I remember some 20 years ago I met this beautiful young lady, Amina Robinson. At the time, she had landed the lead role in Freedom Theater’s play “Sparkle,” an adaptation of the 70s hit movie of the same name. Amina had the looks, the moves, the voice, and the talent that would open the door to endless opportunities.
Born and raised in Philadelphia, Amina Robinson always had a passion for acting and the theater. “But what was funny during that time in my life, I didn’t consider myself a singer.” She continued, “And, here I am landing the lead role, and I had to sing. I couldn’t believe it.”
That was the beginning of an amazing career. Amina is a professional actor, director, and currently a Professor of Acting and Musical Theater at Temple University.
She has performed on Broadway’s “Mamma Mia” and “Godspell” as well as touring the country in Broadway National Tours “Mamma Mia” and “Little Shop of Horrors.”
“Here, I was again having to sing in all those productions. It goes along with the business, especially theater,” Amina explained. She has performed in various regional productions, including shows at the Williamstown Theater Festival, Philadelphia Theater Company, and Baltimore Center Stage. She was also nominated for an AUDELCO Award for work as Juliet in “Romeo and Juliet” at the Classical Theater of Harlem.
But Amina’s acting career extended beyond the theater, she has guest-starred in many television series including, “Law and Order,” “Smash,” “The Electric Company,” and “Mercy,” in addition to recurring roles on Showtime’s hit show “Nurse Jackie,” and most recently ABC’s hit show “For Life,” which was recently canceled and set to air on cable. She has done numerous national commercials for companies including Truth Anti-Smoking, Walmart, KFC, and Macy’s, as well as voice-over work for Verizon, Con Edison, USAA, KFC, and others.
The highlight of her work in film has been her role as Jermaine in Lee Daniels’ Oscar, Golden Globe, and multi-award-winning film “Precious,” which included a Screen Actors Guild “Best Ensemble Award” nomination and winning the Boston Society of Film Critics “Best Ensemble Award.”
“Precious” was the story of a young teen who had been sexually abused as a child and pregnant by her own father for the second time. 16-year-old Claireece “Precious” Jones (Gabourey Sidibe) can neither read nor write and suffers constant abuse at the hands of her vicious mother (Mo’Nique). Precious instinctively sees a chance to turn her life around and does just that with the help of her friends and community.
The movie received six nominations at the 82nd Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director for Daniels, and Best Actress for Sidibe. Mo’Nique won the award for Best Supporting Actress, while Geoffrey Fletcher won for Best Adapted Screenplay, becoming the first African-American to win a screenplay award at the Oscars.
A major supporting character was Jermaine. Amina said, “This was an experience of a lifetime, working with Lee. It was really funny, I had landed this role as a tough butch, totally out of my character, but that’s what acting is all about,” she added.
It’s was crazy how things happened. At first, it was a low-budget film that was getting a lot of attention. We all were thinking ‘boy this movie is bigger than we thought.’
The buzz was out, and by the time it hit the theater, we were already hearing talk of nominations, Amina explained. Her career continued to blossom. She was featured in the video game “Grand Theft Auto V” and in films, “The Harvest”, “5 to 9” and the short film, “Hallow Gate.”
Amina’s directing credits include “Sunset Baby” at Azuka Theatre; “Dauphin Island” at Passage Theater; “The Color Purple” at Theatre Horizon; “Seventy Four Seconds to Judgment” at The Arden Theatre; “Godspell,” and the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Temple University. Amina is also the first Black woman to win a Barrymore Award for Outstanding Direction of the Musical for “The Color Purple.”
Amina said she left her movie career to focus on being a mother to her son, Xavier. Though you may see her on the tube or in films from time to time, her passion now is her students. As a teacher and mentor, Amina has worked with ages five through adult in many aspects of acting training. She has taught for The Walnut Street Theater, Freedom Repertory Theater, Harlem School of the Arts, among others, and also conducted numerous independent workshops and classes, including The Philadelphia One-Act Intensive.
Amina holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Acting.
