If LaNisa Frederick had her way, she’d reply “grown” anytime anyone asked her about her age.
It’s a response she originally read in a Variety interview with Abbott Elementary’s very own Janelle James who said:

“I’m grown. I have a 20-year-old son. I’m not ashamed of my age or anything like that. But for women — and everybody knows it and acts like they don’t — it gives an idea of what you are in people’s heads."

But there is no box to check for “grown,” and LaNisa knows that if she herself tried to kickstart that trend, she would receive very few callbacks, making the whole being an actor thing even more difficult than it already is.

We chatted with LaNisa, who plans to release her podcast, “Black and Cultivated,” in the fall. The show is about the Black and Brown experience in cults.
We ask her what birthdays in a cult were like, her own relationship with age in the entertainment industry and what this year’s birthday means for her.

“I’m grown. I have a 20-year-old son. I’m not ashamed of my age or anything like that. But for women — and everybody knows it and acts like they don’t — it gives an idea of what you are in people’s heads,” James says.