{"id":12737,"date":"2017-10-31T15:43:09","date_gmt":"2017-10-31T19:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=12737"},"modified":"2021-06-21T13:42:20","modified_gmt":"2021-06-21T17:42:20","slug":"actress-renee-lawless-carries-secret-weapon-transformative-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2017\/10\/actress-renee-lawless-carries-secret-weapon-transformative-power.html","title":{"rendered":"Actress Renee Lawless Carries a Secret Weapon, And it Has Transformative Power"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ReneeLawless\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You likely know Renee Lawless as Katheryn Cryer on Tyler Perry\u2019s hit TV drama, \u2018The Haves and the Have Nots\u2019 on OWN. Her thick southern drawl, wit and undeniable strength in the face of challenging situations make it hard not to fall in love with her character.<\/p>\n

Now, don’t get it confused. Renee is very different than the character she plays on screen. One thing fans of the show may not know is that Lawless carries a weapon around daily. This weapon helped her land the role on the highest-rated series on OWN and protects her everywhere she goes. The name of this weapon? Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

Lawless is a devout Christian and holds her faith very dear to her heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went from the birthing table to the church pew,\u201d Lawless said. \u201cI didn\u2019t pass go, and I didn\u2019t collect $200. I don\u2019t know what it\u2019s like not to be in church.\u201d<\/p>\n

Growing up, if the church doors were open, Lawless was probably there. Two godly parents raised the Tennessee native in the Southern Baptist faith tradition. They both emphasized the importance of a relationship with Jesus very early.<\/p>\n

Lawless was saved at age 7. She remembers the day Jesus came into her heart so vividly. It was such a profound memory that she even remembers the color of her pastor\u2019s collar and talking into her pastor\u2019s ear.<\/p>\n

\u201cI walked out of that aisle with tears running down my face as a 7-year-old little girl, and I wrapped Jesus into my heart,\u201d Lawless said.<\/p>\n

Her faith has been a strong foundation and helped her navigate Hollywood. Everything she has and everything she\u2019s accomplished, she credits Jesus \u2013 including landing her lead role on Tyler Perry\u2019s \u2018The Haves and the Have Nots.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cLanding that role was 100 percent Divine Intervention,\u201d Lawless said.<\/p>\n

Before her role in the hit TV drama, Lawless was on the national tour of Wicked.<\/p>\n

She had put in five years and realized she wanted to leave the company and return to New York to start pursuing other things. During those five years, she received leads for potential projects through an actor\u2019s database but had been ignoring them. Then she realized she would soon be without a job and better start running through these leads. As she was scrolling through them, one really grabbed her. It was the character description for Katheryn Cryer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt didn\u2019t tell me who it was or anything, but I remember sitting up in bed and going \u2018oh my gosh, that\u2019s me,\u2019\u201d Lawless said. \u201cNow, I don\u2019t mean literally, but I was like, I know this woman, I know everything about this woman.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet, when she opened up the file and saw that it was a Tyler Perry production, she was discouraged. She had always dreamed of working with Perry, but she didn\u2019t think he would ever choose some theater person out in the middle of nowhere who was doing a Broadway show, Lawless said. She didn\u2019t know at the time how much Perry loved theater actors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so close to hitting delete, thinking there was no way he was going to call,\u201d Lawless said. \u201cBut then I thought, what\u2019s it going to hurt?\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawless sent in her headshot and her resume over. She was so nervous. She didn\u2019t even tell anyone, not even her manager. Two weeks later, she got her first call back.<\/p>\n

When she got news from her manager about a call back on Friday evening, she was told she needed to have an audition tape in their hands by Monday morning. She had five shows that weekend but worked between shows to get the tape over to the studio. A month and a half later, three days before Christmas, the studio called her back and wanted to fly her out to Los Angeles for a callback. After running through one scene with four other candidates, they released the other four women. Two and half weeks later, she was on set.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was blessed because not that many people go from the stage to being a series regular unless they win a Tony, so it really was divine intervention,\u201d Lawless said. \u201cI literally watched the hands of God working.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve ever watched \u2018The Haves and the Have Nots,\u2019 you know that Katheryn Cryer is one tough cookie. What so many fans love about her is her wit and her strength in the face of adversity. Lawless relates to her character more than she likes to admit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a scene in Season 1, and the scene was very minor. It was when [Katheryn] was going through cancer. And she\u2019s sitting there having a conversation with Hanna in her bathroom, and she goes, \u2018I hate my marriage, I hate being fat. I hate being all these things,\u2019\u201d Lawless said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a typical woman. I\u2019m insecure about my body. I think I\u2019m overweight, which drives me crazy often. I have been in relationships where I couldn\u2019t stand my boyfriend or said I want to get away from that.\u201d<\/p>\n

No matter how much money you have or how little money you have, it\u2019s surprising how we all have the same kinds of problems, Lawless said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI relate to [Katheryn\u2019s] insecurities. I also relate to her strength in the face of adversity,\u201d Lawless said. \u201cOften times, a lot of things she says, I wish Renee could say. I\u2019m able to verbalize through Katheryn what I say silently as Renee.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of her biggest acting hurdles is that she constantly has to check herself at the door, given Katheryn doesn\u2019t have the same moral compass Renee does. She relates to Katheryn on her vulnerable side, her beyond the door side, rather than her in front of the door side.<\/p>\n

\u201cRenee is like Hanna [on the show]. She believes in the power of Jesus. She believes in the power of prayer. That moral compass is not present in Katheryn,\u201d Lawless said. \u201cI think Hanna has a strong influence on her, and I think she touches her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawless is very passionate about her beliefs, and she never allows a paycheck to compromise her values, no matter how good the offer looks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have turned down several auditions after reading the script that I chose not to do, albeit language or subject matter. I\u2019ve made that decision now, and I\u2019m not Meryl Streep,\u201d Lawless said. \u201cThe Meryl Streeps\u2019, Viola Davis\u2019 and Tom Hanks\u2019 of the world can sit there and say I don\u2019t like that, I don\u2019t want to do that\u2026I don\u2019t wield that power. But I can wield my own heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of those roles that she turned down was an animated series from the same people who wrote the Simpsons. Though she knew she would be good at it, she was worried. She just had a feeling that she would book it and wasn\u2019t sure what was going to happen on the rest of the episodes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew there was so much in the vulgar area going on in the first one. I was afraid what if you book this job and you\u2019re locked into a contract, even though it\u2019s just your voice,\u201d Lawless said. \u201cIt\u2019s not your face. But it\u2019s still my voice, and it\u2019s still my name.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawless grew up going to Billy Graham crusades and remembers George Beverly Shea singing, \u2018I\u2019d Rather Have Jesus Than Anything.\u2019 That stayed with her throughout her life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to check myself at the door because sometimes that paycheck looks really good, but what profits a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?\u201d Lawless said.<\/p>\n

She has another secret weapon in Hollywood. It\u2019s the power of prayer.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can tell me no, that ain\u2019t gonna happen until the cows come home, but I\u2019m going to say excuse me. The only person that can tell me no is Jesus. Don\u2019t tell me no, because nobody thought I\u2019d be on the \u2018Haves and the Have Nots,\u2019\u201d Lawless said. \u201cI\u2019ve got my own struggle, but I can also sit there at the end of the day and go, in the Lord\u2019s timing, it will happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawless believes faith in entertainment is extremely important. She wishes there was more faith on the small screen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a time, years ago, where there were networks dedicated to kind of family values type television,\u201d Lawless said. \u201cThe closest we had years ago was \u2018Touched by an Angel\u2019 and Michael Landon in \u2018Highway to Heaven.\u2019 Both of those were extremely successful. I don\u2019t know what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawless acknowledges that more mainstream actors are getting involved in faith-based films, and they are successful. However, she believes that too many people in the entertainment world are afraid to take on these projects, particularly the larger networks.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are writing it, but there\u2019s not a network out there for whatever reason that wants to jump on board,\u201d Lawless said.<\/p>\n

This is one of the reasons she loves \u2018The Haves and the Have Nots,\u2019 The show isn\u2019t afraid to display faith in a real way which is something the audience really connects to. Hanna prays and says Scripture, and people love it, Lawless said.<\/p>\n

As far as television goes, she believes the landscape is beginning to adjust a bit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this may be changing because of some of the content that\u2019s out there, and people are finding better ways to put that content up,\u201d Lawless said. \u201cWhen an independent film can win the best picture, anything is possible. When more and more independent works are making it to the mainstream, anything is possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Katheryn\u2019s character has transformed from season to season, but there\u2019s one big transformation she\u2019d love to see.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been a couple of times where I wished something would happen that would make Katheryn drop to her knees,\u201d Lawless said. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean that she\u2019s going to change or that she\u2019s not going to still be Catherine Crier, but I would love to see her brought to her knees one day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You likely know Renee Lawless as Katheryn Cryer on Tyler Perry\u2019s hit TV drama, \u2018The Haves and the Have Nots\u2019 on OWN. Her thick southern drawl, wit and undeniable strength in the face of challenging situations make it hard not to fall in love with her character. Now, don’t get it confused. 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