While you might not know Jayme Lawson’s name, you know her work — or you will. You saw her play the new mayor in Matt Reeves’ The Batman. Then there were her turns as a young Michelle Obama in The First Lady and as one of John Boyega’s wives in The Woman King. She also starred in Ekwa Msangi’s Farewell Amor and will do the same in Daniel Goldhaber’s upcoming film, How to Blow Up a Pipeline.

I caught up with the busy Lawson — who is now appearing as Myrlie Evers (Medgar Evers’ wife) in director Chinonye Chukwu’s Till — before she headed to Atlanta to start playing Betty Shabazz in Genius: MLK/X. During our wide-ranging conversation, she talked about the importance of telling the tragic true story of Emmett Till, the boy who was lynched while visiting his cousins in Mississippi in 1955. She also opened up about watching Danielle Deadwyler’s fantastic performance as Mamie Till-Mobley up close, what she learned from working with Viola Davis, how Matt Reeves changed her life, and how she’s balancing playing all those strong women.

Watch what she had to say in the player above, or you can read our conversation below.

COLLIDER: You stopped by our Sundance studio in 2020 for Farewell Amor. At the time, I think you had shot The Batman. But what have the last few years been like for you? Because at that moment you had done a tiny little bit. And now you've worked with all these different people.

JAYME LAWSON: It's been crazy. And it's gone by so fast, as much information as I feel like I'm having to soak up with all these different platforms and people and artists that I'm getting to work with. But it's been great. It's unreal.

I can't imagine what it's like for you. You've worked with such great actors and all these talented directors. I'm curious, what have you learned in the last few years that they didn't teach you in acting school?

LAWSON: You know what's interesting, actually? I don't know that I necessarily learned anything different, but trying to translate what I learned into these other mediums. That's more so what the learning curve has been. The work is the same. The work that I grew up training for theater, it's the same kind of work. It's just trying to translate it into a different kind of schedule or way or process.

I was so lucky to start with Farewell Amor, to have that as my transition period to a small indie project to figure a lot of things out and ask a bunch of questions and not feel a whole lot of pressure. So it's been good just to test everything out. Test everything out with different directors and different roles and different actors. And having the privilege of watching masters up close at work is great.

There's a lot of people. You're essentially taking an apprenticeship. When you're watching Viola Davis work next to you, you're like, "Oh, this is how she does it. This is how I need to do it."

LAWSON: It's like I get to have a masterclass every day I show up to set. That's how it feels to me. I'm like, I get to watch these masters at work. I'm stealing this and I'm soaking this up, and I'm remembering this moment and how you do this. Just got to be a thief on set.

Completely. I love learning about how actors like to prepare. You've only been working in the industry, if you will, for a little while. But have you noticed that the way you prepare for each role is similar? Or have you adjusted it slightly based on your experiences?

LAWSON: It's definitely similar. It depends on the role. I have the privilege of getting to work on historical women and so that takes a ton of research for me. That's probably where I start immediately is just in digging in. I want to know every backstory detail I could possibly know about your childhood and building that into that arc. I like listening to different interviews, figuring out the kind of music that they listen to. I have a similar approach, even the fictional characters. Just trying to create that backstory and create a full character even down to the tiny little details, if I can. If I have enough time to do that, I try to luxuriate in that.

It's so funny, there are so many people that don't really realize the way the business works in terms of, I've spoken to actors that tell me they got the role two days before filming began. You're just doing the best you can.

LAWSON: You just trying to wing it. You just trying to do the best you possibly can, yeah.

Jumping into Till. Such a powerful film. I'm so happy it was made. The fact that it's hard to believe that this film and the story takes place less than 70 years ago. It's still so recent, and it's just so infuriating to me. Can you talk about that aspect? This is our recent history and it's shameful.

LAWSON: Like you said, it's very recent. And somehow, I think the shocking thing for me, especially during where everything that was happening with George Floyd, it resurrected in a way as if it had been forgotten or wasn't even known to a lot of people. Which was different for me because I grew up with knowing the horror of what happened with Emmett Till. And like you said, it is still very much, it's history, but it's still very much a part of what's happening in the present day. The fact that the lynching bill is just ... got passed it. We can't chalk this up to something that happened a while ago when change is just starting to happen as a result of it now in 2022.

I'm so thankful that Chinonye took this on to tell this story and to honor Mamie in particular. Often when we talk about Emmett, we talk about the horror that was done to him, but we don't talk about his mother and the bravery and courage that it took in the midst of her grief to share her son with the world. So I'm really excited for this film. I'm really excited for it.

Danielle, her performance is riveting. You have one key scene with her, and I don't know if you shot more than that, if anything was deleted, but there's one key scene in the movie. I'm just curious what it was like sharing the screen with her, watching her deliver such a great performance in all these scenes?

LAWSON: It's a gift. Oh my God, as an actress, you hope to have a moment like that. No, nothing was cut in that. What's in the film is what was on the page. Danielle is a force. And getting that opportunity to just show up, because I was only there for two days of filming, and they have already been in the process. So I'm trying to figure out how to step in and fit in into the world that's already been created. But even before then, her and I got on the Zoom. We had meetings just talking about the scene and breaking it down and, what does this mean for these two women to come together, and talking with Chinonye. I cherish that moment. You live for moments like that and to be opposite an actress that giving, that generous, and willing to really build something in that moment.. She's absolutely phenomenal in this role.

I couldn't agree more. She's fantastic. The thing that I didn't realize was how involved Medgar Edgars was in Emmett's story. I didn't know this stuff. Can you talk about the responsibility of playing a real person, Medgar Edgar's wife? And the fact that you mentioned you have very limited time on screen to make the audience understand what also she's going through and the sacrifices that she's making.

LAWSON: Well, when I talked with Chinonye about Myrlie Evers, and particularly at this pivotal moment, what happened with Emmett was a turning point for a lot of people in the country. It was the first time, really, that anybody saw that kind of brutality publicized. It was maybe talked about in hush, but nobody had ever really seen it. For Myrlie, she was young. She was 22. She was 22 when Emmett was murdered, and she had just had a son. And so for me, in approaching Myrlie, I felt like this was a key moment of a decision having to be made, of really understanding the sacrifice that she was going to have to make if she was to continue to support Medgar in his efforts and realizing that she was having to give Medgar up to the cause. There was a different weight to it now because she's a mother. She's a young mother, and what she's going to have to sacrifice in order to continue to show up.

She was younger than I am in making these decisions. That's what blew me away. Often we talk about these heroes of history, and they feel so distant because they feel like they were older when they were showing up for these causes. And no, they were in their 20s, their early 20s, to make that kind of sacrifice. And she definitely learned something from Mamie and how Mamie showed up. It gave backbone, I think.

I can't imagine being 22 and making-

LAWSON: Not at all. Not at all.

The thing that's crazy is you shared the screen with Danielle and you shared the screen with Viola, and these are two great performances. Do you feel like you should be playing the lottery in terms of how lucky you are to be working with these and in watching these? You know what I mean.

LAWSON: Yeah, it is part luck. But it's also, I feel, you give out a certain energy, it's bound to be reciprocated. And I feel like I just, I give out such intentionality and respect and honor for the craft and the kind of roles that I care about, and so I feel really blessed that it's being reciprocated. Especially so early on. I know that that's rare, but I'm going to ride that for as long as I can.

I have a lot of actor friends and it's really, really hard. So I say congrats. With Woman King, you're one of the people that didn't have to do some of the crazy fight stuff and the stunts. Were you happy that you didn't have to do those stunt scenes and those big action set pieces? Or were there days where you're like, "Man, I'd like to be doing that training and doing that stuff"?

LAWSON: I'll say this, when I first showed up, they were filming the warrior dance sequence right before they go out to battle. And I'm sitting there, and I'm like, chills. Chills up my arm and my tears welling up in my eyes and I see Gina and I'm just like, "Can the queen just come out there and do a little ..." Because it was so powerful. You hear them do the, "Agojie" the warrior cry. And I was like, can there be a moment where I can just ... a little something?

It was definitely inspiring to see. I did not envy them on the days where we were in the brutal sun and I'm under a nice little canopy. I didn't envy that. But it definitely made me hungry for something like that, that rigor and training, because I'm a physical actor anyway. But I commend them for that because that took a lot out of them.

I spoke to John (Boyega) and I asked him what it was like not having to do the physical stuff. And he shared a story about going to Viola's house and he asked where the juice is and everyone was like, "No, it's water." It was just a whole thing. It was just funny to hear about that. If you don't mind, talk a little bit about getting to be part of that project as well. Obviously, it's an A+ with CinemaScore. People love it. It turned out so great. Can you talk about what it means to you?

LAWSON: I knew I had to be a part of that project and I didn't care what it was. I remember telling Gina that, I was like, "I just got to be a part of this because it's history." I know people might not have known how it was going to do, but everybody that was a part of the project had complete faith in it and knew that it was important. We've never seen it before. We've never seen a global box office movie led by nothing but Black women. That has never existed. And the fact that that's never existed is also mind-boggling.

It's just an amazing film. What are we talking about? It's just a really great film full of talented actors. I'm really happy and proud that I got to be a part of that. And any chance I get to tell Viola and Gina, I'm like, "You all did this. You all did it. Thank you. You made this space. You made it happen. Thank you."

Also, people don't realize getting an A+ CinemaScore is not easy. A, it happens. A+ is very rare. I definitely want to ask you...one of my favorite films of the year is The Batman. I think that Matt Reeves just did such an amazing job. Can you talk a little bit about getting to be a part of that project? And was it weird not being able to tell anyone anything about the movie for so long?

LAWSON: I had fun with that actually. I had fun being secretive. I don't know. I'm like that anyway. I'm really good at planning surprises for people. When people ask me, I'm like, "Meh. You just got to wait to see it." I had family constantly trying to ask me questions in different ways, I'm like, "Guys, I'm not saying anything."

I had so much fun working on that. That was right after Farewell Amor, so talk about jumping in the deep end. But everybody apart of that project too, was just ... like Matt, dream director. And Dylan, one of the producers ... Just, they were all amazing and so warm and welcoming to me. They didn't make me feel out of place as a newcomer. I absolutely loved them.

Can you watch yourself on screen? What was it like actually watching Batman for the first time? I'm not sure how much you knew about what was going to happen and also with Giacchino's music, it's just such a ... Anyway, I'm just curious what it was like for you and if you can watch yourself on screen.

LAWSON: I could definitely watch myself in that because it ain't about me, so I could just enjoy it as a fan. You see me pop in and out, but I didn't have to be concerned about that. I could really enjoy the film.

I'm getting better about learning how to watch myself. I remember the first time I saw myself which was with Farewell Amor, and I cringed because I'm not used to that. I don't think we're meant to see ourselves. I just don't feel like that. But also, my brain, I think, is calculating and working in other capacities outside of acting. So I'm trying to get myself to be able to enjoy and watch a film without cringing at myself coming up on the screen. I'm not succeeding all the way, but I'm definitely getting better. Definitely getting better.

I was going to say to you, there's a ton of actors I know who when they're at the world premiere of a movie, they wave at everyone, they say hi, and they walk right out, and they will not watch it because they just, they can't do it.

LAWSON: I think that'll be different. It may be different if I'm leading a film. I feel like then there might be something where it's like, "Ooh, I don't know that I want to sit through this." But I get the pleasure of actually enjoying the films that I'm a part of right now. You know what I mean?

Did the film end up turning out better than you expected? With The Batman. Or did you know going in, this is going to be amazing?

LAWSON: I knew going in because when I read the script, he didn't change anything from the script. Literally what was on the screen was what we read. So when I first read that script, I was like, "Oh no, this is about to be epic. Epic." And then to see it fully with all the elements, again, as a fan, I just was living. I was living for it.

Last question on this. One of the things that people don't realize is when you're in a huge film like The Batman that makes all this money and everyone watches it, it's getting in front of every casting agent all at once because everyone's watching the movie. They're seeing you for probably the first time. Did you find after the movie came out, obviously you booked a number of things, but did you find afterwards that all of a sudden you were taking more meetings, meeting more people?

LAWSON: This is interesting. You know why? Because of the pandemic, when The Batman came out, by the time The Batman came out ... it was more so the fact that people knew that I had gotten cast in it that peaked a lot of casting directors' interest because it's like, who is this girl that just got out of college and she's in The Batman? What? So the word of mouth definitely got me a whole lot of meetings. Then once that came out and then First Lady came out, it was like, we're seeing and now I've had a lot of projects that I've been a part of come out this year. It's like, oh, who is she? Wait a second. But the word of mouth definitely got me very far before anybody saw any of it.

I was going to make a joke that you should send Matt a thank you card for the casting.

LAWSON: Oh, I tell him all the time. I tell people when I'm so grateful. I was like, "Matt, you all didn't have to do this. You all really didn't have to cast me."

I just read that you got cast in Genius: MLK/X. Is this going to be the MO from now on? Just taking historical parts?

LAWSON: No. But I'm just so honored that I can do this. For me, it's always about showing an agency. Or with black women, especially in this industry, that seems to be a new phenomenon, but it's always existed. So the fact that I'm getting to tell these stories of women from our history and bring them to the forefront, I'll take those on any day. But no, I'm not going to just be doing historical pieces.

I actually leave for Atlanta in a week. I'm in research mode right now. I'm deep, deep, deep in prep in my Hubble with all my books, which is my happy place right now. I'm excited. I'm really excited.

No. No, that's too much pressure for me. No. If ever I get to meet her, I just, I really don't want her to say anything about seeing me portray her. I really don't. No. That's too much.

You've obviously played or are about to play a lot of historical, important women. Are all of them, for you, is it the same pressure that you put on yourself because each person is so important? Or did you find, or have you found, that one really got where you're putting more pressure on yourself for one of these?

LAWSON: That's a good question. I don't know. I don't know. I think they all present their own pressure. With playing a younger version of Michelle Obama, that's my hero. That's part of why I didn't want to talk to her because I was like, "If I talk to you, I don't know that I can fully show up as you." I don't know that I can really do that.

I got to talk to Myrlie Evers though, in prepping for Till. And that was a huge benefit. I think also because it was just primarily one little scene in the movie, so there wasn't a whole pressure of having to tell her entire life story. And then with prepping for Betty, again, it's different kinds of pressure. But I just feel the need to tell the truth and honor them as best as I possibly can, and honor them in their complexity as best as I can.

Till is now playing in theaters.