<\/p>\n
Norman Bellarie<\/a> is unlike any other role portrayed by Richard Lawson<\/a> throughout his rich career, and he embraces the Tyler Perry\u2019s Beauty in Black <\/a>character with open arms.<\/p>\n Season 2 of the Netflix series kicked off this week, but there\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n \u201cKimmie is a wrench in the machinery,\u201d he said of Taylor Polidore Williams\u2019 character in a recent interview with Blavity\u2019s Shadow and Act. \u201cBetween 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\u2019t know what she\u2019s doing, at least we don\u2019t think she does, and we\u2019ve gotta deal with this unknown entity in our very known world. It\u2019s a big buzzard in the potato salad \u2014 not a fly, it\u2019s like a buzzard.\u201d<\/p>\n No one knows you like family, which is why Kimmie\u2019s new dynamic with the Bellaries is different than what they\u2019re used to.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know who\u2019s gonna be drunk, you know who made some sweet potato pie that they needed to leave home because it don\u2019t taste like much,\u201d Lawson said, reflecting on how individuals often know what to expect from their family members. \u201cYou know grandma\u2019s going to be over there, kind of judging everything. But with this new thing, it\u2019s an unknown entity, and it\u2019s like you don\u2019t know what to do and how to deal with it because she ain\u2019t going to do nothing but get in the middle and mess things up.\u201d<\/p>\n As an actor whose career spans decades, Lawson said Norman is a totally different character than what he\u2019s played in the past. At the same time, however, there are parts of himself that inform his approach to the role.<\/p>\n \u201cNo characters are all one color; that\u2019s the interesting thing about good drama, is that there\u2019s contradiction everywhere,\u201d the Poltergeist actor said. \u201cIn this character, there\u2019s 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\u2019s just who has control and who\u2019s going to get the lion\u2019s share of the pie when it\u2019s all broken down. Everybody is vying for that.\u201d<\/p>\n He added, \u201cIn regard to what part of Norman do I relate to, what part of myself do I borrow to the character of Norman? \u2026 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\u2019s 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness. That\u2019s 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\u2019d 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\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Further exploring his shadow side, Lawson said that leaning into the dark energy can often yield the best creativity.<\/p>\n \u201cI have two alter egos. There\u2019s Richard, who\u2019s 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\u2019s a spiritual dud, and he knows everything,\u201d Lawson explained. \u201cHe says, \u2018Don\u2019t do this, no do this. Get off this plan. She\u2019s not good for you. Don\u2019t do it.\u2019 And the other side I\u2019d 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.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n With his book, The Artist\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n \u201cIf Richard could advise Norman, it would be to process, pivot and proceed,\u201d Lawson said. \u201cYou gotta take what you are challenged by because you can\u2019t control what happens to you, but you can control how you react to it. You have to pivot and decide where you\u2019re going, what you\u2019re going to do, and then proceed and get on with it. You have to have radical acceptance, so that you don\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n To conclude our interview,\u00a0Lawson 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.<\/p>\n \u201cI 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Lawson continued, \u201cFor me, I\u2019ve 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\u2019m 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\u2019m a motivator. I\u2019m an empowerer. I teach, I have a school and I\u2019ve 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\u2019ve said. I\u2019m a giver, and I\u2019m giving. That\u2019s the whole reason I\u2019m here. So, it\u2019s not about whether I get the next job. It\u2019s not about whether I\u2019m working on television. It\u2019s about the platform I have to minister to people, to know that their dreams don\u2019t have expiration dates, and it\u2019s never too late to find your purpose. Then, it\u2019s about watering the plants that need attention, helping other people grow. We can\u2019t keep it unless we give it away.\u201d<\/p>\n Beauty in the Black Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.<\/p>\n The post \u2018Tyler Perry\u2019s Beauty In Black\u2019 Star Richard Lawson On His Darkest Role Yet And \u2018Tricky Dick\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Blavity<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Norman Bellarie is unlike any other role portrayed by Richard Lawson throughout his rich career, and he embraces the Tyler Perry\u2019s Beauty in Black character with open arms. Season 2 of the Netflix series kicked off this week, but there\u2019s a new Bellarie in charge. As a unit, the family is quite the spectacle, driven […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2015660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[352054,352057,369572,352060,26303],"class_list":["post-2015659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-beauty-in-black","tag-debbi-morgan","tag-norman-bellarie","tag-richard-lawson","tag-tyler-perry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/\u2018Tyler-Perrys-Beauty-In-Black-Star-Richard-Lawson-On-His.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2015659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2015659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2015659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2015660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2015659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2015659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2015659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Exploring the moral complexities of Norman<\/h2>\n
On his book, \u2018The Artist\u2019s Roadmap: Navigating Your Career in Show Business\u2019<\/h2>\n
Maintaining a life rooted in purpose<\/h2>\n