Teyana Taylor continues to get rave reviews for her creativity and presence in Hollywood. As award season buzz continues for her role in “One Battle After Another,” one of her peers is giving her the ultimate praise.
In a recent “Actors On Actors” interview for Variety, Golden Globe winner Oscar Isaac and Taylor weighed the hardest scenes they’ve filmed, Isaac’s role in Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein,” her relationships with Sean Penn, Leonardo DiCaprio and Paul Thomas Anderson, and why Taylor is the “coolest person” Isaac has ever met.
Isaac points to Taylor’s role in the 2023 film “A Thousand and One,” in which she portrays a mother who abducts her son from the foster care system after being imprisoned in Rikers Island, as the role that awakened him to her talents on screen.
“I was like, ‘Where did this person come from?’” Isaac asks. “It was such a well of emotion — it felt like, ‘I don’t even think she knows there’s cameras on.’”
The Grammy nominee explained why she took a leap of faith: “I was like, ‘I want to pour into everything else that I love. I don’t want to be stuck in one box.’ Everybody [said], ‘We don’t think that’s smart.’ I was so scared, but I knew I had to walk on this faith journey. Not even a month after I retired from music, this role comes across my desk — that’s nothing but God. I knew I had a point to prove; I had work to do.”
Taylor’s portrayal of Inez in the film earned her critical acclaim and the film earned the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2023.
For the now 35-year-old, acting is a way to revisit a layer of her personality that has always been there. As a storyteller, Taylor found various avenues to draw upon as her acting career truly blossomed, recalling her childhood days of watching Kate Winslet or Julia Roberts. But when music came first, acting had to be on the back burner. Until now. It’s partially the reason why she says she thrives in “complex” roles like Inez and Perfidia.
“It was such a passion,” Taylor said of the role that earned her a 2026 Golden Globe nomination. “Timing is everything: I always say, the wait is not punishment; it’s preparation for what was already written for you. If everything went my way, I wouldn’t have been the same Perfidia in ‘One Battle After Another.’ I had to feel some sh-t to know how to channel these emotions.”
As her award season continues to gain momentum, Taylor is still finding ways to channel all her energy, from directing her first feature film to pursuing her culinary school studies, which she says helps her be a great director.
“It’s an art. But when I signed up and realized I had business classes and all other types of sh-t, I was like, Oh, sh-t, baby,” Taylor admitted. “So now I’m on my way to the ‘One Battle After Another’ premiere on my iPad doing schoolwork. But it keeps me grounded. Some stuff you’ve got to let sit for three hours before you can cook it. Culinary school and working with PTA really geared me up. I feel like I’m going to be a great director. It might sound weird, like, ‘All this from learning how to make a steak?’”
Those two admissions made Isaac flat-out give her the biggest stamp of approval possible: “I think you’re the coolest person I’ve ever met in my life. You’re so astounding — all the energy to do this.”
For those who couldn’t catch “One Battle After Another” during its theatrical release, the film is set to hit HBO Max on Friday (Dec. 19).
