She's funny. She's beautiful. She's down to earth. Is there anything actress Regina Hall can't do?
Fans across the nation immediately became star-struck at Hall in her film debut over 20 years ago in the classic, The Best Man. She played a stripper named Candy working her way through college. You remember the scene: She enters a penthouse suite bachelor party for Lance (Morris Chestnut), concealed by other dancers, and we see a flash of her face before she disappears into another room.
Candy was the star of the show, with her own entrance music — Cameo’s 1986 funky hit “Candy” — as she comes out in a revealing outfit covered by a chain-like skirt. It was a memorable scene that undoubtedly the scene that had a lot of men talking. But Hall is much more than meets the eye. And how she got into acting is much more on a serious note:
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"I had gone to Fordham and was living in New York after finishing school," explains Hall to The New York Times. "My parents were divorced, but united when it came to education, and they were like, 'It’s been six months since you graduated, are you going to get a job?' I really liked acting, but my father was a contractor, and acting wasn’t a feasible profession in his mind. But I’d also gotten obsessed with Ted Koppel’s “Nightline” and Alexis de Tocqueville’s 'Democracy in America.' I thought journalism was pretty amazing. So I went to grad school at New York University for that. Then my father had a stroke during my first trimester and passed away. It was shocking. It wasn’t so clear cut that I would go into acting then, but I thought, Wow, your life could change at any moment."
Now her mom is battling another disease that Hall has educated herself on and is right there with her mother in the fight.
"My mom was diagnosed with scleroderma about six years ago," confesses Hall. "It’s a condition that affects the skin and some other organs, and can take several forms. The type my mom has is called CREST. Each letter stands for something. C-calcinosis, R-Raynaud’s, E-esophageal dysfunction, S-sclerodactyly and T-telangectasias.
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"When my mom was diagnosed, I didn’t know much about the condition. But Dana Delaney, who is an actress and now a friend of mine, put me in touch with Bob Saget. Bob had made a television movie about scleroderma years ago because his sister had died from it. That was back when they didn’t even know what it was. Anyway, Bob had a group called the Scleroderma Research Foundation, so I donated to that and my mother even went to the doctor Bob had suggested, who happened to be over at Johns Hopkins. He’s been great."
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"It's taught me a lot about the brevity of life. It's taught me not just about being alive but being conscious of your health. You want to thrive while you're here. Knowing I have a history of strokes in my family makes me...
...much more conscious of what I eat. It puts a real spotlight on taking care of yourself."
Director Malcolm D. Lee recalled Hall’s audition for her breakout "Best Man" role. “She had a sweetness and an innocence about her,” he said. “Her reading was more impressive than her dancing.”
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Year after year and role after role, Regina has been steadily climbing the Hollywood ladder of success and people are loving her.
So when she's not acting or volunteering for stroke victims, what does Regina like to do?
"I love to hike. I go up Reseda [Blvd. in Los Angeles] or there's a great hike up Fryman [Canyon Park in Los Angeles]. I love yoga and I used to do it constantly until I pinched a nerve in my back. Now I do Pilates. I go to SRF and do meditation -- it's called Self-Realization Fellowship. It's a very beautiful meditative service. The energy of the place is very serene. When I leave, I feel recharged."
"As I grow older I am really more conscious of what my connection is to the planet and people on the planet," explains Hall. "I am really passionate about making those better. I am really passionate about my connection to God and where that service lies. I understand you are blessed to be a blessing. I am always trying to hear the voice of discernment about what to do. That is really kind of exciting for me. Instead of waiting to see what I am going to do next, I get to see what God is going to do next."
