Over 40 years ago, the ‘Uncoupled’ star made her debut in a short film called ‘The Magnificent Major.’
Now 53 years old, Tisha Campbell has been working in Hollywood since she was 8 years old, when she made her onscreen debut as Daisy Bunsen in a short film called The Magnificent Major. While speaking to ET’s Denny Directo, the Uncoupled star took a trip down memory lane to revisit the start of her acting career nearly five decades ago.
“That’s me trying to dance. Phil Black was the choreographer,” Campbell says, amazed to see her younger self perform.
Looking back, she recalls how it was her first audition. “I stood on, like, one of those American Idol, long, thousands of people on a line type of thing,” Campbell says now. “And I went to that open call and I wound up booking it. But my parents were really embarrassed because they went with me and they’re sitting on this little couch right there, and they said, ‘Can you dance?’ Now, I’ve never taken a dance class. Couldn’t afford ‘em.”
But the fact that she didn’t have any dance experience didn’t stop her from going into the audition. “So they said, ‘Can you dance?’ I said, ‘Oh, yes.’ And they said, ‘Well, can you do ballet?’ So I start twirling around,” the actress continues, recalling how she relied on what she had seen on Little Rascals when they asked if she could also tap dance.
“Oh, honey, I was Darla. You couldn’t tell me I wasn’t Darla,” she jokes, before stating: “That was the beginning.”
While Campbell fondly looked back on her earliest role, she reveals that never looks backwards, especially when it comes to her acting career. “People have been asking me that. And that’s a very interesting question, because we grew up in this business learning that you’re only as good as your last job… So, we always go forward,” she explains.
It wasn’t until “the last three years I started watching Martin,” she says, referring to her starring role as Gina Waters-Payne on the ‘90s sitcom. “I’m like, ‘Oh this show is funny.’”
“We never look backwards. We just look forward to see where we’re going from here,” she adds. And when it comes to now, Campbell is currently starring opposite Neil Patrick Harris in Darren Star’s newest Netflix series, Uncoupled, about a gay man who suddenly finds himself single and navigating dating life in his 40s in New York City.
“This was an easy yes,” Campbell says of wanting to do the project. “When they told me Neil Patrick Harris, it was a no-brainer. Because we both have been in this business since we had, like, pacifiers in our mouths, and I knew just because of that we were gonna have this amazing chemistry.”
While the show deals with the ups and downs of dating at a certain age (“It’s really about heartbreak, but it’s also funny”), Campbell reveals that she has no problems in that area because she’s no longer dating. “I’m not ready to date nothing,” she quips.
She adds, “I am the happiest I have ever been and I do not want a relationship.”
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