Up-and-coming actress Candace Maxwell landed a role in her first-ever feature film, A Madea Homecoming, and, although she was nervous to join the Tyler Perry production, Maxwell says she’s “honored” to have been a part.
“It's Black history, it's Black film history, and now it's American history,” the actress said to ABC Audio. “It's an honor for it to be my first feature. Hopefully, one of many to come, but a dream come true.”
Maxwell was cast in the small yet important role of Ellie, Madea’s granddaughter and a local neighborhood cop. While a bit fearful to portray such a role, Maxwell says it was important for her to honor the characters she plays.
“There was fear for me because I want to do a great job,” she explained. “I was nervous because even in the comedic sense, I want to make sure that I'm doing this person justice.”
Maxwell was humbled to join the mega-hit Madea franchise, but says the “mind-blowing” part of it all was receiving the job offer from the studio directly.
She said, “I did not audition…that's every actress's dream to know that the work that they did before on a previous set or that they impacted casting -- that the studio had to then come directly to me. That's an honor.”
The best part of the experience, she said, was sharing the set with some of the many Madea favorites, like Tamela and David Mann.
Excitement for the film has come not only from Maxwell but from fans all over. Perry took to his Instagram to share news that the Netflix comedy-drama hit number one in the U.S. during its debut weekend, and that it reached the top 10 in films streaming in 33 countries a few days after.