Carmen Ejogo has an interesting profile in the new online edition of Violet Grey. Ejogo is a British actress with a lot of heat these days. She blew me away in Selma, where she played Coretta Scott King. Those vintage 1960s clothes on Carmen were the business!!! She looked so gorgeous. I mean, she’s a beautiful woman but some women just look so amazing in period/vintage clothes and she was one of them. Anyway, I don’t really know much about Carmen, so I enjoyed her interview in Violet Grey, which was conducted by none other than Oprah Winfrey. Oprah being Oprah, she made much of the interview about Oprah. But there are some interesting details about Carmen in there. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:

Carmen’s experience on ‘Selma’: “I think it was a reaffirmation of the importance of artists getting the chance to tell their own stories, their own history. The pure love from everyone involved on the set and their commitment to telling the story in a way that felt authentic to their experience truly transfers onto the screen in a way that is absent in some of the other work that I have done.”

A different kind of Coretta Scott King: “What Ava wrote for Coretta was so different from what I was working with the first time around that I inevitably had to portray her differently. But I didn’t ever feel anxious. I was excited by the challenge of getting somewhat messier with this portrayal. And by messy I mean not being scared to explore Martin Luther King Jr.’s alleged infidelity or exploring the fact that Coretta, who was a brilliant and dynamic woman, was, at times, frustrated in her iconic role of the first lady of the movement, being stuck at home and not necessarily having a platform to express herself fully.”

Where she feels most alive: “When I’m swimming. It can be in a pool or, even better, a lake or the sea. But there is something about being underwater that gives you space to think and meditate. It makes me feel very connected to myself somehow. I also come alive when I’m painting. I like to work in oils and acrylics, and the full sensory engagement and self-expression is very stimulating to me.”

Baths or showers? “Baths. Absolutely. I’ve got the lavender essential oils and the whole routine down at this point….I’ve had as many as maybe three, maybe four baths in a day. Is that really excessive?”

[From Violet Grey]

Three or four baths a day? I feel the same way about that as I do about people who sleep 10-12 hours a day. How can you get anything else done? I mean, I used to love taking baths too, but my limit was always ONE a day. Nowadays, I’m more of a shower person anyway. Get in, get out and get on with your day. How does any modern woman – and Carmen is a mom too! – have time to take three or four baths a day?!

Photos courtesy of WENN, Violet Grey.