By Veronica Wells ·Updated November 23, 2021
At this point in her career, Kim Fields doesn’t take on any project she’s not excited about. It’s the reason the actress was leaning away from starring in any more sitcoms. Then The Upshaws came across her desk.
“Before I even read the script, it was the trifecta that is Mike Epps, Wanda Sykes and Netflix,” Fields said. “That right there makes you go, ‘Well, let me think about it for a minute.’”
The coup de grâce was the script that felt fresh yet familiar. “Wanda and Mike really wanted to capture the voice of storytellers that we all grew up on in the ‘70s and ‘80s but then slam you right between the eyes with how storytelling is today.”
Fields recognized that they understood the assignment. And while her character on The Upshaws, Regina, has a similar name to the iconic Regine Hunter whom she portrayed on Living Single, the personas are worlds apart from one another.
“Breathing life into a new character was a challenge,” Fields admitted. “It was a woman that I’ve not played before. I’ve been blessed to be doing this for a long time so when you can say that that’s very exciting.”’
Fields likened the material on The Upshaws, which has been renewed for a second season, to a feast. “It’s damn near Thanksgiving dinner.”
And she was all too happy to dive in to make her character real to audiences, down to learning how this woman dressed and wore her hair. Regina is a hospital administrator, wife and mother so busy with her personal and professional lives, she prefers to keep her hair in braids–a decision Fields made after seeing so many Black women on Facebook who had similar lives.
Regina’s practical but when it’s time to turn it on, she knows what to do. Her date night outfits with her troublesome husband, Bennie, played by Epps, are show stopping.
“Don’t sleep on her, now,” Fields said. “She is not a mom, put a nail in the coffin and that’s it. I feel like that’s parents overall,” Fields added. “That sense of male and that sense of female starts slipping away when you put on monikers like mom, dad, uncle.”
These monikers are the reason Fields herself, like Oprah and Ava DuVernay, does not want to be called
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