The multi-hyphenate talent Teyana Taylor is set to play the legendary Dionne Warwick in an upcoming biopic. In a recent episode of the Tamron Hall Show, the entertainer shared the deets on portraying the music icon and what the journey has meant to her thus far.
Taylor is an actress, singer-songwriter, director, choreographer, director, and model all rolled up into one! The New York native first rose to fame in 2006 when she choreographed the music video for Beyoncé's Ring the Alarm at only 15 years old. Taylor was then signed to Pharrell Williams' Star Trak Entertainment label, and by 2010, was working alongside Kanye West on his album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. She eventually switched over to West's GOOD Music label and began providing vocals for some of the top artists in the industry. The musician released her first studio album, K.T.S.E. (Keep The Same Energy), in 2018, and it immediately received incredible commercial and critical success. So basically, she's a boss.
Although we haven't been getting any new music from Taylor, the artist is scheduled to portray the one and only Dionne Warwick in the untitled biopic. Taylor sat down with Tamon Hall, explaining that they've begun production and are already in the "building process" already. However, when it comes down to playing an icon such as Warwick herself, Taylor told the host her top priority is "about making her [Warwick] feel as safe as possible to tell her story." She continued, "A lot of these stories get misconstrued or dramatized to an extent," and "that's not really where we want to go."
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So in order to prepare for the major role, Teyana looked to Angela Basset's portrayal of Tina Turner in the 1993 biopic for inspiration, as well as Jamie Foxx's role of Ray Charles in the 2004 movie Ray. Taylor told Hall she also has really gotten to know the Heartbreaker singer over the past few years. "We talk almost every day," she said. "That's my girl." And as far as Dionne's thoughts on Teyana taking on her life story? The 82-year-old superstar has praised her vision and direction of the film. "She's very excited about the prospect of being involved, and she's also going to be very, very much involved in directing it and putting together parts and parcel of how we see this going," Warwick explained. Well, sign us up!
