I chatted with Actress/Director Victoria Rowell about her career and her upcoming exhibition at MICA.

You started your career as a ballet dancer. What similarities are there between performing a dance and a emotional scene on screen?

It’s related because ballet is telling a story through movement. The difference is you’re telling the story with your entire body and emotional self. When I came into acting, I found it extraordinary that it was mostly about your face and line delivery.

You spent many years playing Drucilla Winters on “The Young & The Restless.” What do you think made her so memorable for the audience?

I think both portraying Drucilla Winters and then Amanda Bentley in primetime on “Diagnosis Murder” inspired people to watch both shows. Drucilla came from a two parent household, but she felt less loved than her older sister, Olivia. She ran away, was living on the streets and didn’t finish school. She pulled herself up by her bootstraps and rehabilitated herself. Got a job, got married, and took an interest in ballet. She also had a storyline about adoption and foster care; subjects I brought up to the writers, specifically William Bell. She resonated across the board globally with the audience for many different reasons.

I read that you were filming “Young And The Restless” AND “Diagnosis Murder’ at the SAME time. How did that work?

I did that consecutively for six years. I don’t believe any other actor has broken that record. It was a lot of work and required the political will of producers of BOTH shows. Not to mention I was booking films with Eddie Murphy and Beau Bridges and Sheryl Lee Ralph during the same time. Needless to say I had a VERY busy schedule. I also had two children, so I had to balance. It was a group effort; between the producers, managers, personal assistant and childcare. I had great actors to work opposite: Kristoff St. John, Eric Braeden, Tanya Lee Williams, Dick Van Dyke, Michael Tucci…some of them legendary but all near and dear.

You mentioned Kristoff St. John. Do you have a favorite memory of you two together?

I don’t have one in particular. I performed over 2,000 episodes, so we have a lot of memories together. We had light hearted scenes and family drama scenes; we worked really well together. We had what you can’t put a price on and that’s chemistry. I loved our Japanese wedding. I also remember we had to do a Jello scene where we had to get into a tub of Jello, which was hilarious.

It’s funny that you mention that Jello scene; I do remember that. I was being watched by my grandmother at the time and at 12:30 it was either “sit down and be quiet for an hour or take a nap while my soap is on”

::both laugh::

I also will say in terms of the daytime work, I was proud to pitch talent to the show for scenes. For example, I reached out to Kenny Lattimore and Chante Moore for the wedding scene and they did. Also bringing in ballet dancers for the ballet storyline. If you will, it was early producing. I’ve been producing, writing and directing, for about a decade. I’m getting ready to direct another Christmas movie, actually.

What do you think television gets right and wrong about representing black women?

I wouldn’t say black women, I would say anyone of color of any gender. I think that it has improved and that there’s always room for improvement. There’s been improvement in the acting space but even showrunners. Quinta Brunson, Shonda Rhimes. People of color are now in the writers rooms and producing tables. If you look at all the talent that was on “The Office” and “SNL” even. You see that there have been tremendous offshoots from both casts. Mindy Kaling is a showrunner now. It shouldn’t be because you’re a person of color, it should be because you’re qualified.

If you had a superpower, what would it be and why?

It would be to knock off hunger and poverty. We would live in a powerful country and there are other powerful countries to have shelter, stop global warming and be at peace.

Your memoir, “The Women Who Raised Me.” For folks that haven’t read it, what is it about?

It’s an homage to the women who raised me. I grew up in foster care and it wasn’t traditional. It was a series of women who were my ballet teachers, mentors, and people who impacted my life while I was pursuing my career of ballet and acting. I’ve become a mentor. I think it’s important in a formative years of a person’s life, but even after you’re an adult.

If you could sit down with your younger self, what would you tell her?

Keep doing what you’re doing. To listen, to express gratitude to the people who love you, to do your part and work hard. But importantly, be yourself. There’s only one you.

Your upcoming photography exhibition is called “A Woman Becomes..” Who or what inspired this exhibition?

Yes! It opens on September 25th at MICA, and runs until October 11th. The show is about the power of the female anatomy whether you are an athlete, in the work place, a mother; it’s about the journey of a woman’s body from girlhood to womanhood and beyond. It’s about resilience, healing wounds, and holding the power. I wanted to open up the discussion about girls do become women and what happens in that space. It’s also in honor of girls that don’t make it. There will also be cultural pieces of mine that will apart of the exhibit.

Victoria’s exhibition “A Woman Becomes” opens at MICA Friday, September 25th! It runs through October 11th. Info

Follow Victoria on IG

Her latest film, “The Secret Between Us”, is now streaming on Apple TV!