Iantha Richardson never meant to become an actress.
“I just knew I was going to dance overseas in Europe and do contemporary ballet, but life didn’t happen like that,” the star tells ESSENCE. However, through life’s happenstance, she chanced upon a new passion that has led her to instead perform on screens in over 9 million homes weekly.
The star of ABC’s hit cop drama Will Trent and of the recent Black-cast re-tooling of the 1991 cult classic Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, the DC native relocated from New York to Los Angeles with the hopes of using her pointe shoes in the professional arena. Instead, she landed square in front of the camera after trying out an acting class with a friend.
One class led to several, which led to an agent and management, which led to Benny Got Shot, an AFI thesis film directed by Malcolm Washington, son of Denzel and Pauletta. This led to her playing adult Tess on This is Us, which opened the door to even more opportunities.
Though she will always be in love with dance – “it is something that I still have in my back pocket,” she tells us – acting on one of Primetime TV’s most popular shows is consuming most of her time these days. And rightfully so.
As Will Trent‘s Faith Mitchell, the title character’s reluctant GBI detective partner, Richardson brings depth, wit, and charm to a character that on many other police procedural programs would be of no…
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