Meet Tennille Chaffin of Atlanta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tennille Chaffin.

Tennille, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I’m a Trin-American girl from Queens, NY. What’s a Trin-American you ask? Its an American child born from Trinidadian parents. I take pride in being from Queens cause we all know Queens is the best borough in New York, lol. I also pay homage to my parents for providing the life I’ve been able to have.

In 2008, I interned at BET Networks to get my last credits in order to graduate college. At that time, I was torn between being in music, radio or television and I knew I had to do something before time ran out. So, I saw that BET was accepting applications and I went full steam ahead. During this time, my love for music would remain so, naturally I would go to the studio and record almost everyday, write songs, collab with other underground artists and perform around the city. I was also in church sometimes 5 days a week singing as the praise and worship leader, teaching praise dance, competing in the Mc Donald’s Gospel Fests (and winning), manning the cameras, filling in for the drummer and working in the sound department.

Throughout my days as an intern for BET, I was able to learn from people like Kelly G, Connie Orlando, Penny McDonald and a whole host of other people that I crossed paths with and til this day, it’s always love when I see them. Connie put me on to my first big show, 106&Gospel. It didn’t last very long but it was a time where I truly learned what it meant to work in Television.

From there, I was out of a job and back to freelancing until I got a call in 2009, about working as a Production Assistant on The Mo’Nique Show in ATL. That was one of the best experiences of my career. It was like working with family. The staff was amazing and we actually still hang with one another til this day! Working on her talk show gave me access to some of our legends like, Patti LaBelle, Kobe Bryant, Toni Braxton and our in house band, The Penthouse Players who was led by the late Big Jim. I learned how to navigate life while working a staff job and how to plan for the future.

Like anything else, nothing lasts forever, The show ended and I was back to freelancing. A good friend of mine, Mia, called me to see if I would be interested in working on a film set. Of course I agreed and began my journey in Film. The set I worked on was for the movie, Identity Thief starring Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman. They were both super nice and valued the staff.

What’s goes up sometimes comes down. During that time, my grandmother passed. It was the first major lost I experienced and it crushed me. My boyfriend (who’s now my husband) worked at a cigar lounge and I went there, poured out my troubles on him and said, “Let’s move to LA, we’ve always wanted to go, so let’s go! You’re an aspiring actor and I’m an aspiring creative, let’s go!” I told him that the set I was working on needed to hire a male PA. I referred him and he got the job. We kept it professional and no one knew we were together.

Summer of 2012, we saved our money, packed our cars and drove from Atlanta to Los Angeles where our lives really began. We hit the ground running, trying to find jobs and that’s when I stumbled upon Stereo D (now called SDFX). I thought it was a place where they did sound for music, lol, hence the word Stereo. I was young and thirsty for a job so I never looked it up. I just went to the interview and realized it had nothing to do with music and everything to do with 3D Conversion; something I’d never heard of.

The New Yorker in me didn’t break a sweat, focused on what I could offer to the company as a Production Assistant and got the job. As the years went on, I would have moved up as a Production Coordinator and then onto Producer status. I would have worked for Method Studios and then Company 3 where I’d become a VFX Producer. During this time, I would continue writing music, producing songs and singing around Los Angeles gaining traction as a musical artist.

2020 is when I got my start in the voiceover world. A friend of mine from my BET days, Keyon, called me up and asked if I would be interested in auditioning for a commercial voiceover. Of course I said, “Yes” and began my voiceover career. I almost booked my first audition. They asked if I could record on 12/3/2020 but I had to tell them no, I was currently pregnant and that was my due date. That commercial was for Target. From there, I would go onto voice acting for Netflix, Disney and various national commercials.

Today, I am a wife and mother to our son Jovani. We have a beautiful red doberman named Bodega. We reside in Georgia where my husband and I met. He actually has a show on Paramount Plus that just premiered called, Diarra From Detroit and I currently have a commercial running for Skyrizi.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
A smooth road? Ha, not even close. I will say that a lot of favor has touched my journey. I’m originally from New York, made my way to Atlanta, then off to Los Angeles and finally back to Atlanta. During that time, I had to fight for a spot almost everywhere I went. Starting with my internship at BET Networks in 2008, to my first long term gig on The Mo’Nique Show from 2009-2011 and finally to my career in post production where I worked in 3D Conversion and Visual Effects from 2012-present. All while trying to make sure I had enough money to pay rent and take care a basic necessities.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
First and foremost, I’m a creative through and through. I’ve always envisioned myself working in music, film and television from the time I was in Junior High School. I’m a singer/songwriter, a musician, a voiceover actor and of course a VFX Producer.

As a singer/songwriter, I’m actively pitching my music. I write and sing R&B/Soul music for myself (or others) and more recently started writing and producing songs for children’s movies. The BIG climax songs for animated films is the goal. They have yet to be placed but I’ve got some traction that I have to keep under wraps for now.

I’m a self taught musician. I play the piano, a little drums and can strum the guitar enough to make cool sounds. My passion for instruments started when I heard my father (who’s a classically train pianist) play Moonlight Sonata. He would play it so beautifully and one day when he finished playing, I decided to try and play it. After about an hour, I realized that I could play by ear and from there, it was on!

As a voiceover actor, I’ve been blessed to voice for Netflix, Disney and commercials such as, Skyrizi, NYX Professional Makeup, Chase Bank and many others. My hope is to create an animation short for kids where I voice and spread positivity throughout the digital world.

The first film I was fortunate to work on was Jurassic Park 3D and was released in 2013. Some other films that I’ve worked on Godzilla, Black Panther, Black Widow, Joker: Folie A Deux, Doctor Strange, Spider Man: Far from Home, Avengers: Infinity War, Iron Man 3, and the list goes on. You can check out my IMDB page for some more titles- Tennille Alcindor (Alcindor is my maiden last name)- Link Below

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4588059/

I most proud of the fact that I never gave up. Times got rough for sure, but I kept on going. There were moments when I didn’t know if I would be able to sustain because I was out of a gig or searching for the next wave of inspiration. I’m grateful to God that He kept me and helped me press on.

The thing that sets me apart from anyone else is my purpose. God gave me a vision of what I’m supposed to be doing. Things that no one else will understand but will be blessed by. Anyone that encounters me will encounter my gifts and be forever changed by them because I’m obedient to the calling on my life.

Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
My favorite childhood memory is going to Trinidad for summer breaks. My father and mother are from Trinidad & Tobago so, we have a lot of family there. Me and my siblings would stay with our grandmother for the whole summer and enjoy the beautiful island. Have not one care in the world and eat good Trini food.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @ms.tnicole
• Facebook: tennille chaffin