The TV Addict 

By: Amrie Cunningham [My Take on TV]

Lifetime is good to me. They recently sent over a preview copy of their latest inspirational movie called RACING FOR TIME. It’s inspired by the true story of a male prison guard who pulls together a track program for tough and violent female offenders at a juvenile facility. Charles S. Dutton (Emmy award winning actor and director) is fabulous, both as an actor and a director, in the main role. He is joined on screen by Elizabeth Pena and an up and coming young actress named Yaya Da Costa (some of you might recognize her from America’s Next Top Model). I had an opportunity to chat with her for a bit about working with “Roc” (Charles S. Dutton), why she wanted to be an actress, and who she admires.

Great film, I think it’s really in the vein of what Lifetime tries to do. It’s inspirational.
YaYa: I’m glad you watched it! It was controversial at first, but it is inspirational.

You’re right, it is controversial, but I think people will understand it, and you’re great in this.
Thank you!

Brings me to the first question – what made you interested in this role?
I just thought it was a great role. Any role, honestly for a young actor, is work, so that’s always good. It’s great to be excited when you’re going into an audition about the prospect of playing someone. Different from yourself. It makes it more. I just the different code of behavior and the different thought process that you use. My first instinct as a person in conflict resolution is to find the right words. But Vanessa’s is physical confrontation, so that was fun to explore.

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