Turning 30 is always a memorable moment, but “The Color Purple” actor Phylicia Pearl Mpasi rang in her third decade with a birthday serenade from Oprah Winfrey.
Coincidentally, Mpasi’s birthday (November 16) fell on another special occasion: the first screening of the musical reimagining of “The Color Purple.” The atmosphere was charged with anticipation since this was the debut of the film before critics and press, but the mood backstage was particularly jovial since it was the first time the cast — Fantasia Barrino, Danielle Brooks, Taraji P. Henson, Colman Domingo, Corey Hawkins, H.E.R., Halle Bailey and Mpasi, as well as Winfrey, producer Scott Sanders and director Blitz Bazawule — had assembled since wrapping production in 2022. But there was an extra element of emotion for Mpasi, since “The Color Purple” marks her feature film debut.
On stage at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Beverly Hills, Mpasi, an alum of “The Lion King” on Broadway, described her journey to book the role of Young Celie — an abused and uneducated Southern Black woman at the turn of the 20th century, who begins Alice Walker’s seminal novel as a teenager, pregnant with her second child by the man who raised her. The Pulitzer Prize-winning book, 1985 movie, Broadway musical adaptation and, now, the 2023 film chronicle Celie’s path to liberation. Mpasi had heard that the latest version of “The Color Purple” was in the works and came across a notice to audition on the same day she buried her beloved grandmother.
“In our family, she was the Celie – someone who went through a lot of trauma in her life,” Mpasi explained to the crowd, in a Q&A moderated by Variety. “We’re from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and my first time going home was to bury her. And the day we put her in the ground, I saw the notice for this audition online, and I was like ‘Grandma, thank you! How’d you work so fast?’”
Mpasi’s cheerful delivery of the emotional anecdote elicited a laugh from the audience, who were still drying their tears from the heart-wrenching screening. They understood what she meant — her path to earning the role was anointed. “It was work she could not do on this Earth, she had to transition to do it,” she explained, as the audience chuckled and clapped. “Just looking at everyone here, it’s just a reminder that dreams come true every single day.”
Earlier that year, Mpasi had set a goal to be part of a musical movie or TV show and created a playlist to “put myself in a vision of a life that I want,” which featured “I Believe,” the song Barrino recorded when she won “American Idol” in 2004. Turning to Barrino, who plays the adult Celie, she added: “You were the blueprint to me growing up.” And now they’re sharing the responsibility of playing the same role. “I don’t take any of this lightly, and I’m so, so grateful to be here,” Mpasi said.
After the conversation ended, Winfrey and the cast sang her “Happy Birthday” (the Stevie Wonder version, naturally.)
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