KiKi Layne admits being cast in ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’ was a turning point in her life.
The 27-year-old actress – who plays Clementine ‘Tish’ Rivers in the romantic-drama movie – moved from Chicago to Los Angeles to pursue her ambitions, but for two months, she struggled to secure the career-changing role she was searching for.
She shared: "It was really last-minute. I did not have the money to keep flying back and forth between Chicago and LA, so I just said to myself: ‘Girl, if you gonna go out there for that audition, you gonna stay.’
"So I just packed up and left, which is definitely not the best way to move across the country."
KiKi also dismissed the notion that there was a certain romance in the scenario.
The actress admitted that being jobless was a bleak time in her life, revealing she was on the cusp of turning her back on Hollywood and returning home just prior to being cast in the film.
She told the Guardian newspaper: "[It is] until you’re there and you don’t have a home, and you’re sharing a twin-size bed with your best friend, and you don’t have a job.
"So it was a lot, those first couple of months, so much so that right before I submitted my tape for ‘Beale Street’, I was considering going home – and not home to Chicago but home to Cincinnati."
KiKi Layne says If Beale Street Could Talk was a turning point
