Niecy Nash has one word when it comes to the state of diversity in Hollywood: #more. The actress, starring on the new TNT dramedy Claws, sat down with Entertainment Weekly to talk about her career and progress in the industry — which she's been busy conquering the last couple years, with roles in everything from Scream Queens to Selma.
"The one thing I will say about progress in the entertainment business is — if I could put it in a hashtag — there’s always #more that can be done," she said in an interview for EW's "Beyond Beautiful" series. "I celebrate the fact that, you know, there are so many Black and brown women leading series right now, but the world is bigger than Black and brown women too." The 47-year-old continued, "There’s a whole lot of other women who got stories to tell. So I do believe that there is progress being made, but #more."
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Whether or not Hollywood is moving fast enough to correct its diversity problem, Nash's career has undergone its own rapid renaissance over the last couple years. "I think the biggest challenge I face in my career is inviting people to think differently in how they see me,” explained Nash, who started out as a comedic actress on the the Comedy Central favorite Reno 911 (a talent she showed off again on FX's Scream Queens).
But she's been shifting into more dramatic territory with her part as civil rights activist Richie Jean Jackson in Ava DuVernay's Martin Luther King biopic — and, now, as a nail salon owner dipping her toe into organized crime on Claws. "[Now] people are seeing in me what I see in myself," she said. And it's clear they're liking what they see.
Claws premieres Sunday, June 11 at 9 p.m. E.T. on TNT.