When Gabrielle Union-Wade turned 50 last October, the veteran actor and producer experienced a personal transformation, which has also filtered into her latest work. This era of her career, she says, is about embracing the possibilities.
Whatever I thought that my dreams were, I was making them small, Union-Wade told Variety at the American Black Film Festival (ABFF). Turning 50 is about making things bigger by expanding the idea of what the possibilities could even be.
Union-Wade debuted two projects at ABFF: the Netflix rom-com The Perfect Find and the BET+ docuseries My Journey to 50, which chronicled her birthday pilgrimage to Africa. She celebrated the BET+ series first, hosting a private bowling and ice-skating bash at the Miami Beach Edition on June 15, the same night the doc began streaming.
In a quick speech, Union-Wade thanked guests for joining her in her second hometown of Miami. Wade County, baby! she shouted out, referencing the nickname fans gave the area when her husband, three-time NBA champion Dwyane Wade played for the Miami Heat.
My Journey to 50 is about finding ones self, an expedition she embarked on in an effort to more truly and freely live the next 50 to 60 years of her life. If you find self, you find freedom, she explained. And what better way to find self and the source of all of our selves than Africa the birthplace of all civilization, the birthplace of everything thats good has happened in the world.
Thus, it was important for her to debut the series at ABFF, a venue where we center Blackness. We dont run from it. We dont explain it. We dont apologize for it.
The celebration continued the next day, June 16, at the Black Excellence Brunch, which promoted Netflixs Strong Black Summer with The Perfect Find (available beginning June 23) and They Cloned Tyrone launching in July. Later that night, Union-Wade hit the red carpet for the movies boisterous centerpiece screening for ABFF passholders.
Union-Wade executive produced and stars in the rom-com, playing Jenna Jones, a fashion editor who returns to New York City to her rebuild her life after a messy breakup and high-profile firing. Her career comeback hits a snag when she falls for a charming, much younger coworker (Keith Powers) who happens to be her new bosss and former rivals (Gina Torres) son.
The film is based on the book by Tia Williams where Union-Wade first fell in love with the character and features the type of May-December romance you usually see led by older white men, not a Black woman over 40. As such, it presents a new possibility for Union-Wade and the filmmakers to expand Hollywoods attitudes about what sells, and the crowds at ABFF and Tribeca (where it won the audience award for narrative features) affirmed their instincts. The people are speaking, and its time we listen, she said.
Aisha Hinds, left, Gina Torres, Gabrielle Union-Wade, Numa Perrier and Keith Powers at The Perfect Find screening during the American Black Film Festival. Aaron J. Thornton Joining Union-Wade for the special screening were The Perfect Find director Numa Perrier, co-stars Powers, Torres and Aisha Hinds, as well as the films producers Tommy and Codie Oliver (Black Love) and her friend Taraji P. Henson (the upcoming musical adaptation of The Color Purple).
Perrier had been a fan of Union-Wades work (particularly Two Can Play That Game and Deliver Us From Eva), which made it all the more exciting to be part of the entertainers creative rebirth.
That was just a really beautiful alignment between us in terms of the next chapter of her career and what I wanted to do in the next chapter in my career, Perrier said. It was really all about being seen in a different light, showing a softer side, showing what failure looks like, showing what putting yourself back together looks like, through this amazing story, which we both related to on such a personal level.
Speaking of personal, Union-Wades return to Florida comes amid political turbulence in the state led by Gov. (and now 2024 presidential candidate) Ron DeSantis. Both Union-Wade and her husband are dedicated activists, and in an April interview with journalist Rachel Nichols, he disclosed that that the family moved their permanent residence from Florida due to state legislators enacting anti-LGBTQ legislation.
Obviously, the taxes are great. Having Wade County is great. But my family would not be accepted or feel comfortable there, Wade said at the time, alluding to his 16-year-old daughter Zaya Wade, who is transgender.
On the red carpet, Union-Wade explained why it was important for her to attend ABFF despite the politics.
Im here to say that there are people in this city in this very city who do not feel safe here, do not feel protected here, dont feel the love. And when you are governed, it doesnt matter if youre in Tallahassee or Key West, youre still under the same rules and regulations, Union-Wade said. So Im here to let people know that there is a way out and thats called voting him out.
Gabrielle Union-Wade and Numa Perrier introduce The Perfect Find at the American Black Film Festival. Aaron J. Thornton