Chit-Chatter: Melissa De Sousa Talks Collecting Unemployment After Struggling In Hollyweird With Rolling Out Magazine

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Best Man Holiday actress Melissa De Sousa gets her model on for Rolling Out..

Melissa De Sousa Covers Rolling Out Magazine

Best Man Holiday actress Melissa De Sousa is glad to be back in the limelight and enjoying the success of the much anticipated Best Man film sequel since it’s release last month. Melissa recently sat down with Rolling Out Magazine for a quick chat about the state of black films today, her experiences as a minority actress in Hollywood and more.

Check out a few interview excerpts below.

via Rolling Out

What’s the difference — positive or negative — in black cinema now and 15 years ago?
I think it’s positive. We had to start somewhere. Those stories in the past needed to be told. Everything gets better with time. I feel like now it’s getting back to those great [director] Spike Lee days, more diverse, more intelligent [films].

You shouldn’t underestimate your audience. I feel like it’s changing for the better. There are roles for all types of movies. I mean you still want to watch the urban movies and they need to be told. You still want to see something you haven’t seen before. Like everyday movies like The Best Man. The movie didn’t have to be played by African American people; it is a movie that everyone can relate to.

You have a unique look. Have there been any advantages or disadvantages in getting parts and dealing with Hollywood?
Tons of rejection … [so] much I can’t even count. I mean most of the time [I get] more “nos” than “yeses.” I never really had anyone say anything real horrible to me. I had to prove myself.

I remember when I auditioned for Hustle & Flow, which is the one [movie] Terrence got his nomination for. You know they thought I was “too pretty” and I wouldn’t be able to play a down-on-her luck s*ripper. But I begged them to see me. You know I went in and did my thing. I ended up screen-testing. The person who got it was Paula Jai Parker. I think Regina Hall also screen-tested. You know I had to fight for them to even look at me in that way, because they thought I was too nice and would not be able to get gritty and dirty.

You have to prove yourself because people always want to put you in a box. I am just the one not to do that to.

Melissa also opened up about the low points in her career and even admitted to collecting unemployment at one point. Hit the flip to read about that and check out a few more pics from her Rolling Out spread.

What about the highs and lows of your acting career?
It’s not always easy to get in the “door.” You know when I first came to Los Angeles, I slept on my girlfriend’s floor for a year. I got my first agent and I sent my pictures out to everybody and since I had no experience and I had nothing on tape or even seen, some of the [agencies] sent my pictures back to me [laughs]. You have to have an attitude that nothing’s gonna stop me. I think that’s just my New York kind of attitude — survival of the fittest. You cannot let people come up in your face and stop you.

So I went in and got the agent that way and started to do commercials and whatever and my first role, I think, was playing a gang member. It was a guest spot on this show called “The Trials of Rosie O’Neill.” With every job, you know there are highs and lows. After the first Best Man, I had a big movie, Miss Congeniality with Sandra Bullock that was huge. It still comes on television. I am still getting paid, which is great and crazy [laughs].

I also got a TV series with [producer] Darren Starr, who created “Sex in the City” that was big time for me and took me to another part of the business. When I got the big Darren Starr break we got canceled after five episodes because we were up against another show called “The West Wing.” So we were in the same time slot and we got clobbered — that show was huge. After that I got depressed for a while. It was such a big deal because [I was] working in New York, my hometown and coming off the success of The Best Man and I think it messed with my head a little bit, which was the first time I had a major disappointment.

Then there were times I didn’t work for maybe two or three years. There was a time I didn’t have an agent for one reason or another. When the agent dropped me I was like “OK, maybe I am not in the business anymore.” God-willing you can collect unemployment from the residuals from other things you have done in the past. You collect your unemployment and then you pray. You still go out and do your hustle. I always would save money because you never know when that dry spell is gonna hit — and it did. Just go and keep auditioning and keep trying and keep believing things will turn around and it always does.

Kudos to Melissa for keeping it pushing through the hard times in her career. What did you think of her performance in The Best Man Holiday, Bossip fam?