Photo: Peter Hurley
Nana Mensah is a Ghanaian-American actress, director, writer, singer and all around renaissance woman who we first got to know as the fiery Sade on the web series An African City. Over the last thirty months, Mensah has been hard at work on her first feature film, a dark comedy called Queen of Glory, which she wrote, directed and stars in. In the film, Mensah plays Sarah Obeng, a young PhD. candidate who is also a "weirdo, adulteress, binge-eating, grieving-but-not-dealing, Ghanaian-American genius who is slaying at academia, but failing at life." For Mensah, a self-professed weirdo, her latest role is an opportunity to tell the story of a black woman from an African immigrant community who finds herself pulled in different directions as she tries to develop and honor each aspect of her identities. We recently caught up with Mensah to talk about her artistic process, Hollywood's diversity problem, and the impact she hopes to make with her forthcoming film debut.
Jen for Okayafrica: Can you tell us a little bit about your acting background?
Nana Mensah: So I have been acting professionally since right after college, and I attended the now defunct conservatory at The Actors Center [in NYC]. I then hit the pavement pretty hard and started mailing in my headshot, attending cattle calls, and stealing breakdowns to find out about parts.
OKA: You star as Sade in the web series An African City, which has gained a massive online following since its debut a year ago. Has your life changed in any major way since then?
Mensah: Oh, certainly. I’ve been recognized and asked for my autograph, which is nuts. I’ve been offered other film roles (like the role of Asantewaa in Shirley Frimpong-Manso's Love or Something Like That), and have gotten a lot more creative freedom by way of pitching to write on other projects. As an actress, I think it certainly provided a platform to introduce me to a larger audience, so I definitely consider it a blessing!
OKA: In your new film, Queen of Glory, you play Ghanaian-American PhD candidate Sarah Obeng who is blindsided by her mother’s death and has to take over her family’s Christian bookstore in the Bronx. What was your experience like filming in the Bronx, the epicenter of New York's Ghanaian immigrant community?
Mensah: [laughs] It was GREAT! My family is up in the Bronx, so it was wonderful to connect with them and feel their support as they rallied around me to help make this project happen. Outside of family, the Bronx denizens were wonderful about us taking over their turf-- we got them to do cameos and work as extras and background actors. It was really cool. There were many moments of reconnecting to my childhood, particularly when we shot scenes at the halal butcher shop-- that used to scare the hell out of me as a kid going with my mother!
Photo courtesy of 'Queen of Glory'
OKA: In the Kickstarter campaign for Queen of Glory, you talk about the dearth of nuanced roles for women of color, and black women in particular, who are often relegated to play roles like "Sassy Fat Bank Teller," "Smutty Crack Hoe #4," or "D Girl." Enter Sarah Obeng, a Ghanaian-American woman who is the antithesis to Hollywood’s racist casting calls. When did she start to take form in your head and how did you flesh her out?
Mensah: Ha! Well, an acting teacher once told me that a way to understanding a character in a multidimensional way is by figuring out who she loves and what makes her laugh. I think that really resonated with me and that was how I approached Sarah’s construction-- what does it say about her that she’s in love with a man who is married with children? And that she’s leaving her PhD program for him? What does it say about her that she’s holding her grief buried inside so that it erupts in caustic surges of dark humor?
OKA: Beyond their Ghanaian-American upbringings, would you say there any parallels between Sarah, Sade and Nana?
Mensah: Ha! Good question. I think this means I have to talk about myself in the third person, which I’ve always wanted to do in an interview. Okay, I think Sade, Nana and Sarah all pride themselves on their intelligence-- though all three have varying kinds: basically, Sarah and Sade have high IQs, but low EQs. Nana has a moderate IQ and high EQ. So I think Nana likes to write characters that play on the other side of the fence, who don’t care so much about what people think of them, who are unapologetically themselves.
OKA: In a recent Huffington Postinterview you made reference to the “weird brown girl movement” that is currently being championed by Mindy Kaling and Issa Rae. Would you consider Queen of Glory to be an addition to this burgeoning canon? If not, what makes Queen of Glory unique?
Mensah: I would say so. Sarah is pretty weird-- she’s a scientist, so she’s socially awkward and doesn’t know how to dress herself. I probably find that pretty refreshing as a contrast to An African City, which is incredibly fashion-forward, and also as a little rebellion to most West African women I know, who would put French women to shame with their custom-made and designer ensembles. I love weird-- historically, the weird girl has always been the best friend, and I know that feeling well of feeling like you’re a vibrant, funny supporting character in everyone else’s story. I love that weird girls-- white, black, and brown-- are now stepping out from behind the gamine, blonde ingenue and giving her a swift kick to the side. It’s a revolution, and I’d love to think that Queen of Glory is a part of it!
Photo courtesy of 'Queen of Glory'
OKA: In that same interview, you talk about a future where “your children won't grow up so unseen that they unsee themselves.” Do you recall having any black role models in the music, books, film, or TV you enjoyed through your childhood and adolescence?
Mensah: Honestly, my parents were the only black role models I had. I grew up in a predominantly white neighborhood and attended predominantly white schools, so I idolized the things my friends idolized, and that wasn’t Martin Luther King, or Sojourner Truth or Harriet Tubman-- it was *NSYNC. Oh, and then Foxy Brown in middle school. God bless the '90s.
OKA: At your recent Queens of Glory panel with Adepero Oduye and Zainab Jah, you spoke about your desire to work in Africa with your natural hair. Can you share a little bit more about how your experiences with that have been?
Mensah: Haha, yeah! Poor me-- I spend so much effort and labor on this time-consuming mess atop my head (my natural hair, when straightened reached my mid-back), but when I go to Africa to work on any projects, they want to put me in a wig. I LOVE that An African City celebrates natural hair on the other ladies in the cast, but I feel left out! I want Sade to go natural, too! [laughs]
OKA:Queen of Glory marks your first foray into screenwriting. What was that experience like for you?
Mensah: Torture! I mean the first draft was easy, because the ideas were pent up in me and I just wrote and wrote and wrote. But after that, when you start looking at budgets and what you can and can’t afford to shoot and you have to make concessions, it really hurts! One of these days I’ll be able to make a movie and not consider my budget, Inshallah!
Photo courtesy of 'Queen of Glory'
OKA: As writer, director, and star of Queen of Glory, was there any challenge in juggling all these roles?
Mensah: It was all challenge! Luckily I had a wonderfully supportive team that was able to pick up the slack where I faltered. Anya Migdal, my producing partner; Jamund Washington our producer; and Cybel Martin, our DP were the trifecta that really made this possible. [The experience was so invaluable Cybel actually wrote an article in Shadow and Act about it]
OKA: As a multi-hyphenated black woman artist, what inspires the different facets of your creativity?
Mensah: I like to get out and experience other types of art to inspire me (particularly visual art and design), but being a multihyphenate usually means time is a scarce resource, so I don’t get to do it as much as I like. Aside from other artistic influences, I need clarity, and that takes many forms. I need to clear my mind-- which involves clearing my to do list, so exercising in some capacity, eating, making a coffee, tidying up the apartment, then sitting down for several hours to create without disturbance. It requires a level of selfishness, too, because you can’t go to that person’s wedding, or meet up with your friend for coffee, or answer calls or like that person’s post on Instagram, because I’ve found that all of those distractions are like little paper cuts to your art. I think it was Virginia Woolf who once said that “A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write,” and I hold that quote dear. Because that’s the goal. If I can earn enough money to be obliged to no one, and continue to be obsessive about the space I need to create, I think I’ll be alright.
Photo courtesy of 'Queen of Glory'
OKA: Who are some up and coming female filmmakers you’re excited to see work from?
Mensah:Frances Bodomo, Frances Bodomo, Frances Bodomo. Remember the name. Also, I’m very interested in the works of Cecile Emeke. And Nikole Beckwith, who I’ve worked with as a playwright. And of course, Issa Rae got a deal with HBO, so I’m THRILLED to see the fruit of that labor.
OKA: Where else can we experience all things Nana Mensah? Are there any other projects you have in the works?
Mensah: Oh, you can find me up to no good at Facebook or on Instagram, I’m always cooking up something! And stay tuned, as Season 2 of An African City is forthcoming. Working on making more magic happen!
For more on 'Queen Of Glory,' visit the film's Kickstarter page.