Who is Janelle Monáe? Meet the Glass Onion star with a passion for sci-fi writing – Rian Johnson calls her a ‘true artist’
- Janelle Monáe, who stars in Rian Johnson’s whodunit sequel Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, is a singer, rapper, actress – and sci-fi writer
- She reflects on the roles she takes, her interest in time travel and her quest to ‘tell radical, rebellious, smart stories’ – Johnson is a fan
To get a sense of Janelle Monáe’s powers of transformation, look no further than her Instagram photos of past Halloweens. Monáe does not just throw something on – she looks ready to step onto a film set.
“I am indeed a self-proclaimed transformer,” Monáe says, smiling. “I love going outside of what I think I know about me.”
Monáe, who grew up in a working-class Baptist family in the US state of Kansas, first remade herself in music as a retro-styled dynamo.
Performing in a tuxedo and pompadour, she fashioned herself as a time-travelling android alter ego named Cindi Mayweather. Acting was probably inevitable for Monáe, who studied musical theatre at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy before dedicating herself to music.
“It is that character building that I love,” Monáe says. “I love just getting my body into discovering a new way to talk and to breathe, and, hopefully, being a reflection for other folks. Go outside of who you think you are every day.”
