Tiffany Elle Burgess has always been creative, but up until recently, she didn’t know that would extend to acting.
Burgess, who lives in Atlanta, is an author, screenwriter, and one-third of the team behind Tyler Street Films. She can also be seen on screen as Olivia, the daughter of main character Celie, in the recent 2023 film adaptation of “The Color Purple.”
Burgess has been writing since she was a little girl, and is the author of three children’s books and multiple screenplays. But after doing a showcase with Premier Actors’ Network in 2019, she was signed by People Store Talent Agency as an actress – something she never expected to happen.
Soon after, she got the chance to audition for “The Color Purple” – starring the likes of Fantasia Barrino, Colman Domingo, and Danielle Brooks – and she landed the role, making her big screen debut. Rough Draft Atlanta recently spoke to Burgess about her journey to film and her experience on set.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
I read that you got your degrees in biology and public health. How did you make the switch over to acting? What was that decision like?
Tiffany Elle Burgess: I’ve always been a creative because I’ve always been a writer. I’ve been writing since I was a little girl. The cool thing about Emory, where I went for my graduate degree, is they have these courses that you can take. You know, you pay the tuition, you get the discount as an alum. So I decided to take creative writing and publishing years ago, like in 2007 or 2008, so I could really hone my character development skills and all of that good stuff.
That helped me stay in tune with my creative life. I wrote a couple of children’s books, and then I wrote a screenplay with my partners [Lawrence Watford and Jack L. Manning III]. We own Tyler Street Films, a production company. My screenplay was written in 2016, and that really was my introduction to the…
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