Lisa Raye - DON'T TAKE IT PERSONAL

     LisaRaye McCoy is one tough chick.  Don't let the pretty face fool you.  this Chicago-born and raised actress/mother/entrepreneur handles her business with an iron will and no apologies.  Sensitive personality type beware.
     "I have to always tell people, 'Don't take it personal.  I'm a curser; I talk fast, I talk loud, and I sound very stern when I speak'."
     No doubt about it.  This sister has that old-school, Diana Ross sass that sends weak folks scampering for cover.  But it's only business.  She just likes to get to the point.  When she socializes, it's all good, but if she's there to handle her business, then that's what she's there for.   
     About her cut-to-the-chase attitude, she says, "That's how I got my start.  Ice Cube called me for an audition for Tupac's last video, which was Toss It Up.  I took the audition because Lionel Martin was directing the video, and he was also the director for How To Be A Player.  I called myself going to get the audition as an actress. "LisaRaye got her audition, but director Lionel Martin hated it.  However, Ice Cube liked her bold spirit, and he had an independent movie of his own just for her, a breakout , leading role in Player's Club.  That led to the wifey-to-be role in The Wood.  LisaRaye has been on her Hollywood grind for new leading and supporting actress roles ever since, including television sitcoms. 
     "They said I would never do TV, now I'm on one of the number one TV shows and starring in it,"  she says of her estranged wife and mother role on the Will and Jada Pinkett Smith produced sitcom All of Us.   
Copyright @ 2005 FlyyGirl Incorporated All Rights Reserved