Aunjanue Ellis and Will Smith at the Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards 2022. Image Source: People 

The Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards 2022 was held on March 24th, 2022 at the Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills, California. The ceremony is conducted to honor the contributions of black women in cinema.

Actor Will Smith introduced Aunjanue Ellis, who was one of the award recipients at the ceremony, and said that he was so excited to be here to honor his friend Aunjanue Ellis at the Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards 2022. Will Smith said that he’s over 50 years old now and when someone is over 50 years old, they are less likely to make friends, but he feels really glad that he could be friends with Aunjanue Ellis at this age.

Will and Aunjanue recently worked on "King Richard," and went on to explain that if there is one word that would describe the actress the best, then that is integrity. The actor went on to describe an incident from the set of the movie and said that the actress is not bothered about money much or making someone happy on the the set, but she cares about treating the people in the right way. Aunjanue does not play injustice, Will Smith added. He also said that her core is of fierce, noble integrity.

Will Smith continued to praise the actress for her contribution and mentioned that it’s a beautiful thing for him to be friends with someone like Aunjanue Ellis. He added that in a few years of knowing her, she has managed to awaken the thing in him where she mirrors the actor back to his best version. He added that Aunjanue Ellis mirrors him back to what he’s supposed to be.

Aunjanue Ellis as Brandi Williams in King Richard. Image Source: THR

The actor mentioned that it’s an honor for him to work with the actress and added that she keeps him focused on work and the things they should be doing. Will Smith added that they had to shut the movie down due to COVID and then start it back up with all the protocols and stuff and thus described them as war buddies and concluded that he was honored to stand with her, beside her, and for her.

Aunjanue Ellis is nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the 94th Academy Awards, which is scheduled for Sunday. This marks the actress's first Oscar nomination, and she is thrilled to have received the nomination. Will Smith is nominated in the Best Actor category, which marks his fourth nomination at the Oscars.

She was also acknowledged by Nia Long, who also acknowledged the actress while Nia was being honored at the Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards 2022 and said that if Aunjanue does not win an Oscar, she is going to kick somebody’s ass for real before adding that it's not that she needs an award to be great, but it’s her time to get recognized for her work.

Aunjanue Ellis spoke to People for the Oscars portfolio, where she mentioned how it was for her to work with Will Smith while adding that it’s very holistic to work with him. The girls fell in love with him, and it was nice to see how he portrayed the character of Richard Williams on-screen and how much he doted on the girls on-screen compared to seeing their equation off-screen. Aunjanue shared that on the first day of rehearsal, she noticed how Will Smith had posted notes on the breakdown of the entire movie, which showcases the level of commitment the actor has for his work.

Aunjanue Ellis and Will Smith are nominated at the 94th Academy Awards. Image Source: AfroTech

Aunjanue accepted the award and spoke about working in the dark for nearly 30 years, urging everyone to close their eyes and then open them, and saying that we are trained to think that darkness is ugly, but much of her career has been in the dark, doing work that no one saw or wanted to see, noble work that was not highly valued by people in white institutions, and even then she continued to work in the dark.

The actress mentioned that despite the recognition, she will continue to do what she has been doing even if it’s dark or even if she is pushed back as a black American woman. Aunjanue said she tells stories that give black women primacy and explained that she has been told that her stories are too dark, which means too black. Aunjanue mentioned that hope does not look like a black woman, but concluded that her hope comes from her mother, sister, and grandmother.

Aunjanue Ellis added in the end that maybe her next work wouldn’t be loved or recognized the way it did when she worked with Will Smith, but she was going to keep working in the dark anyway.