Photo: STARZ
Starring onPower Book III: Raising KananallowedPatina Millerto take an unexpected trip down memory lane.
Audiences are first introduced to Miller’s character Raquel “Raq” Thomas on the premiere episode ofRaising Kanan— a ’90s-set prequel series following the early years of50 Cent’sPowercharacter, Kanan Stark — wearing a mullet-style haircut in 1985. The bold look reminded Miller, 36, of a cut she once had as a young teen.
“When we got there for our first camera test, I remember putting on my ‘85 wig, the wig that I wear at the opening, and it’s a mullet. At the end of the day, it’s a mullet,” the actress tells PEOPLE exclusively. “I remember seeing this hairstyle and … I just started laughing, because I have a memory of having that particular hairstyle as a teenager, as an early teen, 12, and being mortified because it was an accident.”
“So, I put this wig on, short on the front and the back, and I’m just like, ‘Oh, my God.’ I literally went into that memory as a 12, 13-year-old girl with the accidental mullet haircut,” she adds.
But Miller approves of the way her character styled the ‘do with “the Raq swag.”
“It was so cool to put it on as an adult and just, like, go there,” she continues. “Honestly, it had formed my character so much. I mean, [the cast] all loved our clothing. The guys have the freshest outfits, the coats. My coats that I get to wear, just in the first episode alone, were so fresh.”
OnRaising Kanan, Raq is a tough yet loving mother who will “go as far as she needs to go to protect her son,” the star says. Raq also runs the streets of South Jamaica, Queens, through her role as a cold and ruthless drug dealer.
Raising Kanan.Starz
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Though Raq is unlike Miller’s formerMadam Secretaryrole as Daisy Grant, she recognizes the many “parallels” between the two characters since they both want “to be the best at their job and [are] wanting more” for themselves. Miller also recognizes how Raq has helped influence her personally off-screen.
“It’s taught me to stand up for myself. It’s taught me to stand in a room and own my truth and own who I am,” she says of tackling the role. “That’s the kind of woman that she is. She’s not afraid to just be herself, and she knows that she’s enough, and she does not have to prove anything. She doesn’t have to fight for someone to hear her. She makes them hear her just with her presence and her nature — the way that she is, the way that she moves, the eye contact.”
Miller adds that playing Raq has also “taught me to be courageous, to be unafraid and to stand up for what you want, but also protect what you want and protect yourself” because “she’s hungry for more and she’s not afraid.”
Patina Miller.Michael Loccisano/Getty
For Miller, it was important for her to “play a three-dimensional, really interesting, Black female role” like herRaising Kanancharacter.
In the future, the actress — who also has an extensive theater background from roles in Broadway productions ofPippinandSister Act— wants to continue to play complex characters.
Power Book III: Raising Kananairs Sundays (8 p.m. ET) on STARZ.
source: people.com
