way,
[1:58] Speaker 3: along that path, this journey of having a career.
[2:02] Speaker 5: OK, well, for me, Rashawn, I know that when I
[2:06] Speaker 5: first moved away from home, from Georgia, a little small
[2:09] Speaker 5: town outside of Atlanta called Covington. And I moved to
[2:12] Speaker 5: New York. I went there to begin my career in theater.
[2:16] Speaker 5: And so I started out in theater. And one of
[2:18] Speaker 5: the things that I learned during theater, you had to
[2:21] Speaker 5: be what was called at that time a triple threat.
[2:25] Speaker 5: You had to be able to act, you had to
[2:27] Speaker 5: be able to sing, and you had to be able
[2:29] Speaker 5: to dance if you wanted to work on Broadway. And
[2:33] Speaker 5: so I had to immediately, thank goodness I had already
[2:36] Speaker 5: started theater, Before I left Atlanta, I did two projects.
[2:40] Speaker 5: One was called, I feel my goodness, it was Manhattan
[2:43] Speaker 5: Yellow Pages. And the other one was called Blackbirds of 1978.
[2:47] Speaker 5: I was still in school then. when I did those
[2:51] Speaker 5: projects in Atlanta, but they helped me to launch, I guess,
[2:55] Speaker 5: what I realized at that time was going to be
[2:57] Speaker 5: my acting career. And then I went to New York,
[3:01] Speaker 5: ended up being on Broadway doing Ain't Misbehavin', the Fats
[3:04] Speaker 5: Waller musical, which was awesome.
[3:07] Speaker 1: Yeah. And then from there, go ahead.
[3:09] Speaker 3: Let's slow down a little bit because small town.
[3:12] Speaker 4: Yes. And I come from Houston, Texas. I love it.
[3:16] Speaker 1: I know Houston.
[3:17] Speaker 3: I started as a stand-up comedian and- But I wasn't
[3:21] Speaker 3: in New York and I wasn't in L.A. You know,
[3:23] Speaker 3: those two markets people say you got to go to.
[3:26] Speaker 3: So what was the mentality? Was there any fear translating
[3:31] Speaker 3: from a small market, small town personality to a big
[3:35] Speaker 3: place like New York?
[3:37] Speaker 5: Ooh, that's a great question, Rashawn. And I'll never forget
[3:41] Speaker 5: that day when I arrived, you making me go back
[3:45] Speaker 5: and relive some moments. But the blessing for me, thank
[3:49] Speaker 5: God for my parents. My dad, at that time when
[3:52] Speaker 5: I was moving away, my dad actually had become a pastor,
[3:56] Speaker 5: a minister of a church, but I grew up in
[3:59] Speaker 5: the church. And so faith was one of the things
[4:02] Speaker 5: that I did learn growing up and I had to
[4:04] Speaker 5: hold on to it.
[4:05] Speaker 1: But yes, There was great fear.
[4:07] Speaker 5: And when I was traveling to New York from Georgia,
[4:12] Speaker 5: a situation happened where the producer that I'd done the
[4:16] Speaker 5: Manhattan Yellow Pages with and the Blackbirds of 1978, he
[4:22] Speaker 5: was supposed to be bringing me my final check because
[4:25] Speaker 5: I was getting ready to travel.
[4:26] Speaker 1: And he was late and he caused me to miss
[4:28] Speaker 1: my flight.
[4:29] Speaker 5: Which caused me to miss the person who was going
[4:31] Speaker 5: to be picking me up when I got to New York.
[4:33] Speaker 5: And so when I arrived in New York, he couldn't
[4:36] Speaker 5: get back to the airport in time to get me.
[4:38] Speaker 1: So he was like, I want you to go out
[4:39] Speaker 1: and you're going to take this bus.
[4:40] Speaker 5: And this bus landed me on a street that I
[4:44] Speaker 5: was so not prepared for. Trust me, I was green
[4:47] Speaker 5: beyond green. I mean, I was so naive, young at
[4:51] Speaker 5: the time.
[4:52] Speaker 1: I was on 42nd Street.
[4:55] Speaker 5: But all I kept singing to myself was, And saying
[4:58] Speaker 5: to myself, first of all, was I don't believe you
[5:01] Speaker 5: brought me this far to leave me.
[5:03] Speaker 1: And there was a song that I learned that I
[5:04] Speaker 1: used to sing in the church choir when I was little.
[5:07] Speaker 1: And it goes, I don't feel no ways tired.
[5:11] Speaker 5: I've come too far from where I started from.
[5:16] Speaker 1: Nobody told me the road would be easy and I
[5:23] Speaker 1: don't believe you brought me this far to leave me.
[5:29] Speaker 1: That was my mom.
[5:31] Speaker 4: I'm going to tell you something.
[5:33] Speaker 3: 42nd Street, for people who go there now, the 42nd Street,
[5:36] Speaker 3: because I saw 42nd Street in 88. So I know exactly.
[5:40] Speaker 3: I mean, the cops seen it. They had bigger guns
[5:43] Speaker 3: than I've ever seen. You couldn't walk two feet without being-
[5:48] Speaker 3: a lady of the night or the man of the
[5:50] Speaker 3: night approaching you. You could walk two feet without somebody
[5:53] Speaker 3: wanting to sell you drugs.
[5:56] Speaker 4: See, and I was from Houston, Texas. I was stunned.
[5:59] Speaker 4: So I know from covering in Georgia, you were really
[6:01] Speaker 4: taken back.
[6:02] Speaker 1: Taken back. I'd never seen anything like it.
[6:05] Speaker 5: And even though I'd lived in Atlanta for a while
[6:07] Speaker 5: before I moved away, I never got in those communities.
[6:11] Speaker 1: I never saw anything like it. It was so crazy.
[6:14] Speaker 5: And I was blessed because Right after I got off
[6:17] Speaker 5: the bus and I looked around and saw where I was,
[6:20] Speaker 5: a taxi driver.
[6:21] Speaker 1: Pulled up.
[6:22] Speaker 5: And when he pulled up, he pulled up in front
[6:23] Speaker 5: of me and his tires screeched. And he was like, hello,
[6:28] Speaker 5: you're not from here, are you? And I went, no,
[6:30] Speaker 5: I'm not. He was like, where are you going? And
[6:32] Speaker 5: I told him where I was going. I didn't realize
[6:33] Speaker 5: it was really right around the corner. And he said
[6:36] Speaker 5: to me, get in this taxi and get in here now.
[6:38] Speaker 5: And I jumped in the taxi and he just drove
[6:41] Speaker 5: me around the corner and got me to the apartment
[6:44] Speaker 5: complex that I needed to be in. I said, that's
[6:46] Speaker 5: when I went, okay, angels, thank you. My angels were
[6:49] Speaker 5: truly watching over me that day.
[6:51] Speaker 3: Well, you know, I can remember that, you know, my
[6:54] Speaker 3: New York experience was very similar to yours.
[6:56] Speaker 4: Because it's so many people. It's moving so fast.
[7:01] Speaker 3: When people are watching this show or listening to this show,
[7:04] Speaker 3: any advice that you can give them about, you know,
[7:07] Speaker 3: an opportunity you went for, but you need to be
[7:12] Speaker 3: a little cautious, better planner for that situation that you
[7:16] Speaker 3: walked in, like I walked in, you know, because every
[7:19] Speaker 3: plan doesn't go correct.
[7:21] Speaker 4: What would you suggest?
[7:22] Speaker 5: I would truly in this day and age, I would
[7:26] Speaker 5: tell young people get informed. We have access now to
[7:31] Speaker 5: information that you and I didn't have at the time.
[7:34] Speaker 5: I mean, when I had to go look something up,
[7:36] Speaker 5: we still had to go to the library to get
[7:38] Speaker 5: this information. But we have information at our fingertips now
[7:42] Speaker 5: with the Internet, you know, where you can. And then
[7:44] Speaker 5: we've got our Google. We can go in and Google anything.
[7:47] Speaker 5: Be informed. make sure you learn, make sure you, and
[7:51] Speaker 5: the good part was I did have contacts when I
[7:54] Speaker 5: came out. So I wasn't coming out just on my
[7:57] Speaker 5: own and being alone. I actually had some actors that
[8:00] Speaker 5: I had worked with who had come to Georgia And
[8:03] Speaker 5: that show that I did called the Manhattan Yellow Pages.
[8:06] Speaker 1: And they were there as well.
[8:07] Speaker 5: So they were there to help me, to guide me,
[8:10] Speaker 5: to tell me, you know, what I needed to do,
[8:12] Speaker 5: how to get to the auditions, how to ride the trains.
[8:15] Speaker 5: So you do you need like, I guess, not necessarily
[8:18] Speaker 5: a village, but you do need like your core, a
[8:21] Speaker 5: core group of people that you can trust. When you're
[8:24] Speaker 5: there and that who's lived in the community and they
[8:27] Speaker 5: know it and they can definitely steer you the right
[8:30] Speaker 5: way and in the right course. So I would advise
[8:33] Speaker 5: people to make sure you stay informed.
[8:36] Speaker 1: Right.
[8:36] Speaker 4: I'm speaking earlier English. on Helen on the Jamie Foxx show.
[8:40] Speaker 4: I'm going to leave with that.
[8:41] Speaker 3: We're going to get to Curry on Tuesday, but I'm
[8:43] Speaker 3: going to go back to when I first met her.
[8:45] Speaker 4: You know, this beautiful personality. It was 1998.
[8:48] Speaker 3: I was co-executive producer of the Jamie Foxx show. Jamie's
[8:51] Speaker 3: on fire. He just finished Any Given Sunday. The show
[8:55] Speaker 3: was like one giant party. It was an amazing time
[8:59] Speaker 3: because black television was taking off. You know, you had
[9:02] Speaker 3: the WB, you had the CW, and the UPN, and
[9:05] Speaker 3: all these things that were carrying black programming.
[9:08] Speaker 4: How did you get cast on the Jamie Foxx show?
[9:10] Speaker 1: Oh, that's a great question. We had a mate.
[9:13] Speaker 5: First, we started out with this open call and it
[9:15] Speaker 5: was every black woman that was in California was definitely
[9:22] Speaker 5: at the audition and they were auditioning for all the roles,
[9:25] Speaker 5: you know. And when they started to do the, you know,
[9:28] Speaker 5: the weeding them down and bringing the callbacks, I'll never
[9:32] Speaker 5: forget my final callback. And actually, Rashawn, I don't know
[9:36] Speaker 5: if you know this. I was actually the youngest of
[9:39] Speaker 5: all the women that were auditioning. They were much older
[9:42] Speaker 5: and they so they all they all knew they had
[9:44] Speaker 5: the role because they were like, ah, she's too young.
[9:46] Speaker 1: She can't do it anyway. Right. but I'll never forget
[9:49] Speaker 1: when I got an opportunity on that last callback, Jamie
[9:53] Speaker 1: was there and I got the opportunity. He, you know,
[9:57] Speaker 1: Jamie took me off script.
[9:59] Speaker 5: First we had, you know, we had a script that
[10:00] Speaker 5: we had to learn, but Jamie took me off script
[10:03] Speaker 5: and it was so wonderful. It was like going on
[10:06] Speaker 5: this little roller coaster ride with him.
[10:09] Speaker 1: And wherever he went, I was right there. And wherever
[10:11] Speaker 1: I went, he was right there. And we had such
[10:14] Speaker 1: a great chemistry in that audition. It was just an audition.
[10:18] Speaker 1: It wasn't the show.
[10:19] Speaker 5: And I believe that was where the blessing came in
[10:22] Speaker 5: me being able to be the one. And I am
[10:24] Speaker 5: so grateful. I can never thank them enough. I can't
[10:28] Speaker 5: thank them enough.
[10:29] Speaker 6: Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
[10:33] Speaker 6: Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
[10:37] Speaker 6: Conversations Masterclass hosted by Rashawn McDonald.
[10:41] Speaker 3: Now let's get back to why she came on this show.
[10:44] Speaker 3: My show, Money Making Conversations, Elliot English. You know, she
[10:48] Speaker 3: really came on it for one reason only. Curb your enthusiasm.
[10:53] Speaker 4: Yes.
[10:54] Speaker 1: Yes, yes, yes.
[10:55] Speaker 3: Created by Larry David, who also created the Seinfeld show,
[10:58] Speaker 3: which was a tremendous hit on NBC. How did you
[11:01] Speaker 3: get cast in the role of Auntie Ray? Is Auntie
[11:05] Speaker 3: Ray correct?
[11:06] Speaker 1: Auntie Ray, that's correct. Oh my goodness. Thank you. That's
[11:08] Speaker 1: another great question.
[11:10] Speaker 5: The audition that I had for that show was.
[11:14] Speaker 1: I mean, really amazing.
[11:17] Speaker 5: I had an opportunity in that particular audition where I
[11:20] Speaker 5: had to attack Larry David. And so this is my
[11:25] Speaker 5: first time meeting him. I mean, this is the legendary
[11:29] Speaker 5: Larry David. Like you said, he's done Seinfeld. I mean,
[11:32] Speaker 5: he's he is amazing. And so I had to and
[11:36] Speaker 5: he was and he was saying to me, don't feel bad.
[11:38] Speaker 5: Don't just don't hold back. Just go ahead and do it.
[11:41] Speaker 5: And I truly did. I can't remember what our dialogue was,
[11:44] Speaker 5: but I know it was a scene about. him doing
[11:47] Speaker 5: something that I had to stop him from doing. And
[11:50] Speaker 5: I truly did. When it came time for me to
[11:52] Speaker 5: have to come and take him down, I took him
[11:55] Speaker 5: down and everybody in the room lost it.
[11:59] Speaker 1: They laughed so hard. And then after we were done,
[12:02] Speaker 1: I was like, are you okay? Are you okay? He
[12:04] Speaker 1: was like, I'm fine. I'm fine. He says, I'm glad
[12:06] Speaker 1: you went for it. And that I believe might be
[12:10] Speaker 1: exactly why I was blessed To be Auntie Ray.
[12:13] Speaker 3: Let's work down the show because I know Kim Whitley,
[12:15] Speaker 3: a good friend of mine, has done the show and
[12:18] Speaker 3: I've had on the show talking about the structure. Before
[12:21] Speaker 3: we get into other characters, J.B. Smoot character and Vivica
[12:24] Speaker 3: Fox character, we're memorable characters on this series as is
[12:27] Speaker 3: your character. How does it work? Because they say it's improvisational.
[12:33] Speaker 3: How do you get a script at all to do
[12:36] Speaker 3: the show, Curb Your Enthusiasm?
[12:37] Speaker 5: No, we do not get a script. They tell us
[12:42] Speaker 5: what they want the scene to be about. So we
[12:44] Speaker 5: at least have an idea of what we're going to
[12:46] Speaker 5: be doing and what the scene is going to be about.
[12:48] Speaker 5: But once we start the scene, once they say action,
[12:51] Speaker 5: it's dialogue that is.
[12:53] Speaker 1: Coming raw from us.
[12:55] Speaker 5: However, what I love about that is my training ground
[12:59] Speaker 5: for improvisation was in theater. And I'll never forget, I
[13:03] Speaker 5: think I was, was I still 19 or maybe I
[13:05] Speaker 5: had finally turned 20, but I got to work with
[13:08] Speaker 5: this woman who, she's a legendary actress.
[13:10] Speaker 1: Her name was Peggy Cass. And Peggy Cass I'd.
[13:14] Speaker 5: Seen also growing up as a kid with those old
[13:16] Speaker 5: black and white movies when she played in Auntie Mame.
[13:20] Speaker 1: She was the secretary, Agnes Gooch.
[13:23] Speaker 5: And so I actually got to star in a production
[13:26] Speaker 5: called Nonsense with her. So first of all, the intimidations
[13:30] Speaker 5: of playing opposite this legendary actress. And then we were
[13:34] Speaker 5: at the Ford theater in Washington, DC, that they kept
[13:38] Speaker 5: exactly the same as it was. And the, the, the, the,
[13:42] Speaker 5: what is it? That balcony where president Lincoln was shot.
[13:46] Speaker 5: I had to play to that every night. So that
[13:47] Speaker 5: was like really intimidating. But the one thing that was
[13:50] Speaker 5: happening because she was an older actress was She started
[13:53] Speaker 5: going up on her lines and I had to be
[13:56] Speaker 5: the one because it was most of our scenes were
[13:59] Speaker 5: together to bring her back. So I had to learn
[14:02] Speaker 5: how to make sure I did my dialogue, but created
[14:06] Speaker 5: dialogue to get her back on track and make sure
[14:09] Speaker 5: that the audience was none the wiser. No one knew
[14:13] Speaker 5: that I was doing that. And that was my training ground.
[14:16] Speaker 5: for improvisation. And then when we were doing the Jamie
[14:19] Speaker 5: Foxx show, you guys would let us do the script, right?
[14:22] Speaker 5: And once we got the script landed, you let us play.
[14:24] Speaker 5: And that was so much fun. That was my next
[14:29] Speaker 5: experience of improv-ing. And like I said, I also did
[14:32] Speaker 5: the improvisation with Jamie for the audition. And so when I,
[14:36] Speaker 5: by the time I got here, this, he gave us
[14:40] Speaker 5: the playground. It was just a playground to just improv
[14:45] Speaker 5: and Larry David is so generous. I mean, he is
[14:47] Speaker 5: so kind and he just he lets you go. He
[14:50] Speaker 5: doesn't stop you. He lets you go. You just keep going, going,
[14:53] Speaker 5: going until he says stop sometimes if it's too far.
[14:57] Speaker 5: But it's wonderful to do that improv. And I noticed
[15:00] Speaker 5: that even when we were doing the Jamie Foxx show,
[15:03] Speaker 5: a lot of the things that we were able to
[15:05] Speaker 5: do with our improv, you guys ended up having it
[15:07] Speaker 5: in the cut.
[15:08] Speaker 1: And I was excited about that. So we know.
[15:10] Speaker 4: It's a couple of things I want to bring up, Elliot,
[15:12] Speaker 4: about you.
[15:13] Speaker 3: There are a lot of people out there who want
[15:16] Speaker 3: to not just act, but want to do things in life.
[15:19] Speaker 3: And they tend to allow fear, the unknown. Like moving
[15:25] Speaker 3: to New York, you change your comfort zone to move
[15:28] Speaker 3: to New York.
[15:29] Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying?
[15:30] Speaker 3: Because it wasn't like I had to move to Houston,
[15:32] Speaker 3: New York. I didn't want to move to New York.
[15:34] Speaker 3: I didn't want to move to L.A. But I had
[15:36] Speaker 3: to for my career. And then you talk about improv
[15:39] Speaker 3: and with Jamie Foxx, you talk about improv and the L.A.
[15:42] Speaker 4: Red David. Those are uncomfortable moments.
[15:45] Speaker 3: How could you advise people to push past those uncomfortable moments?
[15:50] Speaker 1: Wow, that's a great question.
[15:54] Speaker 5: Most of us who find ourselves in this entertainment, especially
[15:59] Speaker 5: acting career, we've been doing it all of our lives.
[16:03] Speaker 5: We've been play acting since we were kids, right?
[16:06] Speaker 1: And so... you let yourself go back there.
[16:10] Speaker 5: You revisit that time when you were playing with your
[16:14] Speaker 5: siblings and you guys created this scene or you created
[16:18] Speaker 5: this story.
[16:18] Speaker 1: It's like, I'm going to play this character. I'm going
[16:20] Speaker 1: to play.
[16:20] Speaker 5: But we didn't call it that because I didn't know
[16:22] Speaker 5: that back then. When I was growing up in our backyard,
[16:26] Speaker 5: the one thing I used to do, we would play
[16:28] Speaker 5: what was called church. And I would always be the
[16:31] Speaker 5: preacher and I would give the sermon. And so all
[16:34] Speaker 5: I was doing was mimicking what I saw, mimicking what
[16:38] Speaker 5: I saw. So when children that are very, what do
[16:42] Speaker 5: you call it?
[16:42] Speaker 1: I guess observant. Because we watch the adults.
[16:44] Speaker 5: And oftentimes for me, too, when I was growing up,
[16:47] Speaker 5: you know, there was this rule of children should be
[16:49] Speaker 5: seen and not heard. So because we couldn't talk a lot,
[16:52] Speaker 5: we had to watch a lot and we got to
[16:54] Speaker 5: listen a lot.
[16:56] Speaker 1: And just do that, observing. And then just let yourself
[17:00] Speaker 1: be free and have peace. It is so wonderful.
[17:06] Speaker 5: If you go in thinking, I got to think this
[17:08] Speaker 5: through and you're going to feel it'll, it'll, it'll block you.
[17:11] Speaker 5: It'll block your creativity. You got to let your creative
[17:14] Speaker 5: side come through and just have fun.
[17:18] Speaker 1: It's not easy. I'm not going to pretend it's easy.
[17:20] Speaker 1: It is work.
[17:21] Speaker 5: It is definitely work. But if you let yourself go
[17:26] Speaker 5: and let go of the inhibitions and just have fun. Now,
[17:30] Speaker 5: I remember here, here's a story. See, when I was
[17:33] Speaker 5: growing up, of course, remember I said my dad was
[17:35] Speaker 5: a pastor, right? So we couldn't curse. Now, before my
[17:39] Speaker 5: dad became a pastor, we heard our relatives cursing all
[17:41] Speaker 5: the time.
[17:42] Speaker 1: So we knew curse words. And so we would practice, actually,
[17:46] Speaker 1: when our parents left home, we would practice cursing on
[17:48] Speaker 1: each other. So when I.
[17:50] Speaker 5: Did Curb Your Enthusiasm and I had to do that line,
[17:54] Speaker 5: F you, Larry David. When we were out there just
[17:56] Speaker 5: carrying on, when they said cut, I would go back
[17:59] Speaker 5: in a room and I was shaking and nervous because
[18:02] Speaker 5: I was like, okay, I'm going to get in trouble.
[18:03] Speaker 1: I go, Ellia, you're a grown woman. You're not home.
[18:05] Speaker 1: Your parents are not going to get upset with you.
[18:07] Speaker 1: It's okay. It's not you.
[18:09] Speaker 5: You're portraying a character. It's not something I run around
[18:12] Speaker 5: doing every day of my life, right?
[18:14] Speaker 3: But you know, when you raised a certain way and
[18:17] Speaker 3: you talked skill set and being respectful I admire that
[18:21] Speaker 3: and so and I can understand you saying you didn't
[18:25] Speaker 3: want to make them believe that all that training all
[18:29] Speaker 3: that work they get and pour it into you that
[18:33] Speaker 3: you went out there and just forgot about it and
[18:35] Speaker 3: became disrespectful.
[18:36] Speaker 4: That's what you was talking about. And I understand that.
[18:39] Speaker 3: But you had some characters on the show that you
[18:41] Speaker 3: worked for, did not care about what they said.
[18:43] Speaker 4: I'm talking about J.B. Smoove.
[18:45] Speaker 3: I'm talking about Vinny Capac. And I want to just
[18:48] Speaker 3: talk about the importance of you guys' character on Curvy Enthusiasm.
[18:53] Speaker 3: I always knew about Curvy Enthusiasm. But it wasn't until
[18:58] Speaker 3: you guys got on the show that I started watching it.
[19:01] Speaker 3: Do you realize the impact of what y'all roles or
[19:04] Speaker 3: y'all characters played in the success of Curb Your Enthusiasm?
[19:07] Speaker 1: Do you know?
[19:09] Speaker 5: Probably not to the greatest extent, but I have heard
[19:12] Speaker 5: people say that, that he definitely got a bigger audience,
[19:18] Speaker 5: especially of the African-American community, right? When he brought the
[19:21] Speaker 5: Blacks on, and I love it, and we.
[19:22] Speaker 1: Were called the Blacks.
[19:24] Speaker 4: Don't get me wrong now.
[19:25] Speaker 3: You know, coming into his house, not wanting to move. Y'all,
[19:30] Speaker 3: it was like, it was unbelievable. But Larry David played
[19:34] Speaker 3: the straight man so well.
[19:36] Speaker 1: And J.B.
[19:37] Speaker 3: Spoo and Vivica Fox and the relationship.
[19:41] Speaker 4: I'm just saying is that it was so funny.
[19:45] Speaker 3: It was needed because, you know, in this business, as believers,
[19:50] Speaker 3: actors and actresses, we tend to get typecast.
[19:53] Speaker 4: We tend to not be in these type of roles.
[19:55] Speaker 3: And this is a show that not only broadened their audience,
[19:58] Speaker 3: but broadened your audience, correct?
[20:00] Speaker 4: Yes.
[20:00] Speaker 3: Your level of respect in the industry.
[20:02] Speaker 4: Talk about that.
[20:04] Speaker 1: Oh, my goodness. It was absolutely amazing. First of all,
[20:07] Speaker 1: working with J.B.
[20:08] Speaker 5: Smoove, That, you know, not only was he Auntie Ray's nephew,
[20:12] Speaker 5: he's like my next nephew.
[20:13] Speaker 1: Remember when Jamie was my first television nephew? Now J.B. Smooth,
[20:17] Speaker 1: my nephew. I loved working with J.B. Smooth and still do.
[20:20] Speaker 5: Because we, as the Black family, we instantly became a family.
[20:24] Speaker 5: Like you said, I had Vivica Fox, who played Loretta,
[20:27] Speaker 5: my niece. I had, oh my goodness, J.B. Smooth, who
[20:30] Speaker 5: played Leon, my nephew. And then I had a great
[20:32] Speaker 5: niece and nephew. I think his name was Nick Nervies,
[20:36] Speaker 5: I think was.
[20:36] Speaker 4: The baby's name.
[20:37] Speaker 5: And he played Daryl. And then the little girl who
[20:39] Speaker 5: played Keisha, her name was Carla Jeffrey. And we became
[20:43] Speaker 5: an instant family. Because what I loved was when Larry
[20:47] Speaker 5: used that opportunity. Remember, Hurricane Katrina was an atrocious thing
[20:54] Speaker 5: that we had to go through. And so he took
[20:57] Speaker 5: an experience and decided, let me take a displaced family.
[21:01] Speaker 5: Because that was what was happening at that time, too.
[21:03] Speaker 5: A lot of people were displaced. A lot of people
[21:05] Speaker 5: lost their homes. and they were having to move or
[21:07] Speaker 5: people were having to take them in. And so, and
[21:10] Speaker 5: it was truly two different cultures. You talk about a
[21:14] Speaker 5: culture clash, you know, the blacks, they were coming from their,
[21:17] Speaker 5: you know, Southern town where they had just had just
[21:21] Speaker 5: something that, you know, a traumatic experience for them. And
[21:24] Speaker 5: they were being saved by this guy who brought them
[21:27] Speaker 5: into his home.
[21:28] Speaker 1: And the beauty of J.B.
[21:30] Speaker 5: Smooth's character, Leon, Leon didn't come from the Southern town
[21:35] Speaker 5: that they came from. He was already living in California,
[21:38] Speaker 5: but when he found out that his auntie and his cousin,
[21:42] Speaker 5: they were living there, he moved into, and that's when
[21:45] Speaker 5: it really just became amazing.
[21:48] Speaker 1: And yes, Larry David. Oh my God. God bless him.
[21:51] Speaker 4: Awesome.
[21:52] Speaker 1: Awesome. Awesome.
[21:53] Speaker 3: I mean, I remember the hurricane Katrina and I was,
[21:57] Speaker 3: Going through my memory back, and I forgot JB was
[22:00] Speaker 3: really the one who sandbagged. Because Larry was trying to
[22:04] Speaker 3: do a good deed.
[22:05] Speaker 1: It was JB.
[22:06] Speaker 3: Who claimed in and messed it all up for everybody.
[22:10] Speaker 3: Because he was scamming everybody.
[22:12] Speaker 4: Yes.
[22:14] Speaker 1: Yes, yes, and yes. And then he ended up being
[22:17] Speaker 1: Larry's best friend. Can you believe it?
[22:19] Speaker 4: Thank you.
[22:21] Speaker 1: Larry ended up dating my niece. She's an advisor.
[22:24] Speaker 4: She's an advisor.
[22:25] Speaker 1: I loved it. I loved it.
[22:27] Speaker 3: When we talk about this industry and having longevity, then
[22:30] Speaker 3: I want to wrap this up. I want to thank
[22:31] Speaker 3: you for allowing me to discuss your journey and the
[22:34] Speaker 3: final season of Curvy Enthusiast. I'm going to miss you.
[22:37] Speaker 3: But right now you have a new series, a YouTube
[22:39] Speaker 3: series called My Sisters and Me, a half-hour multi-camera comedy
[22:43] Speaker 3: that crosses three distinct generations. Tell us about that and
[22:46] Speaker 3: why are you doing it?
[22:48] Speaker 1: Oh, my goodness.
[22:50] Speaker 5: Maddie Carruthers, who you know, she also worked on the
[22:53] Speaker 5: Jamie Foxx show. And when Maddie was working on the
[22:55] Speaker 5: Jamie Foxx show, she and I became very, very close
[22:58] Speaker 5: and very good friends. And we used to talk about
[23:00] Speaker 5: all the time, often about wanting to create a project
[23:03] Speaker 5: for me. I wanted us to create a project that
[23:06] Speaker 5: she and I could work on together. And so we
[23:09] Speaker 5: ended up being able to do that. And I'm talking
[23:11] Speaker 5: about Maddie.
[23:12] Speaker 1: It truly is an awesome director, Rashawn. I mean, she...
[23:16] Speaker 1: She started her career.
[23:17] Speaker 5: I don't know if you know that she started her
[23:19] Speaker 5: career with the iconic Norman Lear. And so when she
[23:24] Speaker 5: got us, she's talking about directing us with that show.
[23:27] Speaker 1: It was just amazing.
[23:29] Speaker 5: And the storyline, which was wonderful for me, was that
[23:33] Speaker 5: there were these black sisters, vivacious, ageless black sisters who
[23:38] Speaker 5: had to live under the same roof without killing each other.
[23:42] Speaker 5: And my character, I play the me in.
[23:44] Speaker 1: My sisters and me, right? I'm the baby sister of
[23:47] Speaker 1: the bunch.
[23:48] Speaker 5: So my character who thought, you know, now that my
[23:50] Speaker 5: older sisters moved out, I can now have my life.
[23:53] Speaker 5: My bossy sisters are no longer around and I can
[23:56] Speaker 5: go on with my life. Well, then they come back
[23:59] Speaker 5: into my life. And now they are with their bossy
[24:02] Speaker 5: attitudes and everything else. And then it goes on from there.
[24:05] Speaker 5: Guess what? I feel like I'm a kid again. I
[24:08] Speaker 5: feel like I can't do anything. So everybody, I know
[24:11] Speaker 5: everybody can relate to that. Whether you've got a big,
[24:14] Speaker 5: even if, even I know a guy was telling me
[24:16] Speaker 5: about his big sisters when he was a little boy
[24:19] Speaker 5: and he, his mother told him, you're going to be
[24:21] Speaker 5: the man of the house and you have to go
[24:22] Speaker 5: be the man of the house. And so he goes
[24:23] Speaker 5: to his sister's And tells him, I'm the man of
[24:25] Speaker 5: the house. And he says she punched him and knocked
[24:27] Speaker 5: his teeth out. So everybody has gone through something with
[24:32] Speaker 5: these older siblings.
[24:34] Speaker 1: And so that's where the real beauty and the fun
[24:37] Speaker 1: comes in. And then we've got to figure out how
[24:39] Speaker 1: to live together without killing each other. And so I'm
[24:42] Speaker 1: excited about that.
[24:43] Speaker 4: What is the future?
[24:44] Speaker 3: What is the future for you, a young, small girl
[24:48] Speaker 3: from Covington by way of Atlanta through New York and L.A.?
[24:52] Speaker 3: You know, you've done the ambience behavior. You've shown that
[24:55] Speaker 3: you can do Broadway. You've shown you can do sitcom.
[24:57] Speaker 3: You've shown that you can handle the mainstays of improv
[25:01] Speaker 3: and scripted theater. Now you're producing and launching your own
[25:06] Speaker 3: YouTube show in January.
[25:08] Speaker 4: What is the future? 2024 is here.
[25:11] Speaker 1: Oh, my goodness.
[25:12] Speaker 5: And I'm excited about 2024. OK, thank you so much
[25:17] Speaker 5: for asking that question. And I will preface it with
[25:21] Speaker 5: I don't know if you knew that in 2018, I
[25:25] Speaker 5: dropped everything because I had to come home and make
[25:27] Speaker 5: sure my mom was OK.
[25:29] Speaker 1: I had to take care of my mom. And I
[25:31] Speaker 1: ended up becoming, it changed.
[25:35] Speaker 5: I thought I was just going to become here, make
[25:36] Speaker 5: sure I was a companion, make sure she didn't wander off,
[25:39] Speaker 5: make sure somebody was there with her all the time. Well,
[25:42] Speaker 5: she ended up getting an infection in her toe, in
[25:45] Speaker 5: her big toe. And the whole trajectory of why I
[25:49] Speaker 5: came here changed. I ended up becoming her nurse. I
[25:54] Speaker 5: had to learn how to change dress wounds. I had
[25:57] Speaker 5: to make sure she was at the hospital. I was
[25:58] Speaker 5: staying in the hospital with her. However long she was there,
[26:02] Speaker 5: I was there. I never left her side. And so
[26:04] Speaker 5: my mom transitioned in 2020. And so- I had to
[26:09] Speaker 5: take the rest of 2020. And that was when, thank God,
[26:13] Speaker 5: it wasn't COVID. And so, yes, it wasn't COVID that
[26:17] Speaker 5: took her out. And we were able to keep her
[26:19] Speaker 5: protected from that. So then in 2021, I needed to
[26:23] Speaker 5: process that. And so in 2022... I was blessed with
[26:28] Speaker 5: the opportunity. I am a member of the Sigma Gamma row.
[26:31] Speaker 5: I got to give my sisters a shout out.
[26:33] Speaker 1: So we had our boule in 2022 and it was
[26:39] Speaker 1: our 100th anniversary.
[26:42] Speaker 5: And so thank you so much. And so I sort
[26:45] Speaker 5: of like decided to get my feet wet. I ended
[26:47] Speaker 5: up being able to go. We had it in Indianapolis, Indiana,
[26:51] Speaker 5: which is where the original for started the sorority.
[26:55] Speaker 1: And I did workshops. I did workshops for the kids.
[26:58] Speaker 1: I was also, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
[27:01] Speaker 5: My sister was saying something to me. What happened to Seventh?
[27:05] Speaker 5: Original seven. She said, she corrected me. She's a Sauron.
[27:09] Speaker 5: She corrected me. She said the original seven, not the
[27:12] Speaker 5: original four. So forgive me.
[27:14] Speaker 4: I'm going to keep this in there. I'm going to
[27:16] Speaker 4: keep this moment in there because this needs, because on
[27:19] Speaker 4: screen Sauron checking, on screen Sauron. Get it right sister.
[27:22] Speaker 1: Get it right now. I'm going to keep this moment
[27:25] Speaker 1: in there.
[27:25] Speaker 4: Don't worry about it.
[27:27] Speaker 1: I love this vote. Excuse me.
[27:30] Speaker 4: Seven, not four.
[27:33] Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely. I'm a member of Megan's High Five fraternity,
[27:36] Speaker 1: so I know. Hey, so you know. You got to
[27:38] Speaker 1: get those facts right. You got to get those facts right, Rashawn.
[27:41] Speaker 5: You know what I'm talking about. Not four, it's seven.
[27:44] Speaker 5: So thank you, my sorors. So don't let me lose
[27:49] Speaker 5: my train of thought, though. Anyway, what was happening at
[27:51] Speaker 5: that time, Rashawn, was Curb was looking for me.
[27:55] Speaker 1: And I didn't know it.
[27:56] Speaker 5: The moment I stepped out to do something, they were
[27:58] Speaker 5: looking for me. And right after I finished and I
[28:01] Speaker 5: came back from the Boulay, our 100th anniversary, which was amazing.
[28:05] Speaker 4: It went awesome.
[28:07] Speaker 5: I ended up going in and filming this season of
[28:11] Speaker 5: Curb Your Enthusiasm. So when you ask that question, what's
[28:16] Speaker 5: next for me? You know, my mom was still my heart.
[28:20] Speaker 5: She's still my everything now. And for her, she tells
[28:23] Speaker 5: me the sky's the limit. She's like, and you can
[28:25] Speaker 5: go beyond the sky. Go ahead and shoot.
[28:27] Speaker 1: So I'm back. I guess what I would say, Ellie
[28:29] Speaker 1: is back. Like Auntie Ray is back.
[28:32] Speaker 5: And I'm ready now to embrace it and to really
[28:35] Speaker 5: do what I love. Every aspect of it, my singing,
[28:39] Speaker 5: my acting, my dancing, my writing. I still love to write.
[28:43] Speaker 5: So as long as my heavenly father gives me breath
[28:47] Speaker 5: to live, I want to be everything he created me
[28:51] Speaker 5: to be and do everything he created me to do
[28:55] Speaker 5: so that when it is done, all said and done,
[28:58] Speaker 5: I get to hear my father say, well done, you
[29:01] Speaker 5: good and faithful servant. And I am looking forward to that.
[29:04] Speaker 5: So thank you so much.
[29:06] Speaker 3: Content is king. But more importantly, you are a queen.
[29:10] Speaker 3: You've got longevity in this business.
[29:13] Speaker 4: And good luck.
[29:13] Speaker 3: And I can't wait to see Curb Your Enthusiasm. More importantly,
[29:17] Speaker 3: Sisters and Me, premiering in January on YouTube.
[29:20] Speaker 1: January 18th on YouTube.
[29:22] Speaker 5: We're going to be releasing webisodes of the show on YouTube.
[29:27] Speaker 1: January 18th, 2024.
[29:29] Speaker 3: Thank you for coming on Money Making Conversations with Masculine.
[29:32] Speaker 1: Thank you for having me, Rashawn. It's been a pleasure.
[29:34] Speaker 4: Good luck and God bless.
[29:36] Speaker 1: Thank you, you too. God bless. Thank you.
[29:40] Speaker 6: For joining us for this edition of Money Making Conversations Masterclass.
[29:44] Speaker 6: Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rushawn McDonald is produced by
[29:49] Speaker 6: 3815 Media Inc. More information about 3815 Media Inc. is
[29:54] Speaker 6: available at 3815media. com. And always remember to lead with your gifts.

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