You likely remember child actress and singer Sierra McClain from her role in Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls. She starred alongside her younger sisters, Lauryn and China, in the film and captured the hearts of many. These days, she's all grown up and starring on Fox's 9-1-1: Lone Star as a 9-1-1 operator, but she'll always keep her family close.
During a conversation within the Entertainment All Access experience at the 2021 Essence Festival of Culture with fellow co-star Gina Torres and ESSENCE Social Media Director Charisma DeBerry, McClain opened up about what it's been like coming from a family of creatives.
"My parents started doing music in Atlanta many...years ago," McClain began. "[F]rom there, acting was something that was unexpected for China and then it just happened for all three of us.I think it was always part of what we were put here to do, specifically as a family. It's been a blessing to be able to work as individuals, especially as three, young Black women in this industry, to be able to all have opportunity, but this is very much so a family oriented thing and something that was not by accident at all. So, it's been a journey."
Later in the conversation,. Torres shared that while a love for the craft has always been what's fueled her as an actress throughout the course of her 30-year career, being able to make a positive impact through her platform has been a welcomed bonus.
"You go in for the love of the art," she noted. "And, I wanted to be as good as I possibly could get. And to know, all these years later, that I've had that kind of an impact is so overwhelmingly beautiful, it's hard to describe. It's a little easier to get jobs now [laughs], but, there's also still so much more to do.
Check out the full conversation in the video above.