KiKi Layne on Her Breakout Role In Beale Street: 'I Was Born To Do This'

KiKi Layne is still starved. Not physically starved, per se — though, on a busy day of press like this one in early December it wouldn't be fully out of the realm of possibility — yet she's metaphorically starved. It's the sort of hunger that comes from years of drama school, community theater, plus a fully irrational, not-at-all thought-out move to Los Angeles for pilot season. It's that hunger that director Barry Jenkins saw in Layne, that made her jump out among the 300 or so other ladies auditioning for the lead role of Tish Rivers in the Oscar winner's lush adaptation of If Beale Street Could Talk. And it's that insatiable desire that landed Layne the possibility of a lifetime.


"I'm just getting began the tenacious 26-year-old Cincinnati native told MTV News. And it's hard not to believe her. Where Tish is tender and steadfast; Layne is all fire and grit.


In an interview with MTV News, the actor reflects on her Beale Street journey — from helping a friend submit his audition to landing a breakthrough role for herself — learning from Tish, and why she nearly gave up on her Hollywood dreams before Jenkins literally came calling.


MTV News: Barry Jenkins is such an emotional filmmaker. There's so much empathy in his work. Does that empathy extend to his directorial style?


KeKe Layne: He's just so patient with all the artists and the people working around him, and thus any time while you have that kind of patience and you're allowing people to reside in whichever moment, circumstance, feelings, whichever that may be — you feel it onscreen. That's why it permits the audience to sit with it as well and then have the ability to go deeper into that empathy. It begins with all that patience that he has.


Layne (center) with director Barry Jenkins (left) and co-star Diego Luna (right).


MTV News: What was your audition process like?


Layne: It actually began with me helping one of my companions audition. He was submitting a tape for Fonny, and he invited me to be his reader. So that's how it began, and that's how I noticed out the film was being cast. It wasn't up until two weeks later that I was able to submit my own tape. And from then on, my next step was the chemistry read in New York with Stephan [James], who'd already been cast. Then I was on set shooting a movie.


MTV News: What did your friend mention?


Layne: He was excited from the very starting of me getting the possibility to submit my own tape. At the time, any time Whenever I was helping him, I did not have representation in Los Angeles although, so he was just excited that I was going to get my chance to actually go for it.


MTV News: Did you habitually aspire to be a performer?


Layne: Habitually. I went to a performing arts elementary and high school back in Cincinnati, so I began studying acting in a school setting Once I was seven and I just never stopped.


MTV News: What was it about acting?


Layne: I honestly don't know. I feel like I'm one of these people that I was just place on Earth to do it. I don't ever recall wanting to do anything else. I can't really recall a specific moment or movie that made me be like, "This is the thing I'd like to do." It's habitually been there.


MTV News: You were doing theater in Chicago any time once you determined to move to Los Angeles. What inspired the move?


Layne: I had been planning to move to L.A. To take advantage of more TV and film possibilities. Some things shoot in Chicago, nevertheless even those things that shoot there still cast their bigger roles in L.A. Or New York. I ended up moving because I got an audition for ABC's talent showcase, and I noticed out on a Saturday that the audition was the upcoming Tuesday. I just knew I did not have the cash to be flying back and forth between Chicago and L.A., So I'm like, "Girl, if you're going out there for that audition, you better find a way to stay." So I packed up my life Saturday and Sunday and flew to L.A. On Monday. So that was my move, which was rough.


MTV News: What was that starting week like?


Layne: the initial beginning week was sharing a twin-size bed with my very best friend from elementary [school] up until I might figure out my own living situation. Then even Once I figured that out, there was just so much stuff that was a complete disaster. So much so that the week before I submitted my tape for Beale Street I was willing to go back residence to Cincinnati. I felt like I moved also fast. Who moves across the nation without planning? I was prepared to go, although then something in my spirit just kept me there and then it was literally the next week that I finally met with the boss and got my audition for Beale Street.


MTV News: Did you visualize yourself in Tish at all?


Layne: Tish and me are actually very, very different. I was interested in exploring a side of myself that I don't needless to say tap into, real openness and vulnerability. I carry myself with a lot more independence and this idea that that's where strength comes from, this ability to do so much by myself. I learned from Tish that that isn't the only definition of strength. Case in point, there really is so much power in all of her vulnerability, and in all the passion that she carries and receives and gives.


MTV News: What was the most difficult part? Was it just tapping into that more weak side, or were there other challenges?


Layne: No, that was the largest challenge for me. I'm certainly a person, even Whenever I need help, I got to be going through it to finally ask for help. Even in those first couple of months in L.A. — I was struggling, however nobody knew. None of my companions knew, [my] family member didn't know. So several people would have been ready to aid me, however I'm just like, "No, I have to figure it out on my own. I got myself into this situation, I'm going to get myself out."


MTV News: Barry mentioned that what connected him to the story at first was the tender love story between Tish and Fonny. Was it similar for you?


Layne: These are two soulmates. These are two young black people who are... Their souls are tied to each other. And I just knew that that was really going to be something special. Then, actually seeing the movie and seeing the images of those two young, chocolate black people loving each other like that — that, to me, made it even more so. I didn't even realize how very few images of that I've seen onscreen.


MTV News: This is your first feature film. Did it feel like a continuation of your drama research in a way?


Layne: Certainly. I was working with legends and people with so much experience who just know so much about the craft. In the film, you visualize all these people coming around my character, Tish, yet in real life, all of those people were coming around me and supporting me as I was experiencing all of those new things and having to learn a lot of new things very, very fast. To me, that was the most special thing about each person that I got to work with, is that they actually came around me, KiKi, you know?


MTV News: I am guessing living in L.A. Is a different experience for you now.


Layne: It's quite different for me right now. I'm settling in as much as I can, traveling so much and everything. I'm in a much better place, and I'm very thankful that I didn't leave because I really was willing to go. I recently looked at the draft of the email that I was about to send my landlord one night: "I'm out of here. Keep my security deposit, I don't care. I'll find someone else to move in." Although right now I'm finding my companions and community in L.A., Which is a large segment of feeling good about L.A. You must find your people.


MTV News: What are you looking for once you're reading scripts these days?


Layne: I'm still looking for stories that speak to me, nevertheless I love acting for the possibility to just play all types of things. I don't aspire to be stuck into any kind of box. It's just what speaks to my spirit. It might would be any genre because some days maybe I'd like to prepare people laugh, maybe I'd like to stick out of buildings. It's all a possibility for me.


MTV News: What is a unlikely source of inspiration for you?


Layne: An unlikely source of inspiration? My nieces and nephews. I feel encouraged to keep going because I know that if I keep going, then I can tell them to keep going. Yet if I stop, or get to discouraged, then how can I encourage them to continue to do whichever it is they wish to do? One of my nieces goes to the performing arts school that I went to, also it sounds like she's leaning more toward Broadway, and she inspires me. I have to keep going to show her you can really do this.


MTV News: Finally, I know you're obsessed with The Lion King.


Layne: I am. Yes. I saw that trailer.


MTV News: How several times did you watch it?


Layne: Look, I began to tear up. It's just a trailer, although people mentioned that about the Beale Street trailer. I'm like, "I get it." I'm going to be a disaster whenever The Lion King comes out. Don't put anything into my schedule. Seriously! My team is going to get an email like, "This is where I plan to be. We are not scheduling anything. I am going to be one of the initial people to witness the magic."