Star on the Rise: Raven Bowens

Written by James Quinn, originally published in January 2022 print

The next generation of black actors and actresses are coming in today’s media, and some of us will have the privilege of watching their rise to greater stardom. I had the privilege to speak with Raven Bowens; a rising black actress who has starred in several television and streaming shows such as All Rise on CBS, Future Man on Hulu, Henry Danger on Nickelodeon, and Insecure on HBO.

Raven Bowens can trace her beginnings of acting all the way to her adolescents in the inner cities of Southeast San Diego. Growing up, Bowens participated in all kinds of after-school and community programs that introduced her to the arts.

“I would do dance, cheer-leading, and sports. I was attracted to things that were performance based.” Bowens said, speaking on her youth activities.

One of the programs Bowens took was a mult-media club that she took with her best friends. The multi-media club involved acting, making comedy skits, news reports, and small dramatic scenes. “It was sort of like the TikToks of its time” Bowens said “we would edit, cut, and act in little scenes and skits for the program.”

Bowen’s high school football player boyfriend Todd Doxey encouraged her to seriously pursue acting in her senior year of Sarah High school. However, after her boyfriend’s devastating death, Bowens didn’t pursue much of anything because of her distraught feelings.

It wasn’t until Bowen had a serious conversation with her father that inspired her to continue acting. As a working actress, Bowen looks to many actresses for inspiration such as Hallie Berry, Cameron Diez, Gloria Glifford, Elizabethe Taylor, and Diane Carole who Bowen has dubbed the “soap opera Queen Goddess.”

After sending in many audition tapes and videos, Bowen landed her first acting gig on a show that had never gotten produced called Cheerleader Undercover where she was the main character. Unfortunately, working on Cheerleader Undercover was not the best experience and Bowen faced many problems on set.

“I had accidently missed my flight, so I had missed the promo-shoots for the show” Bowens admitted with laughter “There were bed-bugs in the hotel we stayed in. I wasn’t part of the union, so they had me work 17 hours a day for $100 a day.”

Despite the many setbacks, Bowen did have a fun time filming the 7 episodes of the series. Unfortunately, the producers and filmmakers of the show had lost much of the footage so she couldn’t add it to her acting portfolio.

However, after Cheerleader Undercover Bowen got a slew of acting jobs after such as Student-Body President, a Ford Commercial, and a major supporting role in BET’s New Edition Biographic mini-series.

Bowen will often work with her acting-coach Gloria Glifford to rehearse with her, run down on some lines, and work on her delivery before shooting. For example, Bowen is now working on a soap opera called The Days of Our Lives. With the quick writing and the amount of content they have to shoot with little time Bowen constantly works with her acting coach to get herself ready for the many scenes to shoot on The Days of Our Lives.

Sometimes Bowens would do research to get into the headspace of a character. In a role for All Rise, Bowen had to do a small amount research on sex trafficking to play a victim on the show.

“I have to find how we’re alike,” Bowen said “and how we’re different as well. Understanding the human condition can help actors find common ground with the characters.”

A more personal favorite role was when Bowen played the main character in a short film titled Seize. Seize is a time-loop drama about an older sister, played by Bowen, who saves her little brother from child abuse. Bowen has said that she loved the role because she got to play the hero,and is a supporter of the message of the short film which is free to watch on YouTube.

Raven Bowens offers some advice for those that want to work within the entertainment industry. Bowens recommends to anyone that they write down their goals to envision them and lay out a path. “Once you have your goals written down, do something for that goal everyday.” Bowen said “You can’t dream too big, as long as you’re willing to work for it.”

Some of the future roles she wants to obtain later in her career are Eartha Kitt, and Janet Jackson both for Biopic roles, and hopefully a major superhero role. Bowen also hopes to co-write and direct a film, and wants to help produce and star in a book-series she’s been passionate about for a long time. Regardless of her future projects, be on the lookout for Raven Bowens as she gains more notoriety for her roles.