What shaped Niecy Nash's performance in 'Dahmer'? 'Reno 911' star reveals she 'knows the loss'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Niecy Nash knew the pain of losing someone close to her while filming for Netflix's 'Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.' The well-known actress shared that the plot of the series was close to her as ‘Dahmer’ picked mostly young men of color as his victims.
"There is a responsibility I have, as a survivor, to be a part of storytelling like that because I know — I know the pain, I know the trauma, I know the loss," Nash explained. "I still get very, very skittish when it comes to anything that I do that involves me having to shoot a gun or somebody pulling a gun on me,” as per People.
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What shaped Niecy Nash's performance in 'Dahmer'?
The 53-year-old lost her younger brother Michael Ensley after he was murdered in 1993. Moreover, she also saw her mother survive a shooting that resulted from a domestic dispute.
The ‘Claws’ star shared that seeing guns on set ‘always gives me pause’ and gave her sleepless nights knowing that tomorrow at work she will have a firearm around. “You show up with your full self and your full self includes your own personal trauma. So the part of me that has to step on me in order to stand flatfooted in the art is always a challenge in those types of scenes."
Nash in the past too had shared the impact of gun violence on her family. In October 2010, the actress said she was there when her mother got shot, "When I was 15, I saw my mother get shot. Her boyfriend was very abusive, and he shot my mother with a sawed-off, double-barreled shotgun in front of her children, Easter Sunday morning, shot her down like a dog in the street. Thankfully my mother survived that incident," ‘The Rookie: Feds’ star said.
'💔#NeverAgain'
Talking on the Uvalde mass shooting, in May 2022, Nash remembered how she lost her own brother. “I'm so sad. My brother was killed on his high school campus. It hits different cuz school is a place you should feel safe. I don't wish it on anyone."
She also tweeted after Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida. "25 years ago today, my only brother, Michael Ensley was killed on his high school campus by kid with a gun. It’s 2018 and the death toll is rising while our spirits are still breaking. You don’t hear the pain. You hear the sound of NRA💰being exchanged. 💔#NeverAgain"