Marley Matlin: I had never heard of Teyana until I saw the movie A Thousand and One (2023) where she plays a mother who kidnaps her son from the foster care system. My kids knew she was a singer. Although she doesn’t experience music in the same way that people hear it, she is fascinated by the ability to use lyrics to express emotions and tell stories. As an actor, I do it with a script — that’s my music.
Watching Teyana’s film as a judge at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, I saw the fearlessness and rawness in her performance, so I identified with her and remembered what I did in the first film. I was allowed to [the 1986 drama “Children of a Lesser God,” for which Matlin won an Oscar]As I got older, I became more confident as an actress and as a person. I am deaf, but I make noise.
Teyana Taylor: If I hadn’t turned away from music, Marley wouldn’t have known me from a can of paint. She signed her first record deal at age 15. Coming into this industry, everyone just wants her to focus on one thing, and I just couldn’t take it.
I’m a New York girl and I know how to stay hungry. The biggest piece of advice I’ve received is to never take things personally. Once I understood the power of the word, I was able to get the message across. I had to grow up fast, but I guess I didn’t fully experience adulthood until I had kids and got married. My art went from being fun to being ‘listen, I have something to say’.
The interview has been edited and condensed.
Produced by: Peter McLafferty. Matlin: Hair: Craig Gangi. Makeup: Brett Friedman.
