Tika Sumpter from Tyler Perry’s “The Haves and the Have Nots” opens up about the perception of Black women on television.
Sumpter plays the steamy and manipulative Candace Young, who is involved with an older married white man, on the OWN scripted show. Her role has been the latest in a sea of criticism that says images like these propel the negative stereotypes of African-American women. Critics have also spoken out against one of the African-American gay characters on the show.
“I think sometimes, because we haven’t been on TV that much, and [because] this is all relatively new; people want to be represented differently and they feel like one person is speaking for the masses. But if the character has no challenges or isn’t a bit messy — there’s no show. There’s a reason why people love [ABC’s prime-time hit] ‘Scandal’ or ‘The Haves and Have Nots’ or ‘Being Mary Jane’ on BET. It’s because these characters aren’t perfect. If you want to put a perfect person on TV, you will have no show. In life, sometimes you see yourself in these characters and sometimes it’s not pretty,” she says in Rolling Out magazine.
Tyler Perry and Oprah have scored a rating success with the addition of Perry’s scripted shows to the once struggling network. Nearly three million television viewers tuned in for the season two debut of “The Haves and the Have Nots,” which surpassed its previous network ratings by 57 percent. The ratings earned them the show the No. 1 season premiere spot in the history of OWN.
Sumpter, who waited tables while waiting for her acting break to come, says her advice to other actors is “to put your head down and work. Don’t look at other people and compare yourself. Just do the work. Because when the opportunity is there, you have to be ready. Make sure your craft is refined and you’re constantly working on it. Plow through the weeds. Go to the auditions and go to the meetings and be on time. Stop looking to the left or the right. Keep your head down and keep moving.”
Check out Sumpter in Ride Along with comedian Kevin Hart and Ice Cube on January 17.