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Gillian White in ‘The Oval.’ Photo Courtesy of BET
Actress Gillian White of “The Oval” chatted about her career in the entertainment industry, and her latest endeavors.
The Oval
On being a part of Tyler Perry’s “The Oval” on BET, where she played Press Secretary Diane Wilmont, she said, “‘The Oval’ was so fun. I still remember when I booked the part. I had gone in for another role on that show, which I didn’t get, but Tyler Perry told me that he needed me on his show, and that I was ‘really good.’ He created the role of Press Secretary, which was a really strong role. It was fun to play Diane.”
“I wanted to play that role hard like she didn’t take any mess from anyone, especially the president. I wanted them to see that I was just trying to do my job, be a good person, and do the right things for the country. My character wasn’t vindictive or bitter, she was just doing her job. She was putting all the president’s dirty laundry out there,” she elaborated.
She had great words about working with her “Oval” co-stars Brad Benedict, Taja V. Simpson, Lodric D. Collins, and Bill Barrett. “It was good,” she admitted. “Everyone on that show was so cool and so nice. We were just like a little family. That was really fun.”
Background on Gillian White
Growing up, she was a student athlete, Gillian was a star basketball player, Homecoming Queen and a honors student in high school. She wanted to be an FBI agent and received a scholarship from the LAPD to attend Howard University and study Administration of Justice but later changed her major to Human Communication focusing on Intra/Interpersonal Relations and minored in Dramatic Arts.
White has been in the business for over 20 years. Her first break was starring as LL Cool J’s lover in his music video “Hey Lover” featuring Boyz II Men and then as Dr. Dre’s wife and tango partner in his music video “Been There, Done That.” “I’ve been acting for a long time. My first role was in 1997,” she said. “The last few years, I think I finally found my niche. Now, I am getting roles that are more badass and they have more weight to them.”
She then moved on from music videos to television and got her first role in the feature film, “How To Be A Player” and then playing Cole’s girlfriend on the hit show “Martin.
White continued to book guest starring roles on sitcoms and dramas and smaller roles in feature films, like the Quentin Tarantino’s classic “Jackie Brown” and Spike Lee’s “Bamboozled.”
“Both of those movies were a long time ago. I was really excited to do ‘Jackie Brown,’ even though the actual scene got deleted. Quentin put it on the DVDs as a deleted scene, which is cool because it went viral that way. I had fun,” she said.
‘Days of Our Lives’
Her favorite roles to date are playing the Amazon warrior, Amoria, on the show “Xena: Warrior Princess,” which she filmed on location in New Zealand and the recurring villain, China Lee Arvin on the soap opera, “Days of Our Lives.”
On being a part of “Days of Our Lives,” she said, “It was fun. That was the second time that I got to play somebody bad. I loved the storyline, even though it went a little crazy as soap operas do.”
The digital age
On being an actress in the digital age, she said, “It’s weird. I even go back to our self-tapes, everything is self-tapes now, we don’t even go to casting rooms anymore. Casting directors have gotten very comfortable with that now, they like viewing self-tapes.”
“There are perks to that because you can submit your best self-tape, where if you didn’t like it the first time, you can re-do it. In front of a casting director, you have one shot only. There are some benefits to it but I don’t mind either way,” she said.
Advice for aspiring actors
For young and aspiring actors, she encouraged them to “have thick skin.” “Also, do your work, and you constantly need to stay up on it. You need to take it seriously. Do things that make you stand out and always be yourself,” she underscored.
“You need to carve your own path out before you get that one big role. Remember that everyone’s path is different,” she said.
Stage of her life
On the title of the current chapter of her life, White said, “Living my best life ever.” “That’s how I feel right now,” she admitted. “There is a lot of people, opportunity, and I am really happy. It’s a really good point in my life.”
Gillian: The wife of Michael Jai White
She married her best friend of 19 years and fiancé of three years, actor, director and martial arts star, Michael Jai White in a lavish but intimate ceremony in Thailand. “We have known each other a really long time, and Michael is my best friend, hands down,” she said.
“We have been trying to get married for a really long time but we couldn’t due to our different schedules, which made it hard to plan a wedding,” she said. “When we were both cast in ‘Never Back Down 3,’ which filmed in Thailand, we decided to get married right after the film wrapped.”
The two had just completed filming their new Sony Pictures film shot in Bangkok, “Never Back Down 3,” which they are both starring in. She has two daughters from a previous marriage, Alaia and Niahla, and three stepchildren, Devin, Jai and Morgan from her new marriage.
“That movie was great,” she said about “Never Back Down 3.” “I loved working with Esai Morales, I’m a huge fan, and he plays my boss in that film. I played a publicist for a big MMA organization like the UFC. My character was also in love with Michael’s character. Working with Esai was awesome, and now he is the villain of the new ‘Mission Impossible’ movie with Tom Cruise,” she explained.
Michael Jai and Gillian White are quickly becoming Black Hollywood’s newest it couple because of their very public loving relationship that solely focuses on their family, health, and fitness, upcoming projects and their genuine happiness together.
Success
On her definition of the word success, White said, “To me, success is an internal thing, and how you feel. Knowing that you’ve done your best and all your efforts have gotten you to a point where you feel satisfied with what you’ve done.”
‘The Island’
She shared that she enjoyed working with director Shaun Paul Piccinino in the upcoming film “The Island. “Shaun is awesome,” she said. “The movie will be out on July 21st. We filmed it in the Caribbean, which felt like a work-cation. This was my first time working with Shaun and he was so nice. I love people that are kind, considerate, and respectful, and he just encompasses all that.”
“The experience was beautiful. The people were kind and we had a great cast and crew,” she acknowledged.
“This will be a great action film where viewers can see me do a Caribbean accent. I am an island girl. It brings action and drama, and it is on a beautiful location,” she said.
To learn more about Gillian White, check out her IMDb page, and follow her on Instagram.
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