No matter the role, Kimberly Huie trusts herself to embody the character and deliver. The Jamaican-born actress recently landed a role in the new drama series, Kings of Napa, a role which seems to have been made for her. “I learned of the project, and even before knowing what the characters were going to be like, I was like, ‘Why haven’t I gotten a call or audition for that’,” Huie told The Sunday Gleaner. “Then I got the call.”
She plays Grace Dixonn – a wine designer who though not part of the King family, works with them – and appears in the series by the third episode.
It’s another feather in Huie’s cap, adding to a résumé that reflects a rich and extensive career in the film and television industry. She has been featured and appeared on popular television series including Liberty Street, NYPD Blue, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Grey’s Anatomy. A storyteller at heart, whether in the position of an actress, performer or writer, Huie strives to portray narratives that reflect human experiences – and she is quick to share that she has had the privilege to be doing this throughout her career of more than two decades.
“In the early days, I would hear people go, ‘That was a hard shoot’, but I am so grateful to be working and to be able to have the career that I have had, and I look forward to where it is going. So, even when something is challenging or difficult, I am always blessed to be doing what I love,” Huie said.
This doesn’t mean she hasn’t had a challenging moment on set. “I remember going to shoot the NYPD Blue episode and being really sick – I had a terrible head cold – and I had to try and not sound congested and be present to do my job. Everyone was gracious, accommodating and professional, and we got it done. I can look back at the scenes, and I can’t tell that anything was wrong with me,” she shared.
In our 2013 interview with Huie, she explained that there have been obstacles in the form of racism and discrimination, all relating to her skin colour. Nine years later, she is proud to say that the global film industry has evolved in terms of the visibility of black talent.
“I think that collectively we have seen or there have been improvements. Here we have a show like Kings of Napa, showing [the] excellence of one family, and it is very much a black experience. I can’t think of anything that was like that nine years ago,” she said, adding that stories like that of Self-Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C. J. Walker in which she was also a featured actress, “were never told the way it [is] told [now]… but are we where we want to be yet? No. However, we are seeing more opportunities for us. Part of it may be because of ‘Black Lives Matter’, but there are definitely shifts in history.”
FULFILLING EXPERIENCE
Huie shared that her experience on Self-Made, playing the role of Margaret Murray Washington, the wife of Booker T. Washington, was fulfilling.
“When I realised it was the first time I was playing a person that was not fictional – it was incredible, especially because I knew who she was before I read the script and auditioned for it. She is not taught in schools; that part of our history is not. So, it was a real gift to be entrusted with telling the story of Margaret Washington, a woman who lived and breathed, within the story of Madam C. J. Walker.”
Huie travelled to Jamaica last December, and though it was not for the most cheerful occasions – her uncle on her mother’s side of the family, Carl Dillion, had passed away she was able to take a day or two “within the grief and sadness to dip my feet in the sand and soak up that sun.” Huie had not being on the island since 2015, as such, she says, “I do not take those vitamins (sand and sun) for granted.” She does not take the food for granted either. “There is also nothing like fresh ackee or breadfruit from St Thomas.”
She shared that her uncle left an imprint on her heart. “I’d see him every time I visited. He was a light and such a personality that you never forgot him once you met him. He had a generosity of spirit, and my uncle, he was very giving to his family and friends. That spark of his remains present in my memory,” she said. “If there’s anything I learnt from my recent trip, I think it would be a lesson about trust – in trusting … trusting in God and to trust that when I put my trust there, everything is going to be okay because you never know what’s coming next. I am encouraged to say that I don’t know it all; there is more to be experienced and learn from. I also urge persons to stay curious and empathetic.”
Returning to the cold of New York may not have been the most appealing for Huie because, after all those years of experiencing minus-degree temperatures in Toronto, where her parents emigrated to from Jamaica, she admitted that she is still not used to it. Also, with the nature of New York City “being more congested” though in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak, she travelled back to Canada and “the only upside of the pandemic” was that she got to spend quality time with her family there.
“I would say that all the experiences I have had, the opportunities to travel, meeting new and different people – and those two are connected of course – people, I wouldn’t have met if I had just stayed in Toronto, has been one of the most rewarding parts of my career to date,” she concluded.
Kings of Napa is set to premiere on Tuesday, January 11 on the Oprah Winfrey Network.