Kelly Jenrette was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and is known for her work on Fox comedy Grandfathered and the anthology series Manhunt: Deadly Games. She received a Primetime Emmy Award Nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her guest appearance on The Handmaid's Tale - in the same year as her husband Melvin Jackson Jr, marking the first time a married Black couple had been nominated in the same year. She can now be seen on The CW's All-American: Homecoming which was recently renewed for a third season. Kelly writes for HELLO! and shares her story, how she starts each day with gratitude - and what Black joy means to her.
© Diana RaglandBlack joy to me means celebrating my strengths and weaknesses, my successes and failures, unapologetically being gracious, and kind and just cheering for those who may have acquired or obtained the things that I desire; being grateful that they have the opportunity to acquire the things that they desire as well.
I like to start each day with gratitude, thanking God that I woke up this morning. My best friend passed away from colon cancer in 2018; it'll be five years in October. That just really rocked me to my core, that this 33-year-old woman was taken away from us in the blink of an eye. We don't get to live here forever, so make the most of the time that you have with each moment.
Waking up with a grateful heart allows that to set the tone for the rest of my day. As a young girl, I remember seeing actors that looked like me; Rudy (Keshia Knight Pulliam) on The Cosby Show always really resonated with me because she looked like me, and my daddy took me to see the Five Heartbeats and when I saw the young sister (Tressa Thomas) I was just moved and said, This is something that I would like to do.
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I moved out to Los Angeles in 2006 and it wasn't until 2013 that I got my first co-star role on a TV show. Rejection leads to mind games, but finding a way to quiet those voices, through my relationship with God, helps me get out of my own way. That same year, I had been facing personal challenges and I found myself doing a lot of reflecting, and pressed upon my heart by God was, It's not about you, it's about the assignment that I have for you. I began to ask God, What is it that you would have me do?
And [asking that] really just took the pressure off. It changed the game and I felt like at that moment God said, Okay, I can trust you, you're not going to make it about being famous, and things took off from there. I have been so extremely blessed with a community of people who are like-minded and who challenge me and remind me to continue to ask the question, What is the assignment? so that it does not become about my own desires.
When the opportunity came for All-American: Homecoming, I read who Amara Patterson was and I identified with her immediately. Amara's relationship with her niece Simone is so similar to my relationship with my nephew Johnathon and niece Evelyn; I am so protective over them, I feel like a second mom to them. Amara is a truth seeker, and I feel like the stories that we tell now are resonating with audiences, like the bomb threat episode we did. Last year over 50 universities and churches received bomb threats, and so telling that story is an opportunity [to say] we see you and we stand with you.
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© GettyThere are so many women I'd love to play with on screen; I would love to have Angela Bassett on the show!
I definitely see more inclusivity on screen now, and more people of color behind the camera. We have two female camera operators on All American: Homecoming and so I see the change and I'm so grateful for that.
I thank God for my mom every single day. She is by far one of the most amazing women that I have ever met in my life. I have an older sister, and we joke that I gave birth to my niece and nephew but she is raising them so that I could pursue my dream! Just watching her raise these two incredible individuals is awe inspiring.
But this world is very scary. There is just so much senseless violence, it's heartbreaking. I remember a couple of years ago, my nephew was turning 19 and I was so worried for him but I had to pull back and just say, My hope for you is that you love God, that you live life to the fullest, that you get to do your photography.
While life and death is in the power of the tongue, and I do feel like there's so much darkness out there in the world, God is the same yesterday today and forevermore. And I just pray that even in the midst of all of this senseless violence and selfishness, and ugliness, that we have sown seeds of light into our children and that they will be light in the midst of this darkness.
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