Bre-Z knew she’d nailed her co-starring role on “All American” during her first audition for The CW series. “My audition process was just like any other audition but I got called back,” says the 31-year-old rapper/actress. “Usually you leave and they call your agent — but they told me to my face that same day [that she won the role].” On the series, which was gifted an additional three-episode order this week, Brez-Z (born Calesha Murray) plays Tiana “Coop” Cooper, a gay teen attending South Crenshaw High in Compton with her best friend Spencer James (series star Daniel Ezra). Spencer is recruited to play football in Beverly Hills by high school coach Billy Baker (Taye Diggs); the series is based on the true story of retired NFL linebacker Spencer Paysinger, who played for four NFL teams (including the Giants) from 2011-2017. A native of Philadelphia, Bre-Z’s first big TV role was on the Fox drama “Empire,” where she played Freda Gatz, a rapper signed to Gutter Life Records. “Freda is very hardheaded. Her exterior was so tough and there was no penetrating that,” she says. “I think with Coop you still see a young girl. We see vulnerability, we see emotion, we see femininity. I think that [with] most lesbian characters on TV it’s like, ‘Oh, she’s gay. She wants to be a boy or man.’ But I did not want to do that. “We portray so many real life things [on ‘All American’]. I wanted that to be as… [Read full story]
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