Keke Palmer is Anything But Uncool

Feature Editors:
Erica Telisnor, 14
Aleka Daley, 17
Massachusetts

Keke Palmer’s debut CD might be called So Uncool, but this rising star is anything but.  Receiving a Screen Actors Guild nomination for her first major role in The Wool Cap—making her the youngest actor to ever be nominated by the guild in a lead actor category—Keke is now blazing a trail on the music scene. You know her from her award-winning role in Akeelah and the Bee, but did you know she also sang the song “All My Girlz” on the movie soundtrack? This 14-year-old is a dynamic duo all wrapped up into one talented teen.

Teen Voices: Why did you change your name from Lauren Keyana to Keke?
Keke Palmer: Well, Lauren Keyana Palmer is the name my mom gave me at birth. My parents started calling me Keke because my older sister had an imaginary friend named Keke, and she wanted them to name me Keke, so it’s been my nickname ever since. When I moved to California when I was 10, I had this manager who heard my mom calling me Keke and he was like, “Well you should change your stage name from Lauren Keyana Palmer to Keke Palmer.” So, that’s what we did.

TV: What do you think about the roles that are offered to young actors, especially young actors of color?
Keke: I think sometimes there are positive roles, like Akeelah and the Bee, and then sometimes you can get those projects that are kind of stereotypical against black people and I think it’s a matter of what part you want people to see you as. I want people to see that I’m the type of kid to be a role model and someone that kids can look up to. I try to always take roles that have a good message or just have a good acting role, you know, not stereotypical.

TV: How is television acting different from movie acting?
Keke: Acting on television is so much fun and you have a certain time where you come and practice. When you act on movies you practice a little bit before they get the cameras set and you just do the acting. The biggest difference between them is the time of the day because while acting in movies, you need a lot of time on set, depending on your role. Like in Akeelah and the Bee, I was on set as long as I could be just because I was in so many scenes.

TV: Do you have a preference?
Keke: With TV shows, your show could be one, two, three or more seasons and you never know when it will end. I like acting in movies more because it’s so quick. You know when you are filming and you know when it’s going to be done.

TV: Who were your biggest acting influences?
Keke: I would have to say William H. Macy because The Wool Cap was my first big role. During that whole film, he was just such a helpful actor and I really looked up to him after that. He was so nice to me and he gave me time. I really respect him for that and I could never thank him enough for giving me that role. Because of that role I got a SAG [Screen Actors Guild] Award nomination!

TV: Which role have you found the most challenging to play?
Keke: I can’t say that too many were really challenging because I can always channel a certain kind of emotion. But I know the one I recently did was a little hard for me to get at the emotion. It was a movie I did with Samuel L. Jackson, which is coming out in the fall, called Cleaner. I had to cry in this one scene and I never really had anything that I could think about and make me just cry. I’ve never been hurt really badly and, thankfully, no one has died that’s really important to me in my family. So whenever I try to channel that kind of crying emotion it’s always hard. My mom died in the movie and I was supposed to cry because I wanted her back. I just thought about if my real mom had ever died, where would I be and I know I wouldn’t be acting, I wouldn’t be anything. I would just be really, really sad if she had ever died. I just thought about that and I just started crying and crying and crying.

TV: What kind of roles are you interested in playing?
Keke: I love dramas! Doing dramas is so much fun because it’s good to play in those dramatic scenes that make people turn in their seats. At the same time, I’m a really funny person, like I’m really goofy, and doing comedies is fun as well.

TV: What’s it like working with major stars like Queen Latifah?
Keke: Oh, it was amazing! Barbershop 2: Back in Business was the first movie I auditioned for and got. I was just so happy to have the role because at first they didn’t want to give me an audition because I had never acted in anything before. I just kept auditioning and they finally gave me the part. They thought I deserved it. So, just being on the set with Queen Latifah, I felt I had achieved something and I was just so proud of myself.

TV: How does being a celebrity affect your social life? Do people recognize you when you are out in public?
Keke: Yeah, a lot of times they recognize me from movies and stuff and it makes me proud that they liked my movie and they watched it.Sometimes I might be out eating with my friends wanting to relax and someone will come up to me. At the same time, I could never be mad at them because I understand where they are coming from.

TV: What was it like receiving the Black Movie Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture for Akeelah?
Keke: I was so excited, I couldn’t believe it! I kind of had a feeling when Shemar Moore said, “You go, girl.” I had a feeling he was going to say “Keke Palmer” and he did and I was just so excited.

TV: How did you get into singing?
Keke: I was actually a singer before I started acting. My mom did backup for Mariah Carey and people like that and I always thought when I grew up I would be a singer. And acting just kind of took off for me. After I did Akeelah and the Bee, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis were doing the song on it and they told the director of the movie that I could sing really well. So I met up with Craig Kallman, the chairman of Atlantic Records, and it was just a great meeting.

TV: Do you write your own songs?
Keke: Yes, actually we have 12 songs on the CD. My sister, and Toby Gad—who wrote “Big Girls Don’t Cry” with Fergie—and I wrote four of the songs on my CD.

TV: What inspired the title of your debut CD So Uncool?
Keke: Individuality. I just want people to be their own self. Defying the ordinary and being different. Being yourself and not being afraid to own up to who you are. It’s so uncool, like whatever you are and whatever you like to do. It’s so uncool that it is cool.

TV: Lots of female pop stars seem to think they have to dress and act real sexy to get attention? What kinds of pressure have you felt to do that?
Keke: I know I have the pressure of being sexy sometimes when I’m not suppose to be because I’m so young. I always try to let people know that I’m only 14 years old. But it’s never been a pressure where I needed attention in that kind of way. I’m always entertaining people and it doesn’t have to be in a sexual way.

TV: What are you looking forward to right now with your new CD?
Keke: Well, it’s so exciting because people don’t really know me as a singer; they know me, mainly, as an actress. I want them to be able to see me and respect me in both worlds. They have me dancing in “Remember When,” which is my first single off the CD and you can check out the video on KekePalmer.com.

TV: What’s your favorite song on your new CD?
Keke: A favorite song on the CD? I have so many, so many good songs on there. I would have to say “Music Box.”

TV: Do you plan on attending college? What are your future plans for your career?
Keke: Oh yes! I want to go to Harvard University.

TV: What advice would you give young girls who want to pursue a career in the entertainment industry?
Keke: If it’s something that you really want to do because it’s your passion, then I say go for it and don’t let anybody bring you down. If it’s something that you truly, truly love you can do nothing but excel in it.

TV: Are you involved in your community? What kinds of things do you put your time into?
Keke: I’m a Girl Scout and I always try to do stuff with the Girl Scouts. They actually have this program, Uniquely Me, about being yourself and loving yourself for who you are. I have a song on my album called “Skin Deep” which is exactly about that and it’s such a great song and I want to get that out to young girls, so I always try to express that to teens.