Jill Scott was born on April 4, 1972 in The City of Brotherly Love where she was raised by her mother, Joyce, and her maternal grandmother. A naturally-gifted child, Jill was speaking at 8 months and learned to read by the age of 4. She credits her mother for broadening her horizons by taking her to see plays and to museums during her childhood.

After graduating from the Philadelphia High School for Girls, Jill attended Temple University, working two jobs to put herself through college. She majored in English and planned to become a teacher, but dropped out of school after becoming disillusioned with the profession while spending time in the classroom as an assistant.

She started out in showbiz doing poetry readings which is how she was discovered by drummer QuestLove of The Roots in 1999. He invited Jill to join the band in the studio where she collaborated with the group on writing their Grammy-winning hit, “You Got Me.” This led to her being signed by the Hidden Beach label to record her debut album, “Who Is Jill Scott?” This launched Jill’s phenomenally-successful musical career which has netted the sultry singer 3 Grammys thus far.

The talented triple threat has also published a book of poetry and made a phenomenal foray into acting via both the big and small screens. On TV, she’s handled the lead role of Mma. Precious Ramotswe on the Emmy-nominated, Botswana-based, HBO series “The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.” Meanwhile, she’s received additional critical acclaim for her work in such movies as Hounddog and Why Did I Get Married?      

Here, she talks about returning to reprise the role of Sheila in the sequel to the latter, the latest modern morality play from Tyler Perry.
 
Kam Williams: Hi Jill, thanks so much for the time.              

Jill Scott: My pleasure, thank you.

KW: Congrats on doing a great job in this sequel which I felt improved on the original.

JS: Thank you, I’m really excited about it.

KW: How was it being reunited with everybody?

JS: It was so nice. It really was. It’s just a pleasure to be around people that you like, and that you have a good understanding of. We clicked in the first film, and never really separated after we walked away from each other. We still called each other. “How’re you doing?” “How ya’ been?” “How’s the kids?” “How’s the wife?” And then, here it is a couple of years later, we’re doing another film, and everybody just sank right back into character.   

KW: Attorney Bernadette Beekman says she just loves your acting, and was wondering whether there are any plans to resume shooting “The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.”

JS: I certainly hope so. We’ve been talking to HBO about resuming. The reason why we didn’t continue shooting was because I was pregnant and Mma. Ramotswe was not pregnant! [Chuckles] So, I had to wait until I after had my child, and then once I did, I felt he was too young to travel on a plane for 16 hours. So, that was one of the reasons why we went on hiatus. At this point, we’re looking at scripts, and trying to see how to continue the show because the feedback and excitement has been exceptional.

KW: Bernadette also says she thought your accent on the show was incredible, and almost did not believe it was you speaking. She wants to know how you perfected it.

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