Teyana Taylor on Almost Quitting Music and ‘One Battle After Another’
In a conversation with ‘Frankenstein’ star Oscar Isaac for 'Variety,' the multitalented star talks about taking risks.
Teyana Taylor attends SAG-AFTRA Foundation Conversations Presents "One Battle After Another" at The Meryl Streep Center for Performing Artists on December 09, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Photo by Araya Doheny/Getty Images for SAG-AFTRA Foundation.
Teyana Taylor is opening up about the experience of making One Battle After Another. In a conversation from Variety and CNN’s Actors on Actors series, Taylor talked with Frankenstein’s Oscar Isaac about how the music industry had become stifling for her.
“I had just retired [from] music and was like, ‘I want to pour into everything else that I love. I don’t want to be stuck in one box,’” she explains. “Everybody [said], ‘We don’t think that’s smart.’ When I took that leap of faith, I was so scared, but I knew I had to walk on this faith journey. Not even a month after I retired from music, this role comes across my desk — that’s nothing but God. I knew I had a point to prove; I had work to do.”
“I did. I thought I was closing the door for good, and I was OK with that. I wasn’t going to allow people to back me into a corner. I usually let people do that — it’ll be me against the whole room.”
Taylor co-stars as Perfidia Beverly Hills in Paul Thomas Anderson’s comedy action thriller One Battle After Another, alongside an all-star cast that includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Regina Hall, Benicio del Toro, Sean Penn and Chase Infiniti.
She talked about the experience making the film with Anderson and DiCaprio.
“Me and Leo were already buddies for a long time, but we never worked together before. I don’t bring the personal into set,” she reveals. “This is not like, ‘Oh, that’s my homie.’ This is still Leonardo DiCaprio and I’m still just little old me. So I’m nervous. But how he mentors, it doesn’t feel like one is above the other; he meets me where I’m at. My job is to be present for my scene partners, and be present for my director and my DPs.”
Taylor is nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture at the 83rd annual Golden Globes, which air Jan. 11.
