LeVar, you have been able to touch so many lives through your work, especially through the platform that is Reading Rainbow. What has it been like for you to use your life as an example as to what is possible?
LB. It has been truly remarkable. My mom was an English teacher, and she always had several books for her own personal pleasure.
Reading for me was like breathing. It is a natural part of the human experience.
All the work is because of the woman my mother is, and that has allowed me to humbly have the impact that I have.
CW. I can definitely agree with that. Part of the great thing is that books can connect us all and share life lessons that can change our lives. How you always understood that impact?
LV. You know I have! Some people say you are what you eat. I genuinely believe you are what you read. I am aware of how my life has been enhanced by being a lifelong reader. I genuinely believe that if you are literate in at least one language, you are my definition of free.
A lifelong reader has the ability to be a lifelong learner. If you are a learner for life then you are a dangerous individual, because you don’t have to take anyone’s word for anything. You can read and learn for yourself.
I know there is a link between that which we imagine and that which we manifest in this realm. It is the imagination that connects us all. It’s also our imagination that connects us to our birthright that
is storytelling.
1.Reading is like breathing for LeVar. What is
the one thing that you feel as though you can’t do without?
2.What makes you feel free, and how can you best use that to power your life in a positive way?
Power Your Life WITH FAMILY TRADITION
“For I am my mother’s daughter, and the drums of Africa still beat in my heart.”
—Mary McLeod Bethune
Power Your Life BY BEING OPEN TO DISCOVERY
“A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent upon arriving.”
—Laozi
Power Your Life
BY GROWING TOWARDS FREEDOM
“I have observed this in my experience of slavery, that whenever my condition
was improved, instead of increasing my contentment; it only increased my desire to be free, and set me thinking of plans to gain my freedom.”
—Frederick Douglass
Power Your Life WITH THE POWER OF LOVE
“It is good to love many things,
for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love, is well done.”
—Vincent van Gogh
Acknowledge the Challenge, Have Faith, and Move Forward
Actor, Writer, and Producer Jeryl Prescott
On January 10, 2017, one of the most talked-about movies of 2016 made its way into stores and digital outlets: The Birth of a Nation. Based on the true story of Nat Turner, the enslaved man who inspired many and led a rebellion against those who held sway over them, the film’s talented cast included actress Jeryl Prescott, who has brought so many amazing characters to life over the years, including on the popular television show The Walking Dead on AMC and on BET’s Rebel, as well as her own project called Stand Down Soldier.
I had a chance to sit down with Jeryl and discuss not just The Birth of a Nation, but also what it’s been like for her to slip into the skin of various characters, sharing some amazing stories along the way and producing her own content.
“Every time I get a job as an actress, I consider it a small miracle,” she told me. Her desire to act came from her roots in the church. “The church is where I learned to play the piano and find the confidence to speak in front of a crowd and take a bigger leadership role,” she says. “That gave me the confidence and the interest in being on stage and having something to say. That’s how I began to see myself as an actress.”
She went to college and did theater, but even though she saw herself doing more, Jeryl experienced what so many do when it comes to pursuing their goals and dreams: the individuals who told her what wasn’t going to be possible for her. “Nonetheless, I’ve been able to find a variety of roles to play,” she says. Jeryl went further, touching on the many conversations taking place about the roles of women—and especially women of color—“It’s suggestive of the need for diversity and an appreciation of diversity. We have always met challenges and worked to create spaces for ourselves.”
“Every profession will offer certain challenges. You have to go into it with a positive attitude and the belief that God put you there for something and move forward.”
Talking about The Birth of a Nation, Jeryl says, “It is a powerful project, and I am so grateful to Nate Parker. Nate Parker is an amazingly generous and bold director, producer, and writer. I have an amazing amount of anticipation about the journey of this film.”
Jeryl’s journey continues not only with exciting projects, but also with the relationships she is forging along the way. Whether discussing the talented cast of The Birth of a Nation or The Walking Dead, she says “There’s an immortality that comes with all acting. The fans hold on to you and never let you go. The friendships that I developed have been real.” Speaking of The Walking Dead in particular, she says this: “The show will never die, because it constantly asks us to search inside of ourselves. It’s a constant universal questioning.”
At the time of our conversation, Jeryl was gearing up for the release of a project, produced by her, that was on its way to television.
“You continue to pray, create, make connections, and speak it into reality as much as you can. It’s wonderful when you see things actually materialized.”
This is what she told me when referring to what happened in 2017. “If it’s part of a larger plan for me it will happen.”
1.How has what others say you can do affected how you approach your life and your dreams?
2.Like Jeryl, how can you change the way you look at where you are and where you want to go?
Power Your Life BY BELIEVING IN YOURSELF
“Do not let the bastards
grind you down.”
—Margaret Atwood
Power Your Life BY DEVELOPING AND GROWING
“Life isn’t about finding yourself.
Life is about creating yourself.”
—George Bernard Shaw
Power Your Life BY SEIZING CONTROL
“Freedom is never given; it is won.”
—A. Philip Randolph
Power Your Life WITH GRATITUDE
“We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.”
—Frederick Koenig
Start Where You Are and Don’t Give Up
Producer and Author Peter