Renika Williams is living life with intention!

Cox: Renika, before we get into your role as Willow in season 2 of The Sex Lives of College Girls tell me about you!

Williams: I’m a natural storyteller and it’s what I love to do. I’ve been doing it since I was that small child telling the kids on the playground what to do (laughs). But for me storytelling is tradition for us as Black people. It’s something we do in particular as a people where we take a story and we make it even more entertaining. It’s in my blood because I come from a family of storytellers. 

Cox: What is it about storytelling that you love so much that it drove you to acting.

Williams: Honestly I’ve always been a huge TV fan. I was never a kid that liked movies because they were always over within 2 hours. I enjoyed being able to watch shows Moesha and Sista Sista and seeing the characters develop over time. 

Williams (contin): I didn’t always feel like I had the power to express myself. Storytelling was my way of expressing myself. I would take the words written by the character and bring them to life. I fell in love with this because I could use these characters to build connections with others. At, the end of the day storytelling is all about building connections with the audience and I love it. 

Cox: Speaking of using characters to express yourself. Do you love being those characters who are totally opposite of you or who the audience love to hate?

Williams: Come on! (Laughs) I put nothing past anyone because anyone can cut up. So I like to find the flaws in the characters.

Williams (contin): People specifically ask if I was like Willow in college being the turn up queen and the loud one. I’m like absolutely not! You can ask my college roommate because I didn’t go anywhere when I was in college. I took school so seriously that I rarely went out. For me Willow gives me the chance to let out the girl inside of me I always wanted to be. (Laughs) I wanted to be that girl that could party all-night and still wake up at 8 am and go to class. 

The reason why Renika loves playing Willow is that it gives her a second chance at college almost like what if. This role lets her tap into other parts of herself that were always present while she was in school but never accessed. 

Cox: Since you are tapping into things you’ve never accessed before to bring Willow to life, how are you able to make it believable? 

Williams: If I’m being honest it’s just so much fun. I’m a people watcher. So I’m observing people all the time, noticing things I like such as the way she walks or how he talks. So I start with the physical of how Willow would walk and move around. Many people don’t know but I change up Willow’s walk during certain scenes. I asked my mom if she noticed anything different in Willows walk on one episode and she said no. Then when I spoke to my cousin she told me you even changed up the way Willow walks. I”m like thank you if someone gets it. 

Cox: This is your first series regular role, how was that experience for you when you first got the call?

Williams: It was a whirlwind for me because when they called me to let me know I got the job they said I needed to be in LA in 48 hours. I was like yes but can I go to CVS first to get my COVID vaccine because I’m scheduled for tomorrow (laughs). It was so fast that I could not freak out like most do when they have the usual 3 to 4 months to get ready to shoot. 

Williams shared with me that during the audition only that she felt she already knew who Willow was. She laughed as she said she channeled Kevin Hart during the audition in the moments where she thought an inflection of her voice similar to how he does it would be golden for the audience. 

Cox: You mentioned you are being more intentional as a young actress. 

Williams: Like when I got the opportunity for the role of Willow. I spoke with my mentor because the title of the show is The Sex Lives of College Girls. She said you have to get specific with what you will and won’t do in roles. I asked how specific and she replied very specific. She told me that what I do will live on screen forever and I have to be okay with it. She said everyone is different and their boundaries and limits and I have to find mine. 

Cox: So how do you know if you will or will not take a role.

Williams: As long as the role doesn’t my principles or my self worth I give it to God and I go for it. There have been many scripts that came my way where I’m like they want me to do what now. Oh I’m not doing that. Listen, I take after Chadwick Boseman with being intentional with my work and my career. 

Photo Credit: Andrew Parsons