Kali Hawk surprised by success of “Black and Jewish”
HollywoodNews.com:“Bridesmaids” actress Kali Hawk says she was taken by surprise by the instantaneous success of her hilarious “Black and Jewish” video with “Vampire Diaries’” Katerina Graham this past summer. “It got a hundred thousand views the first hour it was up on FunnyorDie. I think a lot of people responded to it for reasons we didn’t expect, and there are a lot more people of this mixed ancestry than we realized,” she says.
The hit, a takeoff on “Black and Yellow” came naturally to Hawk, whose roots are African American, Native American and German Jewish. “It was a pleasant surprise. I got to bring out my Yiddish, go on radio stations and perform Yiddish rap. My grandmother always spoke Yiddish in the house, which had this great Jewish vibe omnipresent, but I didn’t even realize it. I didn’t know these words, like, ‘Move your tookis,’ weren’t spoken everywhere.”
The internet was a vital force early on in her career, too — in a whole different way. She was working on her music career in New York City, and, impatient with a slow spell, decided to try acting one day because she couldn’t stand inactivity. She found a casting ad on Craig’s List, answered it and wound up landing a part in Todd Bridges’ 2004 movie, “Issues.” Craig’s List! Her Craig’s List movie also brought her to Hollywood, and “before too long, I was thinking, ‘I can do this,’” she recalls. Of course, her background as a drama major at SUNY Purchase (before she was 16) didn’t hurt.
Photo by PRPhotos
To read more go to Beck/Smith Hollywood
To see celebrity photo galleries click here
Follow Hollywood News on Twitter for up-to-date news information.
