If there’s one actress who has proven that a global pandemic can’t slow them down, it’s Vivica A. Fox. The living legend says she’s in the prime of her career, and her list of current credits proves such.
She’s a staple on the Fox Soul talk show Out Loud With Claudia Jordan where she, along with Jordan, singer Syleena Johnson, and fellow actress LisaRaye McCoy talk hot topics in pop culture and beyond on the popular Cocktails With Queens segment.
What began as just an appearance on Jordan’s show has turned into multiple opportunities with the streaming app. The recently launched Fox Soul’s Screening Room is a weekly, hour-long program meant to highlight and celebrate short films created by Black filmmakers. Fox hosts the show and is happy to give Black creatives their just due. She also has several titles streaming on Fox’s free Tubi streaming service, including Two Can Play That Game, The Hard Corps, Mercenaries, Crossbreed and Motives.
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With so many jobs on her plate, Fox says she’s grateful and taking it all in. At 56, she considers this time in her life and career her best yet, telling Shadow and Act in a recent interview, “It’s been a long time for me to get to this place in my life where I feel happy and confident in the skin that I’m in,” she gushes. And she’s definitely shining.
Some of Fox’s long list of acting credits are available on the streaming platform Tubi. With over 15 films and plays on the app, her range as an actress is ever-present. For the Indiana-born star says she’s been able to sustain her career due to being flexible in the roles she selects.
“Versatility has definitely been the key to my longevity,” she says. “Especially with me having this amazing resurgence that I’m having in my career – that I’m now into producing and directing…I do my hosting thing, I do my acting thing, and now I’m doing my producing and directing thing…then I have my hair line.”
Fox doesn’t shy away from much. She explained to us that she began participating in Lifetime and Hallmark films at a time when most Black actresses refused, feeling the television networks were beneath them.
“We did the homework about Lifetime – the majority of their audience is African American women,” she says. “So why would I discriminate against that audience when they’ve now turned me into a filmmaker? I’ve done 25 films for Lifetime. Lifetime also gave me my first series…I don’t discriminate. I show up and show out. I just feel that you should not snub your nose at anyone and think that someone is beneath you when they are offering you an opportunity to do what you do.”
But don’t get it twisted, Fox has specific criteria for selecting projects, one of which includes having a creative say so. “Can I produce it?” Fox asks, noting getting her coin from all areas is important. “Business,” she screams. Furthermore, she does have restrictions on what she won’t do. “I don’t like to play slave roles,” she insists, explaining there’s an oversaturation of such films and the emotional trauma she knows it will bring her.
Overall, Fox just wants to enjoy herself in everything that she does. She proved just how down-to-earth and fun she is by engaging in a quick game with us where she was able to get a bit messy. She revealed some fun tidbits including her favorite leading man, which she says is a tie between Morris Chestnut, Will Smith, and Larenz Tate.
Check out the full interview with Fox below where she talks about her dream role, comments she’s made on Cocktails with Queens that she regrets, her love of game shows, and delves a little into her love life: