‘Tyler Perry’s Beauty In Black’ Star Richard Lawson On His Darkest Role Yet And ‘Tricky Dick’

Norman Bellarie is unlike any other role portrayed by Richard Lawson throughout his rich career, and he embraces the Tyler Perry’s Beauty in Black character with open arms.

Season 2 of the Netflix series kicked off this week, but there’s a new Bellarie in charge. As a unit, the family is quite the spectacle, driven by greed, lust and a hunger for power by any means possible, which Lawson hints is no different from how our own families operate, just perhaps not to the same degree.

“Kimmie is a wrench in the machinery,” he said of Taylor Polidore Williams’ character in a recent interview with Blavity’s Shadow and Act. “Between Olivia (Debbi Morgan) and Norman, their wheels are rolling, so the machinery was operating. It was functioning. They were making their money. They were doing their thing, and then Kimmie comes along, and her presence throws a wrench into the machinery. Like someone sticking a pipe in the forks of your bike, and it flips the bike upside down. Now, you gotta deal with this stranger who doesn’t know what she’s doing, at least we don’t think she does, and we’ve gotta deal with this unknown entity in our very known world. It’s a big buzzard in the potato salad — not a fly, it’s like a buzzard.”

No one knows you like family, which is why Kimmie’s new dynamic with the Bellaries is different than what they’re used to.

“You know who’s gonna be drunk, you know who made some sweet potato pie that they needed to leave home because it don’t taste like much,” Lawson said, reflecting on how individuals often know what to expect from their family members. “You know grandma’s going to be over there, kind of judging everything. But with this new thing, it’s an unknown entity, and it’s like you don’t know what to do and how to deal with it because she ain’t going to do nothing but get in the middle and mess things up.”

Exploring the moral complexities of Norman

As an actor whose career spans decades, Lawson said Norman is a totally different character than what he’s played in the past. At the same time, however, there are parts of himself that inform his approach to the role.

“No characters are all one color; that’s the interesting thing about good drama, is that there’s contradiction everywhere,” the Poltergeist actor said. “In this character, there’s a contradiction in his ability to love, you know? Interestingly enough, the family is at war. There is a lot of love within the family, as there is in all families. It’s just who has control and who’s going to get the lion’s share of the pie when it’s all broken down. Everybody is vying for that.”

He added, “In regard to what part of Norman do I relate to, what part of myself do I borrow to the character of Norman? … I love deeply, I love passionately, and I have a sense of fashion, style, and design. Norman is very conscious of taking care of himself. He looks good. Everybody has a dark side. As an actor, you have to be really clear about your light and dark. What is the 24 hours of your day? There’s 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness. That’s what gives balance to all of us. The dark side of us is important for us to be able to survive. We create the dark side of us to protect ourselves from the rest of the world, or within the dynamic of the family. You’d better learn how to fight for yours, be a little selfish, be able to be strong, be able to be in control, so that you don’t have to be the weak one. I use a lot of Richard. Now, what part of Richard? People will have to discern that for themselves because most people have never seen me play a character as diabolical as he is.”

Further exploring his shadow side, Lawson said that leaning into the dark energy can often yield the best creativity.

“I have two alter egos. There’s Richard, who’s always over there, and this is the studious one, with black-rim glasses with the tape in the middle. He has a short haircut, and he’s a spiritual dud, and he knows everything,” Lawson explained. “He says, ‘Don’t do this, no do this. Get off this plan. She’s not good for you. Don’t do it.’ And the other side I’d call Tricky Dick.Tricky Dick wants to get into everything. And they argue with one another. These two sides of me are very real in terms of the spiritual, giving, loving side, and the darker person that will take it right to the edge and go right to the edge of this slippery slope, and sometimes will slip into the abyss. Then, I have to pull myself back out and listen because, again, you borrow to the characters you play.”

On his book, ‘The Artist’s Roadmap: Navigating Your Career in Show Business’

Outside of his work as an actor, Lawson takes excellent pride in mentorship and teaching. His school, Richard Lawson Studios, which was formed in 2005, is just one example of the ways he uses his knowledge to empower others.

With his book, The Artist’s Roadmap: Navigating Your Career in Show Business, he aims to help people navigate the nos on their respective paths to success. Lawson also said his character in Beauty in the Black could learn a thing or two from the text.

“If Richard could advise Norman, it would be to process, pivot and proceed,” Lawson said. “You gotta take what you are challenged by because you can’t control what happens to you, but you can control how you react to it. You have to pivot and decide where you’re going, what you’re going to do, and then proceed and get on with it. You have to have radical acceptance, so that you don’t get mired down in the depths and the abyss of hell chasing the ghost of revenge. I would say to Norman that for him to have a good life going forward and hopefully meet another woman whom he can love in a new way, whatever this new combination and frequency creates love, that he can do that by pivoting and proceeding.”

Maintaining a life rooted in purpose

To conclude our interview, Lawson reflected on how having a purpose is far greater than the roles he takes on or the projects that he is a part of as an actor.

“I am guided by my purpose, blessed, to really be clear. I had a revelation during the very first production I ever did, that I was put on this earth to do this. This is my purpose, and from that moment to this moment, I have been on vacation the entire time,” he said.

Lawson continued, “For me, I’ve had that North Star as my purpose in front of me. And my purpose is not acting and performing. My purpose is to help people achieve their dreams. I’m a dream whisperer. I like to help people achieve their dreams, and this is a platform for me to be able to gain the kind of agency to be able to help more and more people in the world, so that through my work, people are motivated, moved, or challenged or whatever. Then it allows me to help people achieve their dreams. So I’m a motivator. I’m an empowerer. I teach, I have a school and I’ve been teaching thousands of people over the past 45 years. Many of them come back to me and speak about how their lives have changed, or they recall the words I’ve said. I’m a giver, and I’m giving. That’s the whole reason I’m here. So, it’s not about whether I get the next job. It’s not about whether I’m working on television. It’s about the platform I have to minister to people, to know that their dreams don’t have expiration dates, and it’s never too late to find your purpose. Then, it’s about watering the plants that need attention, helping other people grow. We can’t keep it unless we give it away.”

Beauty in the Black Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.

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