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HER ROLE IN "CROWNS":

"Crowns" is about a young lady named Yolanda, that's me, and she loses her brother in Brooklyn. So her mom sends her to her grandmother in the South to learn about herself and try to grow up.

Her grandmother has four other friends and they tell her stories about back in the day and their experiences, and how hats are a symbolism for how African-Americans adorn their heads like Africans used to. All these hats have stories. They're more than just hats; they're history.

HER OTHER WORK:

I started acting when I was in seventh grade, and my first play was "Once Upon a Clothesline" with the Greensboro Children's Theatre. I didn't have any lines, but I danced in the beginning and thought it was so cool. Then my second play was "Don Coyote" with the Children's Theater, and then "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe."

And then I got into Weaver Academy and did "No Boys Allowed" and "The Boys Next Door," which was my favorite. And I did "Zap." I go to Weaver full time, and I'm about to be a senior. My focus is theater, but I've taken guitar and photography, too.

HOW SHE GOT HER START:

When I was in seventh grade, I got really sick with lupus. I used to play tennis and wanted to be a tennis player, but when I got lupus, I couldn't be outside in the sun all the time. My mom said I needed to pick something else and I thought, "Well, I guess I'll try acting." So I auditioned for a Greensboro Children's Theatre play, and I did that and it's worked out really well.

WHAT SHE LOVES ABOUT ACTING:

I feel like it's so amazing to connect with people like that. I love acting onstage, and I love film, and I love how they can really carry a culture and reach a lot of people. My favorite kinds of stuff to do are things that are teaching something, or you understand it or you've been there.

That's why I loved "Crowns." It's my first professional play, and it was hard because she's a real woman. "Crowns" comes from a book with true stories, so it's so much pressure because these ladies could very well come. We actually met a lady who was in the book. It's amazing onstage to tell someone's story.

HER DREAM ROLE:

My dream role would be Dorothy in "The Wiz." It's an all African-American production telling the same story in such a different way. Or if I could be Carmen in "Carmen Jones," that would be the bomb.

HER ADVICE TO OTHER YOUNG ACTORS:

You shouldn't do it if you don't love it as an art. If you really want to do that, I'd say do not be afraid and put yourself out there. Tell it how you feel it, and portray the character as you think the character is. Don't do it how everyone else has done it. And study theater because you learn so much from reading plays.

WHERE SHE SEES HERSELF IN THE FUTURE:

Acting is something I have a great passion for, and I definitely want to keep doing that and independent films. I want to have a vintage clothing shop and a vegan coffee shop, and I want them to be connected. I really love photography. And I write poetry, and I hope to publish that. I have a bunch of things I want to do, and they will get done.

- Alexa Milan