Essence

Essence.com: So is it true you are only 19 now?
Evan Ross: Yeah, I'm 19.

Essence.com: And you've got all these movie credits--Greta, Brooklyn to Manhattan, Life is a Cracktown, Linewatch and Black Water Transit. When did you figure out that you wanted to act? From the outside looking in, it seems like you just came out of nowhere with the acting...
E.R.: No, I feel like acting and singing, they've sort of been my passions forever, I mean, as long as I think you can have one, you know what I mean?

I used to watch my mom [Diana Ross] and go on tour with her. I watched her movies and I think a lot of that, I was just inspired by her. I wasn't trying to do it real young and I wasn't trying not to have a childhood. I wanted to really be able to live my high school years. I also didn't want to go into anything unprepared. I started auditioning and figuring it out and even then, I think I fell in love with it during the time while I was shooting Pride and ATL. Like, you really get to become somebody and you learn to be able to step on the other side of something that maybe you've only gotten to read about.

Essence.com: So far, what are you basing your choices on?
E.R.: I like the real gritty stuff that people can't really, totally understand. I want people to wonder what's going on. I want them to not love it all the time or not always love my character. I like being able to find new ways of doing things. That's where my focus has been.

Essence.com: I have to say that I've watched Life Support like too many times...like way too many times. So, which of your characters has spoken the loudest to you?
E.R.: I think it's either Gardens of the Night or Life in Cracktown, which haven't come out. [In the latter one] I had a chance to do something unique and different. I got a chance to come up with this character and play with it how I wanted, not be worried about the way it was supposed to be done and just do it the way I wanted it to be done.

Essence.com: And who do you play in Life in Cracktown?
E.R.: I play somebody that everybody probably will hate. It's like...I know I don't look scary, but I play the violence of the film – that's my character. He loses his brother and he's actually schizophrenic, he's on crack, it's just really kind of crazy.

I grew my hair out, it was like in a bun and it was like real long hair and everybody was talking– I went to the NAACP Awards [last year] and they were like, “Evan Ross looks like Michael Jackson” and all this other stuff like that. They had no idea I was shooting a film and I was trying to grow my hair out for that. But I love the fact that I had a film where I looked totally different and it wasn't looking good or trying to be sexy or whatnot. It was totally about playing that character, so I really enjoyed those projects.

Essence.com:So, are you based in LA?
E.R.: Yeah, I'm living in LA right now. I'm living out here, but I'm back and forth to New York. I love New York and I really started realizing that when I was shooting out there because I wasn't really missing LA when I was out there, so...

Essence.com: So, now that you're primarily based out in LA, tell me how you're keeping your head leveled with all the stuff that goes on out here.
E.R.: Let me try to explain it. I've seen a lot of it and my mom's told me a lot about what goes on and how to be smart about it and learn how to deal with this environment, because this environment is scary. When you live in that world where it's all about how you look or what you're doing and focusing on that stuff, you see a lot of these young people dealing with that – I think it becomes hard, no matter how much say you don't care what people say, you care what people say. But I know what's too far and I know my focus and what's important to me – it's the art. So, I don't think that's going to be a problem for me, I don't think. I like to enjoy myself and I like to go out and have a good time, but even that, people try to skew that and make it into whatever they want and say that I'm going out with all these different girls or whatever. All that stuff is irrelevant. As someone my age, I should be able to enjoy my life as well as work, you know?

Essence.com: And speaking of the ladies... is there a celebrity crush that you're willing to divulge?
E.R.: A celebrity crush that they haven't put me with already?

Essence.com: [laughs] But the difference is that this one is coming from you!
E.R.: No, I really don't...I think there are a lot of beautiful girls out there, but you know... there is this girl, but people don't really know who she is and I have never met her, never met her. Did you see the movie, The Invisible?

Essence.com: No, I didn't.
E.R.: I've got to find out her name. If you find out, let me know. There is this one girl in the movie The Invisible and she plays like the lead girl in it and I remember seeing it and I was like, “Somehow, somehow, I've got to find her.” She's wearing this hat, she's like this real bad girl, but she's off the chain.I don't really know how yet, I haven't really put my plan together, but it's got to happen. I think she's the one!

Essence.com: OK, this question could be personal, professional or just about Hollywood – is  there one thing that you simply cannot live without?
E.R.: My mom. I can't live without my mom. You know, she doesn't talk much about her career and things, so for me, I'm just trying to learn more about the things she's done and things like that.

Essence.com: I was thinking you'd say something like an iPod...I wasn't expecting that answer! Speaking of your mom, you said you grew up watching her. Which one of her movies is your favorite?
E.R.: There's a movie that a lot of people haven't seen that I just love – it's a movie called Out of Darkness and she plays a schizophrenic in it. I remember the reason that I liked it so much is because it scared me so much.  She played this character and added pieces of herself, like vulnerability...pieces of herself that reminded me of her that I saw in that character. I still watch it sometimes.

Essence.com: How was it to grow up the youngest in this family?
E.R.: No matter how much I'm growing up and stuff like that, my sisters [Tracee Ellis, Rhonda and Chudney] are always on my back and trying to make sure I don't do anything wrong. I love that...I'm sure it's going to be good for me in the long run. 


Essence.com: So, we know that Diana's your mom and Tracee's your big sis...can you tell us something that would be surprised to know about Evan Ross?
E.R.: Oh, I just got my first house. AndI don't like video games...I don't play any video games. What else? I'm working on my music now...maybe people know about that. Oh, wait, maybe people don't know that I'm a climber. I've climbed my whole life and I'm a skier. I've been skiing my whole life and I used to ski on a professional ski team.

Essence.com: Let's talk about your music: what are you working on?  I've been in the studio coming up with stuff. I've been out there with Jermaine Dupri in Atlanta and he's having me come up with ideas and different stuff like that. But I'm not signing with anybody right now. I'm really just getting it all together for myself and then I'll figure out how I want to deal with it because what happens is, I get a lot of calls about trying to do deals and things and I really just want to have control over it until I'm comfortable with it.

Essence.com: Well, although you're just 19, is there anything you would say to your younger self, like Evan at nine or Evan at six?
E.R.: Um, probably, “Everything is going to be alright.”

You know, I think a lot of times at that age, your biggest worries are so small, they're not that serious, and there's so much more world out there, you know what I mean? I feel like a lot of times, I see kids in high school and their biggest worry in life is what happens in their school or what happens with their friend or girlfriend in school, or if they have to go to the principal's office or if they get a bad grade or whatever like that.

I think a lot of young people, a lot of young kids, get sick in high school and start doing drugs or getting hurt – they're doing things like that because that's all they can see at that point. It's like being in a box... you kind of open up and see that there's a whole world out there and there's no one way of doing something. There's no real end, you know what I mean?

I think about that with myself. It's like, “OK, I love what I'm doing and that's where my focus is, but there's so much stuff I can do as well. What else can I put my hand it? What else can I try to figure out?” There's so much and a lot of times, I don't we think out [of the box] that way. We tend to forget that there is that and that's kind of scary, you know?

Essence.com: How would you like the rest of your story to unfold?
E.R.: Gosh, I don't know. I know I'm in not in a place, right yet, in my life where I'm yet comfortable. I'm happy with what I've got going on, but I know that I want a lot more – not in [terms of] money or my career, but in life. I know there's a lot for me to do, a lot more that I want to touch on. So, I'm thinking, really, really, really, really big. I'm not thinking small, at all.