LaTanya Richardson Jackson on Her Early Theater Love and What Convinced Her to Join To Kill a Mockingbird

LaTanya Richardson Jackson is giving the character of Calpurnia new life in Aaron Sorkin's To Kill a Mockingbird, but at first she was hesitant to take on the beloved literary role. "The book used Calpurnia in a way that wasn’t necessarily memorable, and I didn't know if it was something that I would drop everything to do," Jackson said in a recent interview on Broadway.com's #LiveAtFive. "It wasn’t sure until I spoke to [director] Bartlett Sher and [producer] Scott Rudin. They assured me that they didn’t want her to be just scenery."

Playing Calpurnia has allowed Jackson to delve deep into her family history and bring heart to the role. "I'm building from my grandmother and all the women of service whom I knew," Jackson said. "[Harper lee] couldn’t allow [Calpurnia] the agency that Aaron [Sorkin] has given her. She is a nurturer and parent de facto. At the time, she wouldn't have considered herself a role model, but she surely would have considered herself instrumental in building their [the Finch children's] moral compass."

While Jackson is a Tony nominee with an impressive resume, acting wasn't always her dream job. "I thought I was going to be a doctor," Jackson said. "I saw Camelot and was so in love with that musical and was like, 'Oh, I want to do this.' I did the children’s summer theater, and I was smitten. When you think about what acting actually is, it’s a very unnatural thing to do as a vocation. It needs to be somewhere inside of you."

Jackson has been married to Oscar nominee Samuel L. Jackson since 1980, and the two have worked together before, she hasn't found another project to do with him. "I wouldn’t mind working with him on the stage, but I'm not that hyped about being in a film with him again because that’s just too disparaging," she said. "Everybody always says that [the couple should star in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf]. [Director] Kenny Leon tried to get that to happen. I wouldn't be opposed to it but, my God, how volatile would that be?"

Family is obviously very important to Jackson, which is why this experience has been so fulfilling: "We cry a lot doing the show," Jackson said. "The integrity of everyone involved that has to be such that you can trust them. We feed into each other and hold on to each other. We get through it because there's this respect and love in that company that I've never experienced. We're intertwined. It’s a family, it really really is."