Teyana Taylor opens up about role as Dionne Warwick in biopic

Teyana Taylor is hoping to essay the portrayal of Dionne Warwick to perfection.

The musician-actress, 34, was at the Fourth Annual Fifteen Percent Pledge Gala in Los Angeles on Saturday when she caught up with the press about the upcoming biopic.

Taylor, 34, shared how "everything is so up and running" in pre-production as she masters her role as the music superstar, 84, in the forthcoming biopic.

"We have everything kind of set in stone and everything together. It was a little slowdown, of course, with the unfortunate things that have taken place. But everything is so up and running," Taylor said. "It's still going and Ms. Dionne has so much career. So even trying to consolidate... I just want it to be perfect."

Taylor continued, "I want this to be perfect and I want to sell her story and I just want everything to be perfect," she added. "But I'm in such a great space with it. We're in a great space. We spend a lot of time together. So it's just like, I'm super excited. It's a big job. It's a big job."

Taylor also got candid about feeling the pressure to perfect the role as well as the creative liberty she gets working on the project.

"She feels so safe and that has been the most important thing for me," Taylor says of Warwick. "Her safety, mentally, emotionally, everything, "she continued. "So I think that's another reason why I took a little while because I needed to make sure it was in the right hands. She's given me a lot of control, like a lot of creative control, so I'm taking on even a bigger job than just portraying her."

"I have a lot of production work, directing work to do, a lot of different things like that so I'm just really making sure everything is perfect," Taylor added.

Taylor's dedication has been evident since her early 2023 interview, during which she revealed she was in the "building process" of a biopic based on the seasoned singer's life.

Warwick too gave the actress a shoutout by calling Taylor a "triple threat" in an October 2024 interview with the Associated Press.

The Walk On By singer noted that Taylor put in "all the research she can find on me" to prepare for the role.

The multi-hyphenate most recently appeared in films like 2023's White Men Can't Jump and The Book of Clarence.