E-mail a friendKhandi Alexander
airdate May 4, 2007
Khandi Alexander is a respected actress, known to TV audiences for her roles on E.R. and NewsRadio and her NAACP Image Award-winning performance on CSI: Miami. She's also a noted dancer, who began her career on stage and appeared on Broadway in Dreamgirls and Chicago. After a stint as Whitney Houston's choreographer, the New York native decided to pursue her dream of acting and has wowed both critics and viewers, particularly with her turn in the acclaimed HBO miniseries, The Corner.
Khandi Alexander
Tavis: Khandi Alexander stars in one of television's most popular shows, "CSI: Miami," for which she earned an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a drama series. The former "NewsRadio" star - I love that show. We're going to talk about that in a moment - she can also be seen in the new film, "Rain," also starring Faye Dunaway and Robert Loggia. The film is out on DVD May 29. Here now a scene from "Rain."
[Film Clip]
Tavis: So the DVD cover, Khandi, says, "Knowing the truth can be harder than living a lie." Which means what?
Khandi Alexander: (Laughter) Basically, there's a family that is keeping a deep dark secret and, once that's revealed, it just makes life easier.
Tavis: Yeah. That's all you're going to give me?
Alexander: That's all I'm giving you, baby. You got to go on May 29 and buy your own copy (laughter).
Tavis: (Laughter) Well, I got my DVD. I'm good to go. No, that's all you all are going to get. Secret revealed, makes life easier.
Alexander: That's it.
Tavis: Buy the DVD.
Alexander: May 29.
Tavis: "Rain," May 29 (laughter).
Alexander: Cold Black entertainment. Be there (laughter).
Tavis: I was going to say is it just me, but actually it's not just me. Your range is like amazing me. You go from "NewsRadio" to a forensic show to this project. I mean, it's a wonderful thing to be able to do all of that.
Alexander: Well, I think that most actresses can, if given the opportunity.
Tavis: You think so? I'm not trying to cast aspersion on people, but there are a lot of folk who do the same thing. You see them in eighteen movies and they're basically playing the same character. You're being very kind. That's a generous and charitable read. That's not always true of everybody in this business. You know that.
Alexander: Well, it may not always be true, but a lot of times, people get pigeonholed. If you do something well, it's a backhanded compliment. You're asked to do the same thing over and over again. People have bills to pay, so sometimes it just happens like that.
Tavis: So how did Khandi avoid being typecast in that way?
Alexander: I was very fortunate in the beginning of my acting career. I had a manager who refused to allow people to cast me in the same thing over and over again. He would tell me, "Go down to Unemployment because you're not doing this job." There would be long stretches when I didn't work in order to break that from happening.
Tavis: Looking back on it now, now that you're on a hit television show, was it worth it? I mean, all the drama, the turmoil? Because a lot of people could intellectualize that, but to actualize it, to operationalize it by standing in those unemployment lines and not doing what you could be doing is a lot easier said than done.
Alexander: Well, I've always been hardheaded and I was fortunate to have had another career, so I didn't have to actually stand in unemployment lines. I did other things within the industry. I danced, I choreographed. But looking back, I'm grateful. I will forever be grateful because I may have gotten stuck.
But at the time, I was angry because there were things I wanted to do and I wanted to, you know, use my craft and I thought I could do something different with it. You know, ultimately once you do something, like I said, and you do it well, that's what you keep being offered.
Tavis: Your hardcore fans know the story of how you got started, but I think it's always a story always worth retelling for those who don't know the story. I don't want to ruin the punch line, so I'll let you tell the story of how you get discovered by this guy when you are dancer who turns out to be - well, you tell the story. It's a great story. I love hearing it every time you tell it.
Alexander: Okay. Well, you know, there was a story before that. I began my career as a show pony. You know, I began my career with the big headdress on and they come and they give you a costume and it could fit in the palm of your hand. That's what I did (laughter).
Then I trained and I got a scholarship at the Alvin Ailey School and I was on scholarship with Frank Hatchet at Henry LeTang's. Henry LeTang's studio was on 54th and Broadway and that's when Alvin Ailey's School was at the Minskoff, which is like 39th and Broadway. So I was walking from one class to the other and, you know, nineteen years old, wild, sweating like crazy, making it to the other class.
This guy comes up to me and he's laughing actually. He goes, "Well, you're obviously a dancer." You know, young, barely anything on and whatever. I said, "Yeah, I'm the best in the city." He goes, "Really? Then come to the Minskoff tomorrow at ten o'clock in the morning." I said, "Yeah, right."
I went to my dance class at the Ailey School with Mr. Christopher who was this brutal ballet master, brutal. You never missed his class. I went there and there were very few people there. So I asked one of the dancers, "Where is everyone?" She said, "Well, Bob Fosse is having auditions at the Minskoff at ten." I went, "Oh, wait a minute."
Tavis: Bob Fosse, who you had just dissed.
Alexander: Totally dissed him the day before. Just like whatever (laughter). Of course, I immediately left class. Of course, Mr. Christopher was like screaming. I ran and stood in that long line that wrapped around the corner about four or five blocks and finally got in there and auditioned for Mr. Fosse. You know, maybe eight hundred people. Kept me down to the end. Had his assistant take me downstairs.
Actually, it was the Schubert Theater. I'm sorry. The Minskoff is where the Ailey School was. This was the Schubert Theater. Took me downstairs, worked with me, brought me back upstairs, had me dance a little bit, stood me on the chorus line and said, "Well, not as good as you thought, huh?" I was like, "No, but I will be."
So he didn't hire me then, didn't hire me four or five times, but he finally hired me. I did a tour of dancing and that's when everything kind of took off. I did "Dream Girls" and, you know, things just took off.
Tavis: It sounds like there is a lesson or lessons, plural, in that. I'll let you share with me what you learned from that experience.
Alexander: Don't be cocky (laughter). Definitely be confident. Don't ever miss Mr. Christopher's ballet class because when you get back, oh, man, he got me really good, as a matter of fact. Just believe in yourself and stay with it.
Tavis: We all have those stories of having been a little cocky and having been brought down to earth.
Alexander: Oh, yeah. I was cocky.
Tavis: To your point, they all worked out, though.
Alexander: Well, you know, now sitting here, I can say that. But at the time, I mean, I was completely -
Tavis: - you intimated to this earlier. What has having the option to choreograph and to dance meant for the longevity of your career? It's not lost to me that you were with Whitney Houston for a number of years and did that whole "I'm Your Baby Tonight" tour and a bunch of other stuff. What has having that option to do other stuff meant for your career, for your sanity?
Alexander: It was everything. It was everything, you know, to have begun my career as a dancer. As dancers, we express ourselves artistically through the physical. I didn't realize at the time that, as my career went on and I remained in shape, that would help me as well. But having the opportunity to have an artistic outlet that would also pay my bills when I didn't get an audition that I went out for and wanted, I was still able to maybe choreograph.
I was on tour, you know, for a long time on the road, but having the ability to still express myself artistically and not having to, you know, stand on that unemployment line was everything and the opportunity to work with great choreographers and dancers.
Tavis: Let me talk about "CSI: Miami." First of all, these forensic shows are just like all the rage these days and yours is one of the best. This is my own personal commentary here. One of the things I like best about your character is you're talking to these dead bodies.
I mean, essentially, the life is out of them. But for some reason, you or somebody decided to have you talk to these characters. Even though the life is out of them, there's a certain humanity in your communicating, a certain embrace of humanity of what's laying on that table in front of you. Was that your idea? It's a powerful thing to watch.
Alexander: I'm so glad that you like it because, when I was given the material, that is what drew me to the character. I mean, I remember "Quincy" and shows like that.
Tavis: Jack Klugman. I used to love "Quincy."
Alexander: Great Jack Klugman. I just remember so many coroners and they just, you know, the body lying there was just an afterthought. Everything that was written in the character, this was not improvised. It was, you know, "Baby," "Honey." All of that was there and I thought, oh, yeah, because it humanizes this person and it reminds you that, you know, this is someone's daughter, someone's son, someone's mother. That's what I loved about the character. That's why I wanted the part for that reason, you know.
Tavis: Well, you're doing your thing. The new DVD, May 29, is "Rain" starring Robert Loggia and Faye Dunaway and Khandi Alexander. Out on DVD on May 29. And, of course, "CSI: Miami," Khandi and a wonderful cast. I enjoy watching it. Nice to have you on the program.
Alexander: It's good to be here, Tavis.
Tavis: It's good to see you.
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