Lovie Simone is on fire. The Craft: Legacy actress is carving out her career on her own terms and epitomizing ‘Black girl magic’ every step of the way.
Here are five reasons we can’t get enough of the rising star:
She kills it in The Craft: Legacy. Simone is gearing up for the release of Blumhouse’s The Craft: Legacy, a follow up to the 1996 cult classic. In it, she plays Tabby, a teenaged witch who helps welcome the new girl in town into her coven.
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“This film and this role is so up my alley and I am so happy I got to play the fire girl,” the Greenleaf star told theGrio in an exclusive interview. “There was a lot that I connected with. The main thing was the fact that Tabby’s family is into witchcraft and that kind of stuff. My mom is a dreamer and she’s a witch herself. Having that kind of relationship and knowing how to move in the world when your family knows about that and the type of assurance that you would have when you can see witchcraft as a healing thing. That’s why I was really excited to play a witch.”
“It’s more like the intuition and the dreams. I feel like [Tabby’s] just a little closer connected to the divine feminine. She’s very connected to spirit in a way because she doesn’t even have to ask for it when she’s dreaming. She is a healer and I feel that energy strongly from her. I have never looked down on witchcraft because of that. Witchcraft is about feminine healing and people have made it seem like it’s a bad thing that God didn’t send people down here to do. I like that we’re empowering each other and that we’re also just teenage girls. Having the knowledge from my mom made it very easy for me to open myself up to that part of life.”
She’s a true artist. “I’m probably the most laid back person you will ever meet. It’s bothersome sometimes. I’m not trying to be famous. That’s not the goal. I’m after storytelling. I’m in the projects that I’m in for a reason. I don’t say yes to everything. I’m very intentional and that’s why I act. I love to dive deep into characters that I see a little bit of myself in but are totally different. A lot of my acting is for me, not necessarily for other people. I’m all about perspective and psychology and the human mind,” she explains.
“I do love the fact that people see me as a mirror and people see me as a version of them, because I think without even trying, they may connect with me because I may look like them. I like that I can do power roles and comedic roles and drama roles. I’m going to keep on doing what I’m doing and what I’ve been doing. I don’t like to be busy all the time. I do like to make room for my life. A lot of the times, when people are looking to be stars, they may forget what they’re doing it for and I never want to forget that.”
She knows who she is. The self-described introvert isn’t too concerned with hitting the hot Hollywood events and admits she’s happy at home with her family.
“Before COVID-19 started, it’s like I was training for it. I’m an introvert by nature and I need a lot of rest when I finish interacting with people because I’m an empath too. I have been OK in this quarantine being isolated. I enjoy relaxing and I have been writing in my journal and going to parks and not pressuring myself to do anything. I have had my mental battles and it does feel a lot heavier now because you have so much silence. Throughout this quarantine, I have learned how to hear out my negative thoughts and then let them pass. I’m learning how to live in my mind and be me and be good.” she says.
“I’m in Atlanta with my family and I have a twin so me and her have been getting all of the time we missed while she was away at school. On paper, we are identical but we look fraternal. I am 5’2” and my sister is 5’9”. I’m a little more brown than she is and she’s thicker than me. We look like friends or cousins. We are experiencing the twin connection more than ever these days. I’ve also been watching a ton of anime to get closer to my little brother and that has been so much fun.”
Read More: WATCH: So many reasons to LOVE ‘Greenleaf’ star Lovie Simone
She’s booked and busy. Aside from The Craft: Legacy, Simone has a full plate of projects on the horizon. She stars alongside Asante Blackk in a recently released Netflix series, Social Distance, and has been cast in the highly-anticipated Power prequel.
“The character is so complex. I’m from New York so I know the lifestyle and the energy that comes with that. I love messy worlds like that because I’m going to really have to work at it,” she says of the role. “I have never watched ‘Power’ because I don’t watch TV like that but I am going to watch my season because it’s the prequel and then I’ll watch the other ones. I know I’m really going to love it because the scripts I have read for our series already have me hooked.”
She knows her power. Even though her role in Social Distance touches on the ongoing unrest following the numerous injustices in our community, Simone has taken a different approach to the social climate in her real life.
“When the protests started, I felt really bad about not attending. I live with my family and the stakes were high for me when it came to exposing myself and them to COVID. I was beating myself up about it but then I was like, ‘Lovie…you’re Black.’ Just being Black is the No. 1 form of protesting,” she says.
“The way I live my life, the way I treat my Black brother, my Black mother, is what’s important. I can vote, I can be in films that make an impact, and I can use my voice and my talent in other ways for this fight. I’m so proud and happy about the people out there marching, but I realize there are lots of ways to be part of this revolution.”
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Check out Lovie Simone in The Craft: Legacy when it hits VOD on October 28.
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