On “Snowfall,” Aunt Louie is a fan favorite. The character, played by Angela Lewis, is a complex one. She is a drug dealer, no doubt about that, but she is also family-focused, and a trustworthy and important leader in her crew. Her depiction of Louie is complex, nuanced, and layered, a lot like Lewis herself.
A relatively new mom, Lewis is also passionate about Black maternal health care. She is in the beginning stages of creating a foundation with the goal of ensuring equity for Black mothers and mothers-to-be who need help with getting access to education and resources and access to resources, programs, and services that will help them to have a healthy pregnancy and birth and the postpartum period.
An alumna of Cass Tech, she credits a large part of her success to her time at the school’s performing arts guild. “I studied under Marilyn McCormick, who is now a Tony Award-winning educator,” Lewis says. “And she really gave us the foundation for enacting the foundations, the skills, and the techniques that we needed to really be ahead of the game in college and beyond.”
After graduating from the University of Michigan, Lewis took her talents to New York City. She and her husband, fellow actor J. Mallory Cree, moved to Los Angeles and she was quickly cast in John Singleton’s FX drama, “Snowfall.” After Singleton’s death in 2019, there was concern if the series would keep going or keep his vision. While it has been overlooked by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences with no Emmy nominations to its credit (yet), the show is a critical and social media hit.
I talked with Lewis about her acting career, Singleton’s legacy, and her favorite foods to eat when she comes home to visit.
Model D: So many entertainment icons came out of Cass. Can you talk a little about your high school experience?
Angela Lewis: I had a great time at Cass. It was a lot of fun and a lot of learning. You learn a lot in high school during those years. And I certainly did at my school, at our school.
And then Cass is such a big school, and there are so many different interests that one can dive into. And so, I really gained a network of people who know things that I don't know about. If I need an attorney ... I know people in architecture, I know people in engineering. And those relationships, a lot of them started at Cass. And then there are people who I met first at Bates (Academy) and then went to Cass and then went on to Michigan, I went to University of Michigan. And so, I have lifelong friends that I grew up with.
Model D: You know for Detroiters, people always tell us we have an accent and then we're always like what accent? I know Damson got a lot of dialect training for his role as Franklin Saint. Did you get any dialect coaching?
Lewis: Not a lot. (Rapper) WC was hired to help Damson mostly but he is our official dialect coach. My character, Louie, is from Baton Rouge. I felt like she already knew who she was. Or even if she didn't know who she was, she was kind of already established in herself and how she spoke. So, Louie has a lot of Southern influence. And I feel like the way, even now, the way LA natives speak is not terribly far off from how Detroiters speak. We both kind of hit those Rs a little bit more. So, I didn't have to do a 180 like Damson did.
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Angela Lewis
Model D: One of the things I love about Louie is her costuming, like she stays dressed to death. Can you talk about how much fun it must be to dress up every day?
Lewis: Oh, my gosh, it's so much fun. My costume fittings are always 2 hours long. And I always have 3 more costume fittings than everybody else. I have costume fittings throughout the duration of the season because they bring me so many clothes. And they're always fabulous. And I'm always like, ooh, I want to try this, ooh, I want to try that. So, I have a lot of fun in costume fittings. And I always feel fabulous when I put on Louie.
Model D: John Singleton’s vision was so important for the show. Do you think that since his passing that the show is still following his vision?
Lewis: I do. I think that we're all on the same page in terms of his vision and his intention for the show. I think while he was here on earth with us, he fought really hard to put more people of color in front of and behind the camera, not only on “Snowfall” but in Hollywood in general. And so, our show is no different.
Our show is full of people who were here when he was fighting for truth and for equality. And people who understood that. And sometimes it takes somebody leaving to see and understand what they were trying to say when they were here. And so, whether a person was on the same page with him before or not, I think what his passing did was unite us and it helps people to recognize and to acknowledge the fact that he fought so hard while he was here for a certain standard, for the integrity of seeing Black people in their truth, and not stereotyped.
I think that we are standing in his legacy, and everybody knows that, everybody acknowledges that, everybody is honored to be in that place. And I think that reverberates in all of our show. In the writing, in the directing, in the acting, in the camera work, in the producing of it, in everywhere. I think everybody knows and is standing up to meet the honor of being a part of his legacy.
Model D: What advice would you give to aspiring actors in Detroit?
Lewis: Not everybody has to leave Detroit in order to find success. I felt like when I was coming out, and starting my career it was important to be in a larger market.
I visited New York and I was like, oh, I must live here. I did 13 years in New York before coming to LA. But we're in a time where everything is self-taped. And so, you don't necessarily need to be in the larger market. What you do need to be, though, is connected to the larger markets in some way. And so, my advice is to just find your community, your community in whatever genre that you're in. If you're an actor, if you're a filmmaker, there is a community there.
And I will also say, find some classes. Because when you start to take class, not only are you more educated in the field that you're trying to get into but now you're surrounded by other like-minded individuals, you're surrounded by people who can help to inspire you. You're surrounded by teachers who can start to answer questions. You're surrounded by your network. Grow your network from where you are.
Model D: Somebody said that I had to ask you how do you like your chili cheese fries? Do you like them with squeeze cheese or with sliced cheese?
Lewis: (laughs) Oh, my goodness, this person whoever they are, they're gonna hate me because I'm vegan now. But I guess, back in the day, it would have been squeeze cheese.
Model D: What are some of your favorite Detroit foods?
Lewis: La-Shish. I was just home recently and we got to go to La-Shish. And I was like, yummy.
Model D: You know, there is a vegan Coney Island here now.
Lewis: Right! (Chili Mustard and Onions) I definitely have to try that next time I’m home.
Follow Angela Lewis on Twitter and Instagram @luvAngelaLewis