Pop-Culturalist.com

Jacinte Blankenship is one of Hollywood’s most dynamic and powerful storytellers. Earlier this year, she received an Emmy nomination for her outstanding work in Intersection.

On the tipping point of gentrification, a close-knit Atlanta community is forced to integrate with wide-eyed opportunists, both striving for their own self-preservation on a path that’s not always black and white. Intersection is a dark comedy, written in a diverse, all-female writer’s room and produced with a cast and crew of over 80% female and BIPOC.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Jacinte about Intersection, how she learned she was nominated for an Emmy, and more!

PC: How did you discover your passion for the arts and storytelling?
Jacinte: Oh, wow. My passion goes back to when I was very, very young. I danced and performed as a kid. After I watched movies and musicals, I would lock myself in the bathroom and reenact what I saw. Grease, in particular, was one of my favorites when I was a kid. That and The Wiz.

I put it on the back burner once I entered high school and when I was in college. It wasn’t until I was a working professional that little hints from the universe showed me how much I missed this huge part of who I am. Then other people started to ask me if I’d ever thought about acting. I saw that as confirmation.

I was like, “I’m going to find a class.” As soon as I stepped into my first class, it was done. I was home. I knew exactly where I belonged.

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Jacinte: I had a wonderful acting teacher. Her name was Navia Rhodes. She was the person I studied with very early on who really cultivated my approach to the work. She is a powerful individual. She had me think about my true offerings to the space and what my unique voice is. She had me really accept all my past experiences and who I am as a person and say, “This is enough to lend to the work.” She’s given me that gift. I really settled into who I am supposed to be as an artist.

PC: You’ve been incredibly open about the highs and lows of this industry. During those more challenging times, how were you able to persevere?
Jacinte: I’ve learned that it’s okay to feel those things and find joy in other spaces. That means I just started to really enjoy traveling or find books that really help me stay encouraged. Also being there for other people—because you may be in a low place, but that doesn’t mean you can’t help your friends who are on this journey too.

If you can be supportive and help someone with an audition or be there to listen to their thoughts and frustrations about things, it makes you feel like you’re not alone. It takes the focus of what you’re feeling about yourself and puts it somewhere else. I got comfortable with feeling those things and knowing they will pass. They’re temporary.

PC: On the flip side of that, you were recently nominated for a Primetime Emmy. Congratulations by the way. How did you find out the news that you were nominated? How did you celebrate?
Jacinte: Thank you. I was on my phone scrolling through Amazon Prime deals. [laughs] I saw this Instagram banner that flashed across my phone. It was someone that I didn’t know saying, “Congratulations on your Emmy nomination.” I froze and I was like, “What is this person talking about?”

I took a screenshot and sent it to my EP Meg Messmer and asked her if it was real. She’s in Sweden right now, so she didn’t answer me right away. I started Googling “Emmy nominations and Jacinte Blankenship,” and Kevin, it showed up! I was stunned. My friends sent me beautiful flowers, and I’ve been enjoying the moment.

PC: The show has been incredibly well received. What do you think is resonating most with audiences?
Jacinte: It’s twofold. We were completely self-funded. We raised money in our community and did a campaign. Friends and family gave to us. It was one of those things where you can create your own material. You can produce things with your peers and your friends and make things that are good and put them out there. You don’t necessarily have to wait on a yes from the other bigger machines. You can really dig deep and do something on your own. There’s support out there for you. That’s a huge win that we took away from this.

The second thing is that we’re tackling a subject that isn’t the easiest to talk about, but we tried to make it equally as funny as it is serious and thought-provoking. We’re not the first to do it, but I think having the courage to tell these stories in a very nuanced and varied way and from different perspectives is really cool and nice to see.

PC: Not only are you starring in the project, you’re also a writer on the series. How did your work behind the camera impact the way you approached this character on screen and vice versa?
Jacinte: It’s funny because this is truly the first project that I’ve written. I’ve done some other small things, but this was the project where I was so intricately involved in the writing. I understand when writers are like, “But that’s not what’s on the page. I wrote it this way.” But it’s being explored in real form, and you have to be open to how different it can be once you’re creating it.

You also have a deeper connection to the words because we wrote them as a team. It allowed me to ease into the work a little bit quicker because it was in my bones already. That was a huge benefit to working as an actor on the project.

PC: Like you were saying earlier, this series tackles a lot of really timely and relevant themes from a comedic lens. Why do you think this genre lends itself to this type of storytelling?
Jacinte: Comedy is oftentimes the way into really uncomfortable subject matter. When you get to poke fun at things or call out the absurdity in things, it makes it a little easier to talk about. There’s so much content out there that gets it right. It’s like, “Hey, if we can poke fun at this and call attention to it not being right, it’ll also provoke thoughts.” You’re like, “Well, I’m laughing at this, but this is kind of uncomfortable. Why do I feel this way?” You start to ask yourself the whys. Dark comedy and comedic pieces are a really, really helpful way to tackle those difficult conversations.

PC: Great answer. What I love about this project is there’s so much diversity in front of and behind the scenes. What has that meant to you to push these inclusive stories forward? Why do you think the industry has taken so long to get here?
Jacinte: I don’t know why the industry is so stagnant in that way, but fortunately, we have so many people who are pushing the conversation and demanding more diversity, and the more people that get the opportunity to put those people in those places, the better we’ll be. That was so important to us. That’s what existed in our writers’ room, in our cast, and in the story. That’s the world that we live in. We knew so many talented women filmmakers and minority filmmakers. It was such an amazing experience producing. Atlanta has some incredible filmmakers, and we had the opportunity to showcase them. It was everything.

PC: What’s next for you?
Jacinte: Hopefully, we’ll develop this story more. That’s the opportunity that we hope for. Through receiving this nomination, getting more views, and getting the word out there, we really hope to develop the story more.

To keep up with Jacinte, follow her on Instagram. Watch Intersection on YouTube today.

Photo Credit: Rachael Humphries