Loretta Devine has a career that spans decades in both television and film, and her latest project, “Caged No More,” is a film that chronicles the harrowing realities of human trafficking. In it, Loretta plays Aggie, a caretaker who is willing to do anything to save two little girls kidnapped and sold into slavery overseas — by their own father.
“I did have prior knowledge to human trafficking,” Devine told The Huffington Post, “but you can’t really imagine it until you see it. That’s why this movie is important, it explains the situation, it shows how difficult it is to actually get these children back, and how their lives are so terribly destroyed.”
Devine embraced the opportunity to lead this film, as it’s a chance that she admits doesn’t come often for older black women in Hollywood.
“There are a lot of diverse independent films that get made, and they end up going straight to DVD. A-List movies are different,” Devine explained. “If you’re a black woman, you have to have an Oscar or have been nominated for an Oscar to get into an A-List film.”
Devine, who currently stars on the hit NBC sitcom “The Carmichael Show,” says she’s proud to see a growing number of black women on television like Kerry Washington, Viola Davis, and Gabrielle Union, even though she feels like she’s missing out: “If you’re a black woman in your 20s or 30s, you can be a leading lady.”
“Sometimes I think, oooh, I’d love to be in the Marvel movies, because those characters are so incredible. Like what Leslie Uggams got to do with Deadpool — that was amazing.”
Devine believes her work has helped pave the way for shows like “Scandal” and “Being Mary Jane” to even exist.
“You feel like, in a way, that you’re doing something good. You just want people to feel like the sky’s the limit — if I can, so can you,” Devine says.
“It makes me feel good to see images of myself from over the years. People still watch ‘This Christmas,’ ‘Waiting to Exhale,’ ‘The Preacher’s Wife’… I never know what they’re going to come up to me and talk to me about, and that’s such a blessing.”
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