Run the World’s Bresha Webb Saw Herself in Renee

Spoilers below.

Bresha Webb is arguably one of the hardest working women in Hollywood. She cut her teeth in the 2000s by starring as a recurring character on ER before eventually working her way up to more substantial roles that allowed her to flex her comedic flair, like Imunique on Love That Girl! Then a slew of other opportunities sprang up along the years—think Weeds and Grey’s Anatomy—that allowed her to grow as an actress. Now, she’s crushing it as Renee in Starz’s Run The World, a TV show created by Leigh Davenport and executive produced by Yvette Lee Bowser that centers Black women friendships, their highly successful careers, and sisterhood in Harlem.

In her younger years, Webb was an avid churchgoer in Baltimore, Maryland alongside her father, a deacon, and her mother, a deaconess, who met in a church choir. “I was raised in the church,” she tells ELLE.com. “That was my first stage. I appreciate the church so much and my upbringing because it made me very confident in my gifts. I appreciate [that my] faith was [always] instilled in me, that has carried me through my career.” Webb also grew up admiring Whoopi Goldberg, the first Black woman to win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. Her career provided somewhat of a blueprint for Webb when she eventually moved to the West Coast to attend the California Institute of the Arts from Maryland to jumpstart her Hollywood aspirations. After a career-changing role in Tyler Perry’s A Fall from Grace, in which she starred alongside legends Cicely Tyson and Phylicia Rashad, Webb was cast as Renee in Run The World alongside Corbin Reid (Sondi) and Amber Stevens West (Whitney).

There are many things to love about the series, but for Webb, collaborating with the mind behind the ‘90s sitcom Living Single was high on the list. “I mean, just the opportunity to work with Yvette Lee Bowser, the icon, the woman, the mother, the business woman that she is. I signed up immediately for it,” she says. Working with the iconic costume designer and consultant Patricia Field was also one of her favorite parts of the show. Webb adds that Tracy L. Cox—Run The World’s costume designer, who worked with Field on Sex and the City and The Devil Wears Prada—nails every single look featuring pieces by Hanifa, Cushnie, Chanel, Balmain, and LaQuan Smith. “Renee doesn’t have to fit into the box of working a corporate job,” Webb says of her wardrobe. “So, she can have fun, she can reinvent herself, so she can change her hair every episode, every outfit. They work with me and [see] my vision too.”

The beauty of Run The World is in the details, from the costuming and intricate hairstyles to how Renee, Sondi, and Whitney show up for one another as friends and sisters. Aside from being emotionally present for one another, the leading ladies are also figuring things out in their respective workplaces. Renee, for example, is knee-deep in her journey as a solo entrepreneur. And while she regularly provides comedic relief, this season she’s also pulling herself up by her bootstraps and dating again—all while looking fabulous. Webb calls it Renee’s selfish era.

“I think every single one of us has chosen to be selfish this season,” she says. “They can lean on their girlfriends, they can go to therapy, they can do all of the things that our counterparts and all of those other women do on other shows, and they get to show that. We’re not being stereotypical. We’re not being tropes.”

ELLE.com recently caught up with Webb to chat about her acting career, her largest inspirations, and how she gave herself grace as she showed up emotionally as Renee this season.

Do you think growing up with a Baptist church background influenced you and your career?

My faith is so important to my life. My dad was a singer. I talk like an old deaconess as well. I was raised around gospel music and church. Baptist to be specific, very loud. [They would tell me] “use your gifts, use your gifts.” And so, I was always loud. I was always funny as a baby. So, I would try out all of my impersonations at church. I would make fun of the pastor. I would make fun of and imitate the choir director. That was my foray into performing.

What roles did you have early in your career that prepped you for where you’re at now?

I did ER and I did some other things, and I was really just the pregnant teenager, the crying pregnant teenager on all the procedural shows. And it was great. But when I started embarking into comedy, that is when I really got my voice and started really making some headway.

Love That Girl! was a really big role for me. I played the character, Imunique. And I got to pull on a lot of the comedy things that I find funny and making fun of the people in Baltimore that raised me at church. [Imunique] spent her money on her hair and nails, which is still me. But there was charm about her, and there was so many things to give her levels. So, she wasn’t just the ghetto princess. I wanted to make her a little bit more comedic.

I also wanted to give her layers, and I spoke to the creator of the show. I was like, “She works in a real estate office, why can’t she go for her license?” We can also make fun of her, but let’s give her goals [too]. And so, that was really important to me to start stepping out and speaking to the creators and taking more initiative.

What’s it like being a Black woman in comedy who is following in the footsteps of Whoopi Goldberg?

Whoopi Goldberg is everything. I mean, I love character acting. I love, of course, improv and standup comedy. So, she was definitely a person in my head that my father introduced me to when we were watching television. And I grew up on her movies. I remember every Sunday when I was growing up, The Color Purple used to be on TV on Sundays after church. I know it word for word.

I’m so excited that this new generation gets to experience what I grew up on. But The Color Purple, Ghost, everything, her range is just out of control. And then, to take it on stage, she inspired me to do my one woman show that I did in L.A., and I was going to tour with it, but [the] pandemic happened. [She made] me think outside of the Hollywood realm.

What has it been like connecting and starring alongside other iconic Black women in Hollywood?

I met Cicely Tyson when I did A Fall from Grace. Meeting her, being around her, we clicked immediately. I thank God for that moment. I thank Tyler Perry for that moment, for putting me in that film and letting me stand next to an icon. And there was Crystal Fox, of course, and Phylicia Rashad. To work opposite of those queens was just a dream come true. That’s another faith role, because Tyler Perry [said], “God told me, I’ve just been seeing you and I want to want people to see your full range, and I think this would be a way for people to see you.” I was so flattered, and I’m still flattered that people love it and that I got the opportunity to meet and work with Cicely Tyson. We would have such amazing moments, and she gave me such great advice, and I appreciate her so much.

Why did you initially sign onto Run The World, and what has your overall experience been like with Yvette Lee Bowser and the cast?

She’s been such a part of Black women’s sisterhood and just being a part of how we are seen. And then, it was so well written and it was created from real inspiration. Leigh Davenport [the creator and executive producer] poured her heart and her real life into the show. It was based off of her and her friends and their time in New York.

I really identified [with] the sisterhood. And I knew coming from Marlon and coming from all the other shows that I had been a part of, I wanted to do something that was sexy and real and relatable, and that was purposeful. I was looking at my career and saying, “Wow, you’ve done a lot of amazing things and you’re really making a path for yourself where people can see your full range. But I think people still don’t know you.” And I love Sex and the City, and Living Single, and Girlfriends. Girlfriends raised me.

Renee is embracing a new era this season. How were you able to showcase her many facets?

I just had to be present. Art was imitating life for me. I’ve been talking about it a lot more. I lost my father while I was filming this and that was my best friend. So, I had to show up as Renee and be as connected to her, and find myself in those places because my life was mirroring the same thing. I’m trying to go into this next season of life. I was engaged, I’m now married. So, it was a lot of things that I was having to navigate through, that I totally could identify with. And especially in the episode when we went to Chicago—the funeral scene—[which focused on] saying yes to yourself and choosing a new career path and your family not knowing how to respond to that.

How did you navigate showcasing your character’s emotional depth, especially during episode 5 when Renee returned home to Chicago for the funeral?

That funeral, when I did the eulogy, I left that scene and went on the train to my father’s funeral. And so, I was dealing with so much, but I just lost myself as Renee in this situation. And I just had to show up as her. How did I tap into it? I just fell in love with her plight. I saw myself. It was like I was fighting for myself and her at the same time. I was like, “She’s trying to hold it together.” And so was I. I just feel like [with] everything that Renee was going through, we both were fighting for our voice. I think that’s where I really found the strength. I wanted to carry out my father’s legacy, and I wanted to represent it well. And I wanted to also show that God built me up for this.

Do you feel there were any significant messages being emphasized this season?

Being selfish. I think every single one of us has chosen to be selfish this season. For Sondi, of course, choosing herself over the family, over just choosing her. Whitney’s character, deciding to be selfish and find the reasons why she cheated in the first place. I mean, even though she said in the first season she needs to deal with those issues.

Renee, she would’ve been married, but that’s okay. [She’s] learning how to be selfish and not hold up to people's opinions and ideas. And even her own, she’s been saying, “I want a soft life. When am I going to have a seat?” And then, she meets the man that she can have a seat with.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

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