Alicia Keys is branching outside of music, with upcoming projects in film and television and a newly formed production company with her longtime manager, Jeff Robinson.
As previously reported, the first venture for Big Pita, Lil’ Pita is an as-yet-untitled UPN drama. The show will be loosely based on Keys’ life as a multiracial child; her mother is Irish-Italian and her father is Jamaican.
“It tells the real story of a young girl trying to find her way — being in a new high school, trying to establish a relationship with her father and his new family, and the troubles that her mother is going through to try to raise her,” Keys previously told Billboard.com of the track. “We had all these meetings in the beginning, and I would share some stories in my life and things that I felt and had been through. They used that and turned it into an idea for the pilot.”
Even with her numerous endeavors, Keys plans to stay actively involved in the show’s production. “I’m definitely going to want to read every script and know the direction and the feeling just to make sure it’s true to me and true to life,” she says. “If my name goes with it, then I just want to ensure it’s exactly what I feel.”
In her big screen debut, “Smokin’ Aces,” due later this year, Keys worked alongside actors Ben Affleck, Ryan Reynolds, Jeremy Piven and Andy Garcia, among others. The singer says she pulled from her own life experiences to play the role of an assassin.
“It was freeing, to be honest with you,” says Keys. “It was so good to be able to express a side of myself that we all suppress, which is that of rage or anger, and I think it was healthy. I’m also in the process of developing the next movie I’m going to be a part of, so that’s very exciting.”
Keys is up for five Grammys at the Feb. 8 ceremony, including best female R&B vocal performance for “Unbreakable,” best R&B performance by a duo or group with vocals for “If This World Were Mine” and best traditional R&B vocal performance for “If I Was Your Woman.”
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