6 Fun Facts About Ma Rainey's Black Bottom Star Taylour Paige

Under the guidance of professional choreographer (and newly crowned Netflix queen) Debbie Allen, who Taylour credits as her second mom, Taylour was exposed to the world of dance in every way imaginable. During her time at Debbie Allen's Dance Academy, she learned ballet, tap, flamenco, salsa, and jazz, she travelled the world, and even starred in Allen's musicals. Her time at DADA, essentially helped get her foot in the door to becoming a Laker Girl, and her role in Hit the Floor.

Much like her character in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Paige is trying to live her truth. And while she believes things are shifting in the right direction, she says there's still restrictions placed on Black women in Hollywood. "There have been times I've been broke or in between jobs, and I go back to working at the weed dispensary or cleaning houses, but I would much rather do that than some silly pilot about cops," she said in an interview with Elle.

In a recent interview with GARAGE magazine, Taylour shared her favourite binge of quarantine has been Issa Rae's comedy series, Insecure: "It's a real feat that Issa creates a show that's just unapologetically her vantage point but universal, relatable. Black people date multiple people, too. Come from good homes, too. Have annoying and confusing jobs, too—like all of that can exist and everybody else can relate to it." She went onto explain that while she loves seeing a show portraying "Black people [who] live ordinarily," it's "still the exception to the actual world we live in."

In 2010, Taylour found herself in a sparkly purple and gold number dancing court side for one of the biggest sports teams in the world, the Lakers; however, her time at the Staple Centre isn't one her fondest memories. In an interview, she shared that during her three months as a Laker Girl, she had to work two jobs to make ends meet and the superficial aspects of being a performer were gruelling. "I thought that it would be a little more fun but it was quite stressful," she said. "It's all about your weight, your hair, having the right hair extensions, what to wear, the kind of shoes you wore. I found myself dumbing down my dances to fit in and that was just not me."