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Meagan Good is speaking out about the challenges she encountered in her career as she transitioned from a child star to an adult actress.

The 41-year-old has been a part of the entertainment industry for over three decades but didn't gain recognition until her teen years when she starred in the 1997 film Eve's Bayou alongside Lynn Whitfield, Samuel L. Jackson, and Jurnee Smollett.


Since then, Good has been in about 83 projects, which consisted of movies and television shows, according to IMDb. The star's most recent work includes the hit Amazon series Harlem and Shazam! Fury of the Gods.


In a recent interview with TV One's Uncensored, Good opened up about the extremes she had to take to shed the image that comes along with being a child star and how she felt being typecasted as the "young sexy girl" as she looked for acting roles in her 20s.

Meagan On Transitioning Into An Adult Actress

During the discussion, Good shared that when she was about 21 to 22 years old, she continuously got teenage roles. So as an attempt to seek out more age-appropriate projects, Good decided to star in 50 Cent's "21 Questions" music video, released in 2003. The Intruder star claimed that she used the music video as an opportunity to showcase to everyone that she has "arrived as a young woman," which she admitted worked in her favor.

"When I started getting 21, 22, and I was still playing 16, 17, I was trying to figure out like how do I make this transition because we all go through this awkward stage, and sometimes it's really hard to transition out of it into the next phase of your career. But how do I get people to see me as like a young woman?" said Good.

"Really, one of the things that I used as a tool that ended up being a blessing was the '21 Questions' video. You know, I was 21, and I thought, 'How do I get people to see me as older?' and I was like, 'Oh, I'll use a video as a national commercial saying I have arrived as a young woman in essence.' That's what I set out to do, and boy, did it work."

Meagan On Being Typecasted

Good revealed that although the music video helped change how people viewed her in the entertainment industry, it also created a setback.

The Think Like a Man actress disclosed that throughout her 20s, she was typecasted as the seductive girl in most of her projects, and when she sought out other opportunities that could potentially challenge her abilities, she was discouraged from auditioning or participating in any meetings.

"But then when it worked, it worked so well that I kind of got pigeonholed in that kind of space it was like, 'oh, well, she's the young sexy girl. So let's just let her do that in everything,' she continued. “Then when I would look at other material that was more serious or way more challenging and all these things, and I would be more excited to audition and meet on that, they’re like, 'no, you're just the sexy girl. Like don't think too hard.'"

Good added that although she was typecasted and had to find her way out of the "box" many people had placed her in, she didn't regret the overall experience because she had some "great" moments.

"Throughout my 20s, there were points where I enjoyed it, and then there were others parts where it was like they tried to put the glass ceiling and just like put me in a box and say 'just be this one thing.' It was an interesting time because it was both great and both really, really challenging," she said.

To this day, Good continues to move away from the sexy girl image by displaying her talents as an actor, producer, and director in various projects.

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Feature image by Paras Griffin/Getty Images

 

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