Naomi Campbell Gets Her Baddest Role Yet on Empire
Photography by Peter Ash Lee for Yahoo Style
Styling by Dora Fung and Christopher Kim
In the third episode of Empire, Naomi Campbell strutted across a swank New York nightclub like it’s a runway at fashion week. The British model, her long legs arching out of a sparkling gold jumpsuit, only had a few minutes of screen time, but left a memorable impression that has since lingered over the course of the drama’s tumultuous first season. As a breathy fashion designer named Camilla Marks, 44-year-old Campbell has subverted our idea of the cougar, playing with the idea of an older woman who dates a younger man. Throughout the season, which comes to a two-hour conclusion tonight on FOX , we’ve been left wondering about Camilla’s true motivations as she dates – and occasionally manipulates – Hakeem, the youngest son of Empire record label owner Lucious Lyon. In last week’s episode Lucious sent her packing, offering her cash to leave his son alone, but we’re hoping that’s not the end of Camilla.
Campbell, who remains one of the industries top supermodels , has dabbled in the acting world previously, although she’s often appeared onscreen as herself. The model had a six-episode arc on crime show New York Undercover in the mid-‘90s and showed up in one episode of Fastlane in 2003, but most of Campbell’s TV work has been with reality shows like The Face and The Rachel Zoe Project. Empire is the model’s first major role in years and she accepted it thanks to advice from designer Diane von Furstenberg, who recommend Campbell give acting another shot. “I’ve known Lee [Daniels] for a long time but when he asked me to play the role, I wasn’t sure,” Campbell told Vogue ( last month. “I’d kind of given up on acting.”
She certainly has given it her all. Campbell’s version of Camilla is self-assured and unapologetic – much like the model herself – but she’s brought a complexity to the character that’s left viewers uncertain of Camilla’s motives. Is she after money or does she actually love the young Hakeem? Hakeen, a swaggy rapper struggling with mommy issues, is played by 21-year-old newcomer Bryshere Gray, who has repeatedly said in interviews what a dream it is to kiss Campbell onscreen. Camilla acts as a stand-in for his own mother, Cookie (the amazing Taraji P. Henson), which does add a slight creepiness to their relationship.
“Hakeen has a thing for older women,” Bryshere told Complex recently. “With his mom not being in his life for 17 years, he’s emotionally and mentally hurt by that, so he goes out and loves older women because he gets this type of affection that he hasn’t gotten from his mother.”
Campbell’s arc on Empire doesn’t mean she’s abandoning fashion for acting, though. The model is still very much active after 29 years in the industry. She’s a mainstay at fashion week and has a massive following on Instagram, where she promotes causes that are close to her heart, including Fashion For Relief. She’s never been someone who is particularly predicable, both in her career and in her personal life, and it’s actually hard to pin Campbell down as a certain type of anything.
It’s yet unclear if Camilla will return for season two (although tonight’s finale may hold the answer to that question), but Campbell’s run on the show has been more than entertaining. All we can say is it’s a good thing Furstenberg advised her to take the role.
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