It began streaming on Netflix on Wednesday.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How would you describe your character, Regina?
And what drew you to the role?
LARA SOLANKI/NETFLIX
She’s very no-nonsense.
You’ve had such an illustrious career.
Would you say this is our introduction to Kim Fields the mother?
THE UPSHAWS (L to R) MIKE EPPS as BENNIE, JOURNEY CHRISTINE as MAYA, KIM FIELDS as REGINA and WANDA SYKES as LUCRETIA in episode 103 of THE UPSHAWS.LARA SOLANKI/NETFLIX
Would you say Regina is closer to how you are in real life?
Actually, the opposite, quite the contrary.
Well, interesting people anyway are multi-faceted.
THE UPSHAWS (L to R) KHALI SPRAGGINS as AALIYAH, JERMELLE SIMON as BERNARD, JOURNEY CHRISTINE as MAYA, KIM FIELDS as REGINA and MIKE EPPS as BENNIE in episode 104 of THE UPSHAWS.LARA SOLANKI/NETFLIX
And I like to think of myself as that.
That’s one of the reasons I loved playing Regine onLiving Singlebecause she was nothing like me.
First of all, she’s got daughters; I’ve got sons.
And what were those challenges going into playing Regina?
I think the newness, the uncharted waters of it.
The fact that she is uncompromising, that she is very strong in who she is.
But baby, when we get to that tipping point, it’s a wrap for everybody around.
Nowthatpart, I can identify with her wholeheartedly.
We’re thrown right into this complicated family dynamic on the show.
How do you work on getting that across in a tight, funny way?
When I tell you that it was all on the page, the dynamics were all there.
But I mean, our writers' room, they are in a class all by themselves.
Ain’t no writers' room doing that right now exceptThe Upshaws.
What aspects of the show were you excited to explore?
What felt fresh in this contribution to the Black sitcom, or sitcoms in general?
I think the very blue-collar aspect, that working-class family.
And just how engaging it is, the conflicts with Bennie are just wonderful.
You know what’s funny about that?
Like having the oldest sonagain, uncharted waters.
Hell, my mother had me when she was 17.
And she is an incredibly strong and complex woman.
Sometimes she’s frustrated with how she loves.
It frustrates the hell out of her that she cannot shake loving Bennie Upshaw.
It’s very much, to me, akin toThe Honeymooners, Alice and Ralph Kramden.
The Kramdens and the Upshaws, they could be related, you know?
So I definitely get it.
When I tell you not at all,not at all.
And you could fall in love with their potential, but you could still see the greenness.
But I wasn’t giving them any advice.
I was too busy swimming in uncharted waters.
S—, I didn’t have time to look at other people and give them some help.
And so I honestly did not realize we were taping in front of a studio audience.
I didn’t have time to process that.
You know, when it’s that flash of all the characters.
It was a trip, man.
It was really a trip.
But a good trip.
The Upshawsseason one is now available to watch on Netflix.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
