Sentinel Exclusive: From Tv to Movies Aisha Tyler Is Hollywood's New 'It' Girl

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That was incredible. But the thing that you learn when you spend time with police officers is that they're just regular people. They've got families and a lot of the same emotional responses that we do, but they see terrible things every day. So, I really wanted this character to be conflicted, because she really feels for what Nicky [Kevin Bacon's character] was going through, since he'd lost a family member incredibly violently. Yet, at the same time, she's sworn to uphold the law, and that push and pull between what she feels is right and what she knows is right is the same conflict that I think the audience is feeling when they're watching the movie. They understand his impulse, but it's clearly wrong, and it's going very badly. So, I really wanted her to be a real person. There's all this violence kind of swirling around her, and she's sort of the moral core of the story.

AT: Even though this movie is by the same guy who wrote Death Wish and asks "What would you do to protect people you love?" it's really more sophisticated and a polemic against violence, not a traditional revenge movie.. This is a movie about the notion that an eye for an eye" leaves the whole world blind. Yes it's a hyper-violent, thrill ride, but it also contains some rather interesting concepts at the center, which is that violence is not the answer. So, although it feels like this crazy revenge movie, it's really like a thinking-man's Death Wish, because there are real consequences for this character, and the choices that he makes lead to some really dire results.

AT: About half of the roles that I've done in my life were not specifically written for an African-American woman. The Friends role was not written for an African-American female. When I went in for Talk Soup, they were like, "There's no way. It'd never work. This is a 25 year-old white guy's job. That's who watches the show. College boys... frat boys." But I filled-in and they got so much fan mail, that I sort of got voted in even though everybody originally said there was no way they're going to hire a black woman to do this. I remember coming in one day and they said, "You've got more fan mail than anybody in the history of the E Network." So, I've been lucky that people have been willing to think outside of the box when looking at me. Also, I've tried to make career choices that have kept me seen in a certain way. I try to do more intelligent roles, unusual roles, and stronger women, and that's helped me a little bit with my casting opportunities. It's great when that happens, and to be considered for more stuff.

Miami and 24 to filling in for film critic Roger Ebert to writing Swerve, a how-to book for girls, to becoming a columnist for Jane and Glamour Magazines to playing on the World Poker Tour to posing for a nude layout in Allure Magazine to shooting a pilot for her very own sitcom.

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Sentinel Exclusive: From Tv to Movies Aisha Tyler Is Hollywood's New 'It' Girl

Born in San Francisco on September 18, 1970, Aisha Tyler was raised from the age often by her father, Jim, a photographer, following his divorce from her mother, Robin Gregory, a school teacher. Exhibiting an interest in comedy at an early age, Aisha studied acting at School of the Arts High School and also took improv classes on the side.

The brainy, statuesque beauty attended Dartmouth College where she ma...

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