Regina Hall on Diversity in Hollywood and Following Your Dreams

The ‘Girls Trip’ star sat down with her former mentor, Pamela Newkirk, to talk about Hollywood’s diversity problem and how to resolve it

Sheryl Estrada
ZORA

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Photo: Paras Griffin/Getty Images

RRegina Hall’s award-winning acting career actually has its roots in journalism.

“I love journalism,” Hall told the audience gathered to see her in New York University’s Silver Center for Arts and Science on November 15. “I respect the profession so much, so profoundly.”

It was actually while completing a master’s degree program in journalism at NYU that the Washington, D.C., native decided she’d rather pursue acting as a career. In an open-to-the-public conversation with her former mentor, NYU journalism professor Pamela Newkirk, Hall talked about her professional journey from studying journalism to taking Hollywood by storm.

Life is really unpredictable and short.

Hall admitted she originally mistook Newkirk, her professor, for a student in the program. The actress shared what she first thought when seeing Newkirk, who was then nine months pregnant, on the first day of orientation.

“Why is she coming here that pregnant?” the Girls Trip star joked. “She’s not…

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Sheryl Estrada
ZORA
Writer for

Estrada is a business and culture journalist. The SU and NYU grad has bylines in HR Dive, HuffPost, DiversityInc and ZORA publications.