After landing the lead role as a star stripper Mercedes in the Katori Hall-created P-Valley on Starz, Brandee Evans did what many actors do — she hit the club.
With her coach, veteran dancer Spyda, Evans checked out L.A.’s famous Crazy Girls in January of last year. The star of the recently renewed series recalls being surprised that patrons missed the part about her being an actress doing research and instead showered her with lap dances.
“Spyda showed me the power you have as the OG,” Evans recounts to Rambling Reporter, and as a result, they both shared in the spotlight. “She came into the club and all of the girls wanted to dance for her. We had multiple girls around us dancing full out for their lives. The men and dancers wanted to buy us drinks and buy us lap dances.”
All in all, Evans, a trained dancer, choreographer and former English teacher, says the night was worth it in prepping for the critically acclaimed new series, called “one of the year’s best” by THR’s Inkoo Kang. “Going to the club, I was able to see what the ladies were like in their work environment. I watched how the customers tipped them, how they interacted with the customers, their outfits, their makeup, their mannerisms. I studied them like I was in college preparing for a research paper.”
A version of this story first appeared in the July 31 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.