Interview with Bellah (Kyazike)

9 July 2024

Kyazike is Queenie’s longest-serving best friend from school, also 25, Kyazike works in a bank where she can cross-reference eligible men with their bank balances. She always has the longest weave, the highest designer heels, and the funniest stories. Kyazike is firmly on her quest for Mr. Right, and while Queenie doesn’t find her friend’s quest aspirational, she definitely finds it inspirational.

How much did you know about Queenie before you started filming?

I was none the wiser, I didn’t know about the book before I got asked to do the audition for the role. It wasn’t until I started filming and when things were coming alive in front of me, I thought, I need to read the book and get into this! I am not a quick reader but slowly and steadily I got there! I had no idea of Queenie’s world before, but I literally stepped into her world as her best friend. Obviously I knew enough knowledge to know what was going on and to know this was something that was really incredible.

 

This was your first acting role in TV – how was it?

I was so scared! It was really daunting but it’s an opportunity that I thought ‘if this has been presented to me, then I need to tackle it head on and put my everything into it.’ As scared as I was, it was one of the best things I’ve ever done. When I heard I got the role of Kyazike, I think I was in Nashville or Chicago, I was in America doing a Soho House Tour and I said to my manager, I think I’d like to extend my ticket in LA and he was like ‘well you can’t, you have a table read!’ I couldn’t believe it! Being on set was a lot of early mornings! It was almost like going back to school and seeing all your favourite people and the community was there, it was so fun! I’m not an early morning person but there was always lots of laughs and fun!

 

Can you describe Kyazike’s relationship with Queenie? 

Kyazike is Queenie’s friend, she is her longest serving best friend and she offers Queenie the comic relief, the light heartedness and the silver lining. She also gives Queenie the reality check, ‘this is what it is and this is what it isn’t’ and life isn’t that serious so let’s laugh about it. That’s the approach to their relationship and she is Queenie’s ride or die. No matter what happens, even if you are in a sticky mess, she is there defending you and supporting women’s rights and wrongs, that what Kyazike is! Their friendship is fun and funny, it’s light-hearted and not so serious at times and when it is, it’s quickly brought back to the fact that it’s not that deep and let’s laugh about it. They don’t avoid serious conversations, but they do always bring it back to the light-hearted side of things.

 

Are there any similarities between you and Kyazike?

Absolutely, the only difference between me and Kyazike is heels! Kyazike really is that girl when it comes to the outfits, the skirts, the heels but I’m a trainers’ girl and will wear anything to make myself comfortable but we are literally one, we are the same. It was really fun as I was kinda playing myself!

 

What was it like working with Candice? Did she offer you any advice?

Candice is now the love of my life! She is a joy to work with, she is very inspiring and to be that close to excellence. It was quite overwhelming and emotional for me to see the production happening, Candice had created so many jobs for people from this one idea she had in her head. It wasn’t so much advice she gave, more encouragement and we would literally just talk about everything and anything. She is the most encouraging, most amazing woman and the first time I met her, she said ‘I’ve been watching you for a while and one day we are going to work together’ – she’s very tuned in and has her ear to the ground and she’s lovely. Candice was more a soundboard for affirmation, I would ask ‘am I doing this right’ and she would say ‘yeah don’t worry, you got it!’

 

Music plays a big part in the series – tell us more about your involvement?

Candice asked me to do a little song for the last episode. That was amazing as we went to see Swindle and talked about the song and how the song was to summarise everything that had happened in the series. It was really fun and it was the first time I got to see a bit of the show after we filmed. It was overwhelming but really dope to summarise everything that had happened, I really loved it!

 

Did you have any favourite moments from set?

Every day was a funny day on set, everyone is a bunch of jokers! I was doing a scene with Samuel and Dionne, and Kyazike was talking to Frank and I accidently called Queenie, ‘Dionne’ and I was like ‘we’ve become too close and I think Queenie is actually Dionne’ and then we had to reshoot it all over again! The chicken shop scene was also hilarious, because of Demmy Ladipo and a lot of the time he was just improvising and there was no script, I had to try so hard not to laugh in those scenes, but he’s actually hilarious! All of it was fantastic though, I loved being on set!