Christian Actress Spotlight: ‘Dear White People’ actress Logan Browning’s faith informs her work
Article By Alessa Cameron // EEW Magazine // Christian Actresses
Netflix’s “Dear White People” star Logan Browning’s name is buzzing around mainstream Hollywood, but she hasn’t forgotten her faith roots.
The actress and social activist, 30, who was brought up in the Baptist church, says Christianity fuels her fight for racial equality and justice.
Credit: Getty
“I’ve always just wanted to model my approach to activism with how Christianity approaches love,” she tells Relevant Magazine. “How compassionate love is—that it protects, that it serves, that it’s not self-seeking. I always go back to, ‘Is it love? Is it rooted in love?’”
Browning, who plays Samantha White on the show, based on Justin Simien's critically acclaimed independent film of the same name, wants to defy stereotypes about believers.
“I think Christians get a bad rap sometimes,” she says. “There are hateful people in the world who are Christians who make other people feel left out and unloved, and I just find it’s my job to make sure that I’m not one of those people.”
Warning: Some of Brown’s onscreen roles are risqué and deeply offend the sensibilities of conservative Christians. Yet, her goal is to be inclusive in her work—both onscreen and off.
“Dear White People” is set against the backdrop of a predominantly white Winchester University and looks at what happens when racial tensions are always bubbling just below the surface. A group of students of color must deal with a diverse landscape of social injustice, cultural bias and political correctness.
“The world isn’t black and white,” Browning says. “The world is so much more colorful than that. And we have to make an effort to understand that so many people in the world are still marginalized, are still oppressed, don’t feel comfortable, [and] are just existing. So, we have to make an effort to ask and find out why and make it better for everyone.”
Dear White People
Lara Solanki/Netflix
Browning’s character on the show is an ambitious college student looking to shake a school population out of its social doldrums to address the serious issues on campus and in the world. Her outlet comes through her on-air work at the school's radio station.
In real life, she is striving to bring awareness to injustices that impact all marginalized people and forge ahead with compassion and care.
“I think when you can empathize with more people, it just encourages you to want to protect more people,” she says. “And not just yourself or the people who look like you.”
