Oscar-nominated Teyana Taylor loves work with 'purpose'
Teyana Taylor won't stop until she achieves her career ambitions.
Teyana Taylor relishes working hard.
The 35-year-old film star has a long list of career ambitions that she wants to achieve, and Teyana won't stop until she's achieved her goals.
She told TIME: "I love when it’s hard—that means it’s of purpose.
"I want everything that is supposed to be mine. And I’m going to work my a** off to make sure that I see that."
Teyana walked away from the music business in 2020 in order to focus her efforts on her acting career. But in spite of her recent successes, Teyana still has ambitions to work behind the camera, too.
The actress said: "Everybody told me it was dumb. And I was like, ‘No, I am going to be a great actress. One day, I am going to be a great director.’"
Teyana received an Oscar nomination for her performance in Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another, the 2025 action thriller film. And regardless of whether she wins the gong or not, Teyana already considers herself to be a winner.
The Hollywood star shared: "Even if I go home empty-handed, I have won."
Teyana has relished awards season so far and she's developed a close bond with fellow film star Jacob Elordi.
The actress said: "We're young, we're blessed, we're being celebrated—this is the time to be happy and to have fun with it, especially in a space that some people take so serious, and some people are cold, some people are robotic.
"I know to the world, it looks spicy, but we’re literally just in our own little world … Half the time we’re talking about having the same haircut, going mullet for mullet."
Meanwhile, Teyana recently confessed that she's "always been a big dreamer".
The Oscar-nominated actress said on the Awardist podcast: "You never know which one of them dreams is gonna become a reality. So I've always been a big dreamer.
"I dream about everything, all the possibilities, even just bucket list stuff. Just growing up watching SNL, who would've ever thought that I would've been hosting SNL in this same year that I'm like nominated for an Oscar. Like, I used to be that little girl watching the Oscars.
"To now be in that space where I'm probably the one that another little girl sitting at home is watching me or saying that she loves my dress, or saying that she loves my speech, like, oh my God, I'm getting chills talking about that.
"It's a lot in the best way, you know? I'm so overwhelmed with joy and gratitude."
