Talking with Tracee Ellis Ross on the Set of blackish

Confession time. I didn’t start watching the show blackish util a few weeks ago. What on earth was I waiting for?! This show is hilarious and smart – I love watching what the Johnson family is up to each week.

Andre ‘Dre’ Johnson (Anthony Anderson) has a great job, a beautiful wife, Rainbow (Tracee Ellis Ross), four kids and a colonial home in the ‘burbs.  But has success brought too much assimilation for this black family? With a little help from his dad (Laurence Fishburne), Dre sets out to establish a sense of cultural identity for his family that honors their past while embracing the future.

black-ish stars Anthony Anderson as Dre, Tracee Ellis Ross as Rainbow, Yara Shahidi as Zoey, Marcus Scribner as Andre Jr., Miles Brown as Jack, Marsai Martin as Diane and Laurence Fishburne as Pops.

A few weeks ago, we had the chance to visit the set of blackish {more on that coming next week} and interview Tracee Ellis Ross who plays Dr. Rainbow “Bow” Johnson!

PHOTO CREDIT: ABC/Bob D’Amico

While at Walt Disney Studios, we had the chance to preview two episodes of blackish {including Chop Shop which aired a few weeks ago!} and then Tracee Ellis Ross herself met our group to walk us over to the set of blackish.

Photo Credit: ABC

Working With The Kids of blackish

Watching blackish, you can instantly see the great chemistry between the entire cast. When asked about working with all of her co-workers {especially the kids!}, Tracee said, “Honestly, talent aside, yes they’re talented, but they’re wonderful people.  I mean, it’s really joyful. There’s that myth, don’t work with kids or animals. I can’t understand that.  I had such a good experience.  You can say it this way, but like they’re, they’ve been on the planet for less time than us and they’re not jaded, they just have a pure joy – when you see Miles and Marsai in the morning, they run towards you for a cuddle. It’s magic.  Usually between takes, there’s a lot of giggling and laughing and videos being taken and pictures and everything, so I really enjoy it.  They’re extremely talented.”

Photo Credit – ABC/Ron Batzdorff

Tracee even shared how she realized how she could help Miles Brown, who plays her youngest son in the show, “Miles, who loves sports – he loves basketball.  He loves LeBron James.  They’re kids so you say something like focus, get focused – focus. I was going to bed one night and I was like, maybe he doesn’t know what that means.  I need to explain that a little bit more because maybe everybody keeps saying focus, but maybe he has no idea what that means.  So I thought about a really good metaphor that I was really happy about, because he loves basketball, I was like well, it’s like who had the ball.  And so now that’s what I say, who has the ball, but even if he doesn’t have the ball, even if you’re not the one with the ball, who has the ball?  So that you stay in the scene and you stay in the game, right? So, I was really proud of myself.  They’re so young and they have such a grown-up job on their shoulders and they’re kids.  They’re great kids, so it’s really fun.”

“They’re fantastic.  They’re wonderful and they’re happy and it’s amazing to me.  They’re kids and when they get tired, they have to keep working. I think they’re wonderful, so we’re really blessed, and there’s such a natural connection between all of us that I’m amazed, like it just kind of was there  genuinely from the beginning, but it’s only growing more interesting. We’ve been working together now for a year-and-a-half, so we really know each other and there’s a sense of safety and connection, it’s really special.” 

The Difference Between Tracee Ellis Ross and the Character of Bow Johnson

In case you didn’t know, Tracee is the daughter of singer Diana Ross and music business manager Robert Ellis Silberstein. She is biracial herself and when asked if it was important to get that story out there on blackish. Tracee shared, “Honestly, they have not explored that story much on the show, and I will say that I have been very clear, I’m not playing myself. I think it’s really exciting that she’s mixed.  I’ve actually never got to play a mixed character on TV.  I usually play a black girl. But I think it’s exciting that she is mixed but the truth is we haven’t really been exploring that story line, and I have a real clarity that this is a role that I’m playing. So although I try and keep it honest if I don’t believe that’s the trajectory of what my character would do. I leave that to the writers and it’s like kind of like magic when you get the new script because you’re like, this is crazy or hilarious but it’s not me. It’s not my story. It’s not a matched experience for what my experience has been.  I’m not married.  I don’t have four kids, you know?”

Photo Credit: ABC/John Fleenor

Bow has a fun wardrobe and Tracee shared, “I do have a lot of input on my wardrobe. We have a wonderful costume department led by Michelle Cole, who’s very incredible, and been doing this forever. I do have input but they do the shopping.  I don’t really specify any designers. My style is a little bit different than Bow, which I kind of love.  Bow doesn’t wear heels ever.  I wear heels all the time. Bow rarely wears a heal, which I find liberatingly wonderful.  It’s so great to not put heels on. One of the things that was very clear to me that I really wanted to bring to Bow is that she dressed hair and makeup wise really like a woman that was authentically a mother of four with a career and a husband and like all of that.”

“So I usually don’t wear mascara, I mean, I don’t wear eye shadow and stuff like that.  It’s sort of like the mascara and the lipstick is sort of her sort of regimen and routine.  There’s usually not a lot of jewelry.  I feel like the way she pulls from her closet is the way people pull from their closet, so it’s usually a dress and sneakers or jeans and a cute top.  It’s not like styled, you know. I wear a lot more stuff than she does, but I like to keep it really authentic. I usually, if we can – because of the shooting schedule – I usually remove my mascara and most of my makeup when I’m in the bed.  Sometimes, we can’t ’cause we’re about to go back to another scene where I need to have my mascara on, but mostly I try to be authentic and not have makeup on when I’m in the bed.  It’s a pet peeve of mine when you see an actress wake up with lip gloss.  Somehow, it’s not on the pillow.”

Talking Her Favorite Episodes

When asked what her favorite episode was, Tracee shared that she had several favorite episodes, including “Churched”, which aired in October. “In terms of funny, I just thought everybody was so funny.  I thought the writing was great.  I thought the direction was great.  I felt like, even just the little moments between the kids and I.  Just overall, I thought it was a great one.  I loved the N-word episode just because I thought that writing-wise, like that subject was handled like pitch perfect in my opinion.  And that was such a difficult, like how do you make that funny, and somehow they did, and yet we weren’t laughing at the word.  I thought that was just so beautifully handled and the fact that it was introduced through Jack was so interesting and such an interesting way to flip that on its head like where even for my character, which I liked, she had such a staunch – no hate speech whatsoever, but when I was her kid, she got tangled, and I just thought that was so real.  She all of a sudden was like, a little bit on the fence, like maybe it’s okay, you know.”

Photo Credit: ABC/Kelsey McNeal

“So I thought that was really well handled. I thought that the kids were magical in the Halloween episode.  I did not see them shoot that.   I don’t know if you saw that episode, but when they were attacking the kids and it went into slow mo, I just was crying with laughter.  I couldn’t believe how funny that was.  It was so funny.  And then, little Kayla, God, I was like what’s happening?  It was so funny to me.  So I would say those three right now.  Those are all from this season.”

“I love this show.  I mean, I laugh when I watch it. I love that you can watch it with your kids and it’s like it’s really fun.”

Photo Credit: ABC

I had such a fantastic time chatting with Tracee Ellis Ross. She was such a charming, warm and funny person!

Photo Credit: ABC

Watch blackish on Wednesdays at 9:30/8:30 CT

I’m still cracking up when I think of the “Chop Shop” episode that aired on November 18th {you can watch it now over on ABC.com!} where Dre gets an unfortunate hair cut and Bow stresses over the family Christmas card!

But you’ll want to make sure you tune in tonight for the episode “Man at Work”, which we got a sneak peek of!

Dre has always looked out for the crew he grew up with, but when his childhood friend Sha (guest star Faizon Love) comes to stay at the house for a few days, Bow thinks he is taking advantage of Dre’s generosity. Meanwhile, Daphne Lido (played by Wanda Sykes), the now ex-wife of Stevens & Lido’s founding partner, gains control of half of the company and wants to start inserting herself in company business. When Daphne starts to question Charlie’s work ethic, Dre must decide who he remains loyal to.

Photo Credit: ABC/Eddy Chen

ABC/Adam Taylor

Don’t forget to tune into blackish on ABC. It airs Wednesday nights at 9:30/8:30 CT.

Disclosure: Disney provided an all expenses paid trip to Los Angeles including travel, accommodations and activities. All thoughts and opinions are my own.