Today we’d like to introduce you to Tracey Love Graves.
Hi Tracey Love, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was born in Jamaica, Queens, NY and raised in Richmond, VA, where I graduated high school and college… go VCU Rams! I experienced my very first film production as a kid in NYC on the set of Carlito’s Way, starring Al Paccino. At five years old, I faced rejection for the first time when producers chose another little boy to accompany my mother as on-screen extras saying that I was “Too old.” Imagine! During high school in Richmond, I learned the ways of stage performance by competing in our school’s Show Choir for three years culminating in a production of The Wiz during my senior year. Just before graduating from VCU, I took my first theater classes at the Firehouse Theatre and it only took one year after graduation for me to make my Los Angeles dream come true. In 2009, with no job, no home and very little cash, my cousin, Celisse and I loaded up my Toyota Matrix and drove across the country from Virginia to California in just over 1.5 days. We were on a mission to be seen by Spike Lee immediately! Within seven days, and by the grace of God, we moved into our studio apartment in the Valley, where I began searching Craigslist for acting gigs. I booked two minor roles within a year, but it was due to my job at a private member’s club in 2012 that I was asked to audition for my first major motion picture, About Last Night, starring Kevin Hart, Regina Hall, Joy Bryant and Michael Ealy. That was followed shortly by a role in The Wedding Ringer, also starring Kevin Hart and Being Mary Jane, starring Gabrielle Union.
Through my commercial talent agency that I signed with by Christmas 2012, I started booking national commercials by February 2013 and used the funds to invest back into my career by taking classes and building the brand of Tracey Love. From February 2018 to September 2019, I left the country to join the Peace Corps and serve as a volunteer in two villages in the Nation of Zambia. Upon my return to the US, I relocated to Atlanta, GA where I started dating and married the love of my life, Emmy-winning writer, producer and director Chris Silber, and it’s here where we created SilberLove Productions. Our first co-writing venture can be seen on the German TV channel ZDF on Christmas 2023. We just celebrated our one-year anniversary, so that makes us completely qualified to dish out dating and marriage advice on our Podcast, Love Life Hacks, which can be found on YouTube and on most major podcast platforms. I may have become a working actress in 2012, but here in Atlanta in 2023, I feel like I’m just getting started.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Most of the struggles along the way have come from within. I wasn’t living authentically for many years. I was looking to be qualified from the outside world, and I wasn’t finding validation as early as I thought I should be. From an early age, I told myself that expressing deep emotions was dangerous and should be avoided at all costs. I’ve ruined many relationships and driven many acting coaches crazy over the years by staying on the surface. For the first few years into my acting journey, I believed that all I had to do was be beautiful to book work and the reality of that lie hit me hard when I stopped booking anything. Or when I would book something because people believed in me, I would get to sit and embarrass myself because the little training that I did have was locked inside of me with all of my emotions. I started doubting whether I should be here. I started telling myself that because I wasn’t as great as Meryl or Denzel after a few classes, that I should hang it up and go home.
For a long time, I couldn’t see that vulnerability was my greatest tool, and when I started practicing it in real life, getting vulnerable with God first, it opened up a world of possibilities. I knew that God wouldn’t put these entertainment dreams on my heart from a young age just to get all the way to Hollywood to find out it was a lie. The devil is a lie, and instead of saying, “Woe is me, I’m not great,” I started asking God, “Well, what do I need to do to get there or as close as possible?” I started reading more autobiographies and learning all of the ways my favorite actors have overcome their own struggles and it became clear to me that everyone’s path to “greatness” is their own. I’ve since learned that the only difference between someone who is successful and someone who is not is patience and perseverance. I quieted the voices in my head that said that I would never change, and I focus on growing as a woman of God, a mother, a wife, a businesswoman, and an actress every single day. I know that greatness is mine because I put one foot in front of the other and walk blindly while I build.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
At my core, I am an actress, entrepreneur, and wellness advocate. In addition to being an actress, I am proud to be the co-founder of SilberLove Productions, a venture I embarked upon with my phenomenal husband, Chris Silber. Together, we are excited about our first co-writing venture and we share our evolving perspectives on love, life, and relationships through our podcast, Love Life Hacks. Through our podcast, we’re constantly releasing new episodes, and we’re planning to host retreats, outings, and fun products for couples and families to reconnect and engage intentionally.
Beyond that, I am a certified RYT-200 yoga instructor, and I passionately share an intentional approach to incorporating yoga into my spiritual practice. Spending time with God through yoga has become an integral part of my wellness journey. As an influential force in both the entertainment and wellness realms, I strive to help inspire the next generation to be fearless in going for whatever they want to achieve. The biggest obstacle we will face is the doubt within us.
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
My favorite childhood memory was visiting Hollywood for the first time in 9th grade. Starting in Las Vegas, NV, myself my mother, my grandmother and my sister embarked on a road trip south into Mexicali, Mexico where we drove west toward Tijuana. We were stopped by Mexican police who carried the biggest assault rifles I had seen in my life and my grandmother and I were able to use our best broken Spanish to convince them that we were only driving through. After inspecting our station wagon and deciding we weren’t drug mules, they let us go and we slowly climbed the mountains of northern Mexico, teetering on the edge of a road that seemed like it was built for bicycles. I admired the tractor-trailer truck drivers who had no fear of falling off of the cliff’s edge. I’m still convinced that there’s no way they had all of their tires on that road when they passed us by. We made it to Tiajuana in one piece and even purchased some souvenirs from foot venders while we waited in the extremely long lines at border patrol.
I loved my first experience of Mexico, but my teen self was relieved to be back on American soil. By that evening, we made our way into Los Angeles just in time to see the smog blowing through. We set our GPS for Hollywood blvd and stayed in a motel a few blocks from the epicenter. In the morning, we set out to do all of the Hollywood tourist traps, The Chinese Theatre, Hollywood Walk of Fame and we even took IQ tests given to us by the Church of Scientology. Yeah, we had no idea who they were at the time, but I found out I had the second-highest IQ out of the group and it helped us pass the time until we would go be a part of a live studio audience for the show Change of Heart. The producers were pissed when we only stayed for one 30-minute segment. I thought they weren’t going to let us leave, and it was a shame that they only unlocked the doors because we lied about having to catch a flight home. It was those 24 hours on those Hollywood streets that validated and cemented my LA dreams and I wouldn’t return for another 9 years when my cousin and I drove in with a packed car, ready to make our dreams come true.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.traceylove.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/traceylovegraves/?hl=en
