Do you know what I should have asked my guest this week?

I should have asked her, how do you cure an alien voice?

Welcome to Close Up, I'm Kelly Carter, and yes, I'm still sick.

You know what, listen, I'm no gambler, but if I were, surely I would have cleaned up

for accurately guessing that on Janue Ellis would be in the mix for an Oscar nomination

for a role in King Richard, and it's about time.

On Janue has been killing it for years, she's absolutely melted into characters, and

film is like, Ray, she absolutely destroyed it, and Ava DuVernay's best work when they

see us where she portrayed a mother of the Central Park Five.

But for me, on Janue proved that she could carry a film when she brought Dr. Maddie Moss

Clark to life, and the Clark sisters bio-picked, I'm biased because I'm from Detroit, and I

got my reporter chops covering the Clark family, so I felt very close to that story.

So I was hypercritical, and I was looking for anything slightly amiss in that film, I

found only greatness.

Finally, this industry paid attention to on Janue, for her work in HBO's Now Defunct Love

Craft Country, but really for me, it's her work in King Richard that is her most transformative.

Look, she had a tall task here, she had to play the mother of Venus and Serena Williams,

obviously, or two of the greatest athletes of all time, and she not only had to do that,

but she had to do it while acting against Will Smith, who is a global movie superstar,

and he also, by the way, turned in his best performance as the patriarch of the Williams family.

There is so much to love about on Janue, but here's something that I want you guys to know.

The exceptional talent that we see on screen is perfectly matched by her passion for anti-racism

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