"Will Trent" star Iantha Richardson | The Latest With Maya

A conversation with Iantha Richardson.❤️ 


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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

It's the latest gonna ask.

SPEAKER_01 0:11

Hi, Iantha. Welcome to The Latest with Maya. You've seen Iantha Richardson in This Is Us, American Soul, and Good Trouble. Iantha currently plays special special agent Faith Mitchell in Will Trent, which is one of my favorite shows. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm so excited to be talking with you.

SPEAKER_03 0:42

Of course. I'm so happy to be here. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

Yeah. Um, yeah. So who has had the biggest impact on you professionally?

SPEAKER_03 0:55

I think my mom. My mom literally was the one who taught me how to be a professional, how to show up in a room as my full self, how to move in the direction of the profession that I wanted without letting that be sacrificed because of discouragement, or you know, there's always an up and down when it comes specifically to the entertainment industry, but perseverance was a big thing that I learned from her. And so yeah, I think my mom.

SPEAKER_02 1:27

Oh, I love that.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

Yeah. Um so who has had the biggest impact on you as a person?

SPEAKER_03 1:38

I would have to say her again. Sorry to say both, but she really has been my biggest human, like the biggest human in my life. And I think just how I move as a woman, as a human being, the love that I have in my heart for people and that I try to carry and and give off on a day-to-day business on a day-to-day. Um I think that the way that I try to hold humility and forgiveness and care, all of those things that comes from her. So she definitely is my biggest influence as a human.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

Oh, I love that.

SPEAKER_03 2:15

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

Yeah. Um, what's your favorite way to unwind after a hectic day?

SPEAKER_03 2:26

Ooh, a great question. I love reading. So I would say reading a book. Um, I typically like get in the bed, I'll make like a sleepy girl mocktail, which is magnesium powder, tart cherry juice, and like a poppy, or I'll make some tea. I love like a chamomile tea with a little bit of honey and uh almond milk, and then I'll just sit and I'll read my favorite book, even if it's just like 10 pages. It's a great window to get me like in the state that I need to be in for some restful sleep, especially after like long days on set and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

Oh wow, I love that. That that sounds very relaxing. Yeah. Um so I am uh pop culture obsessed and I go in stages of shows that I cannot stop watching. Um, is there a show that you are currently obsessed with?

SPEAKER_03 3:27

I'll say there are a couple of shows that I'm watching. Emily in Paris is a little bit of an obsession for me right now. I went to Paris for the first time uh like a month ago, and so I just started binging Emily in Paris like a week ago, and I'm already on season two, almost on season two, not quite there. But it's such a lovely reflection of a girl on a solo trip in Paris, well, a solo life transition to Paris and all the ups and downs that come with it. It's the quintessential Paris story that you would think about when you think about moving or up appalling your upheaving your life in some way. And I love it. It's whimsical, it's fun, the fashion's cute, it's great.

SPEAKER_01 4:10

Yeah, oh I love that. Yeah, that's such a fun show to binge watch. Yeah, I um yeah, I have so many shows that I'm obsessed with. Will Trent is an ongoing obsession for me. So yeah, um, yeah, so if thank you so much. Oh, of course, yeah. I look forward to new episodes every week. So that's like a highlight of my week.

SPEAKER_03 4:45

So happy about that.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

Um, so if you had a warning label, what would yours say?

SPEAKER_03 5:00

Oh, I don't know. Needs to be in bed by 11 p.m. Maybe we'll say that. And that's only sometimes, but majority of the time, yes. That's one of one of the labels, many labels that should come with me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:18

I I'd have many labels too. So yeah, um, so what genre of movie would your life story be told as?

SPEAKER_03 5:34

Maybe a dramatic comedy, like a yeah, dramatic comedy. It would have a lot of like heartfelt moments, some sad moments, but it would also be a lot of comedy, a lot of laughter, a lot of joy, a lot of fun and adventure simultaneously, and and interesting times. So yeah, I think that dramatic comedy interlace would be it.

SPEAKER_02 6:00

Oh, I love that.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

Yeah, I I've always wanted my life story to be both a musical and a rom-com. Oh, I love that.

SPEAKER_03 6:11

Musical is so good. I didn't even think about that.

unknown 6:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Um, so what is the greatest lesson you've learned from a character you've played?

SPEAKER_03 6:26

So have fun. I think from my current character as Faith, a big lesson that I'm learning from her is that you gotta live life. No matter what everybody else has told you to do, who you are they're telling you to be, you gotta live your own life. You gotta choose your own choices and you gotta be okay with that. Um, I think also from another character that I played, Tessa Lorraine on American Soul. I think there's something about these very ambitious women with very big jobs and in male-dominated environments who hold their own that doesn't always allow them to feel like they can be free, but you have to create your own freedom and joy. So those those things.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

Oh, I love that.

SPEAKER_01 7:17

Yeah, yeah, I love both of those. I think those are great things to always remember. Thank you. Yeah, yeah. Um, so is there um someone who without fail always makes you laugh?

SPEAKER_03 7:40

Always makes you laugh. I don't know. I would say a lot of my friends are low-key comedians, so I'll say all of them. They always have, like, they're just funny people. I have a lot of funny friends, so that's a really hard like pinpoint to give. If I have to, we can like narrow it down to just set, then I'd say Jake, who plays Ormwood, is a comedian. I think he makes everybody on set. Like one of the guest stars asks, Are you a stand-up comedian on set the other day to him? Like he would be the person at work who would do that.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

I love that. Yeah, I I love um Ormwood. I I think he's he's so funny. I think all the characters on World Trent are so great, really, really great, really, really special. Yeah. Um so what small things uh bring you joy on a daily basis?

SPEAKER_03 8:44

Journaling, reflecting, long walks bring me a lot of joy laughing, making sure that I do laugh with my cast or my makeup team or whoever I'm around for the day, like getting a laugh in. Um the joy of like a cup of matcha just makes me happy. If I can, dancing makes me really happy. So yeah, I'll stop there. But those are like on the list for sure in terms of day-to-day things.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Oh, I love that. Yeah, I love just having um like random dance parties just throughout the day.

SPEAKER_03 9:23

You have to just move your body, have fun.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I have like one specific memory during um lockdown in 2020, and my family and I just like I can't remember, I don't know what we were doing, but we just put on music and started dancing because we should have. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:47

Too much going on around that time to not invite joy in your life. So yes.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

Yeah, it's definitely um so what song, whenever you hear it, brings you back to a specific memory, and what is that memory?

SPEAKER_03 10:08

Hmm. Uh Anita Baker, Angel, brings me back to my mom. Um, even before she passed away in 2019, I would always call her my Earth Angel. And that song just is such a reflection of who she was to me when she was alive, and now as an actual angel to me as well.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

I'm so sorry to hear that she passed away. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Um I think that I think that's so beautiful. Um thank you. Yeah. I um I think it's always amazing how specific songs can stick with you and always bring you back to a certain place. Um yeah. Uh for me, I uh yeah, there's so many songs for me that do that. There's um a song called Personal by an artist named um Harvey. And I remember when I went through radiation um a few years ago, I had certain artists that and songs I'd listen to every day on the way to radiation, and that personal was one of those songs.

SPEAKER_03 11:32

Oh, I love that.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

Love that, yes.

SPEAKER_03 11:36

That's beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 11:39

Thank you. Um, so what are people um always surprised to learn about you?

SPEAKER_03 11:51

Surpr that I don't like games. I actually just said this to uh Ramon on our cast not too long ago. A bunch of the cast mates were playing like heads up in the conference room between scenes, and they were like, Where were you? What were you doing? And I was like, I don't like playing games, and I literally don't. All my friends know it about me, it's just not a thing. I will go to a game night for like the fellowship and to be around people, but I'm just not a game person, and that's okay. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

I think I think that's yeah, totally fine. Yeah. Um so do you have um a go-to comfort show or movie that you turn on when you just need to like tune out the world?

SPEAKER_03 12:40

There's a few of them. I'll say one is the whiz. I love the whiz, the Princey Jones version with Diana Ross and Michael Jackson, because I'm a huge Michael Jackson fan. Two, I would say, which is like a more recent one, it's probably like Black Panther. Um, and then a show is Gray's Anatomy. That is like my ultimate. I will stick it on and it'll be in the background for forever. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:10

Oh, I love that.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

Yeah, I I have a long list that I just wrote take between. Yeah, you have to, yeah, definitely. Yeah, Will Trent is one of them because, like I said, I look forward to watching it every single week. So yeah, yeah. Um, so uh what show or um movie do you find yourself quoting all the time?

SPEAKER_03 13:44

You know, I'm not a big quoter, so it's hard to say. Um Black Panther, maybe sometimes. I'd say that would probably be the most if I do quote a movie, that would be it.

SPEAKER_01 13:58

Oh I love that.

SPEAKER_03 14:01

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

My brain's just basically filled with show and movie quotes and references that I always manage to put in like any conversation I have.

SPEAKER_03 14:13

So I need to get it, I need to get better at it. That's the show.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Yeah, yeah. I quote um a lot of like uh Will and Grace and Friends and Very fun.

SPEAKER_03 14:27

Very fun.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

Yeah. Um so uh if you had the opportunity to put a message on a billboard for everyone to see, what would that message be?

SPEAKER_03 14:53

That's a hard one. Maybe one of them would be I have multiple that I would want. Maybe one would be love each other. That would be one yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

That's actually um funny you say that because that's always uh that's always been what I I've thought because there's um we're to put love each other on a billboard. Um there's uh another one of my favorite shows uh is called A Million Little Things.

SPEAKER_03 15:37

Oh I love that one, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

Yeah, yeah, and there's in the second episode of the first season when John just says love each other. Oh has always stuck with me.

SPEAKER_03 15:51

So absolutely so good. That's crazy, yes.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

Yeah, it is yeah, and there's also like a ton of things my mom always like has always told me and my sister that I think I'd also want to put on a billboard.

SPEAKER_03 16:10

Yeah, very special. We need our own billboards now, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

We do. Um so what um subject could you give a TED talk on even though you were totally unqualified on that subject?

SPEAKER_03 16:31

Probably Gray's Anatomy because I watch, I mean probably surgery because I watch that much Grey's Anatomy.

SPEAKER_02 16:37

Yeah. Oh, I like that.

SPEAKER_01 16:41

Yeah. Yeah. Um so what's an experience that significantly shaped who you are today?

SPEAKER_03 16:55

I believe that the loss of my mother, but also my father. I lost both of my parents. Those both significant losses have shaped who I am because I think I now walk through the world with an awareness of who I want to be because of them. Um, and I try to fulfill that every day. It's not taken lightly that I'm here and able to do the things that I want to do, and I'm really blessed to have a beautiful career, and I think those two losses specifically have shaped me.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

I'm I'm so sorry.

SPEAKER_03 17:38

No, it's okay. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 17:41

Yeah. Um, so I uh just have um one final question for you. Yeah um so today, uh what are you most grateful for?

SPEAKER_03 18:02

Stillness, time to be still and to reflect on the things about life that I love and the things that I want to get better at and where I want to go. I think the ability to sit still is a privilege and to not feel like the world is gonna collapse when you sit still. Um, and so I'm grateful for that and I'm grateful for God because He's within the stillness that I am able to cultivate. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:29

Yeah. Oh, I love that.

SPEAKER_03 18:31

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 18:33

Yeah, I um yeah, I'm I'm so grateful to be talking with you today. I mean, uh I'm such a fan of yours, so thank you. Thank you. It was literally so lovely talking to you two.

SPEAKER_03 18:49

You're such a light.

SPEAKER_01 18:51

Oh, thank you so much. I just I can't thank you enough for um joining me today. I've had the best time talking with you, and like I I don't mean to repeat myself, but I seriously like every Tuesday I'm always so excited to watch Royal Trent.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 19:15

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

Yeah, it helps like it's something that helps me get through the week.

SPEAKER_03 19:22

So yes, I'm so so happy to hear that. Thank you so much for staying and I really appreciate it. Of course, thank you for watching.

SPEAKER_01 19:32

Yeah, of course. I yeah, my mom and I uh it's a show we watch together, and so um, yeah, we always uh are we're always both so excited to watch it. Yeah, so thank you um so much. I've had the best time talking with you, of course. And if you ever wanna um come back on, I'd love to have another conversation with you.

SPEAKER_03 20:06

Love that we'll make it happen.

SPEAKER_01 20:08

Oh, yay. I I'm excited.

SPEAKER_03 20:10

Me too.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

So thank you um so much again, and I hope you have a great rest of your day. You too. Have a great rest of your day. Thank you. Um, and that's a wrap on today's edition of The Latest with Maya.