Ampersand Woman: Actress and Director Nana Mensah

August 19, 2015 | Filed in: Woman of the Week

As far as we’re concerned, Nana Mensah is the ultimate modern-day Renaissance woman. As a writer, actress, and director who has done projects from New York’s Central Park to Accra, she’s also been proactive about building a business acumen along the way. Raised in the U.S. by Ghanaian parents, Nana explores questions of cultural identity in her work, often approaching them through a humorous lens. Of late, that has meant acting in An African City—Ghana’s answer to Sex and the City—and writing, directing, and starring in her own feature film, Queen of Glory (watch the trailer here).

We recently caught up with Nana in the West Village to talk goal-setting, movie-making, and dying at Meryl Streep’s feet.

In the Poehler top and Park Slope skirt.

You seem like a natural. Did you always know you wanted to be an actress?

Oh yeah. In high school, I was a total theater nerd. Even as a kindergartner, it was obvious to me that I was going to be an actress. But over time, the world kept telling me that wasn’t possible because I’m not thin enough, or I’m too dark, or I’m too this or that. That’s where the doubt came from. At a certain point, I just decided to hustle and to stop hearing the “no.” You just have to tune it out.

What has “hustle” meant for you?

I graduated from Penn and wanted to go to graduate school for drama, but I didn’t get in anywhere that I wanted to go. So I ended up thinking, “Well, New York is amazing. The teachers at Yale School of Drama also teach in New York. I’ll find them there.” So I did a hodgepodge of conservatory programs and master classes in New York. I made my own education.

In the Hanna dress.

What was your first gig?

I had a crazy first job. The Public Theater was doing Mother Courage and Her Children in Central Park starring Meryl Streep, Kevin Klein, and Jennifer Lewis. They needed an ensemble of soldiers to basically—I’m not joking—walk on stage and die. That was our only job: to die at the feet of Meryl Streep. I remembering thinking, “If this is my first job, I feel like this is a good omen.” So every night I would walk on stage, die, and then Meryl would sing a song, and I’d get up and walk off. That was it. It was the best job I’ve ever had.

Rocking MM.LaFleur’s custom marble print.

What’s your approach to creative work? Are you a goal-setter, or do you go with the flow?

I embody the stereotype of the uptight Virgo. I’m a planner, I’m a vision-boarder, I have to set goals—otherwise I feel like I’m floundering. You know the stereotype of the artist who just floats from thing to thing? That’s a fallacy. I’ve found that it doesn’t exist. The artists that you know, respect, and have heard of are all excellent businesspeople. At the end of the day, you can’t leave it to other people to manage you. You need to take ownership of your career. If you really want to make it, you have to plan.

Speaking of ownership, you wrote, directed and starred in Queen of Glory. Was that a daunting amount of work?

This was my first foray into directing, which was scary as hell. You want people to feel like they’re in good hands. You have to project confidence when you’re the Head Bitch in Charge (HBIC). I was buttressed by an amazing producer and an amazing DP [director of photography], so between the two of them, I felt fortified. One of the things that makes a strong manager is being able to hire good people, and I really lucked out in that regard.

All business in deep teal.

You’re an artist. Do you also consider yourself to be a businessperson?

I will tell you this: If I had known that I needed an MBA to be an artist, I would have gotten one. The things that I’ve learned! It’s not just, “I’m making a movie.” No, it’s tax codes, permits, starting an LLC in Delaware. A lot of filmmaking is so business-oriented. You have investors, you have to figure out point share and ROI, and you have to project numbers. I’m so grateful my parents made me get a liberal arts degree instead of getting a performing arts degree, because you need to be able to tackle this stuff. My comfort zone is totally disrespected every day.

In charge in a black wrap dress.

What’s the best advice you ever got?

There’s a common saying in independent film that my producer always says: “There’s good, there’s cheap, and there’s fast. Pick two.” I’ve been working on Queen of Glory for four years, and that gets so frustrating. I just want to be done with it! But I chose cheap and good—so it’s not going to be fast. I hold onto that knowledge at three o’clock in the morning when I can’t sleep.

How do you like to dress?

It differs from day to day. Sometimes I’m unrecognizable because I’m so deeply dressed-down. I run into people who I know well, and they’re like, “Is that you?” Sometimes my style inversely corresponds to how I feel on the inside. When I’m feeling a little bit insecure, I dress to a T. And because I work from home a lot, when I do have a meeting, I’m so excited to wear big-girl clothes that I go whole hog. It’s like, “Whoa, she’s taking this seriously.”

Definitely taking this seriously.

If you could have drinks with any woman, who would it be?

I’m reading Ta-Nehisi Coates’s book Between the World and Me, and he’s giving a lot of props to feminist thought leaders like bell hooks, Angela Davis, and Audre Lord. So maybe one of them. This is a divisive time in our country race-wise, and I’m really interested in feminist leaders who include all women when they talk about how to be empowered as a woman in society.

Success is… perseverance.

Happiness is… Paris.

Fame… is overrated.

Mayonnaise… is underrated.

What’s your motto?

“Fake it ’til you make it.” There are many times when I don’t feel equipped to do any of the things I’m doing. You’ve just got to soldier on and keep doing it.