Meet Esther Baxter. You probably know her as one of the breathtaking girls in the music videos of artists like Nelly, Petey Pablo, Will Smith and Kanye West. Perhaps you caught her cameo in Tyler Perry’s “Meet The Browns.”But lately, Baxter has been moving onto bigger and better screens. Most recently, she co-starred in “Just Another Day,” and before that played a supporting role in “Speed Dating”. This fall she co-stars in “Video Girl” with Meagan Good and Haylie Duff. Urban Magazine sat down to talk with Baxter about her transition from video girl and urban model to serious actress.
How did you start doing videos?
Well, my brother was the one who started it, he used to be like, you should do videos, and you should do modeling. And I was like, “yeah, right.” I was like 16 or 17. And my brother was like, you know, you can make a lot of money. And I said, “well… exactly how much money?” he also mentioned that I would need an agent, and I got an agent … and that was pretty much it.
You started out as a video girl but you knew that you didn’t want to do that forever… when did you decide to move into acting?
It was a couple of years… I definitely wanted to act for a long period of time, like forever, so I started looking for other things to do. One day I was watching a movie, and I thought, “That’s really dope, I could have done that part,” you know?”
Did you find that starting out as a video girl set you back when you tried to move into acting?
No, it didn’t set me back. It actually worked towards my advantage. But I also knew going into it that I would have to start at the bottom again. I didn’t go in there, expecting that since I’ve worked in the urban field that this should be really easy or that I should just get a part immediately. No, I knew that I had to separate myself from the urban world in order to jump into the acting.
You’ve had some filming experience with a number of very talented actors and actresses. What did you learn from them, and who was your favorite to work with?
I definitely can’t give a favourite, I enjoyed working with everybody on set, and it was a lot of fun. And everyone was really helpful with giving direction and making me feel comfortable. They were just really cool, very chill. they really helped me to see that it’s really laid back, it’s not so uptight. Everybody was just kind of like, if you think the character should go in a different direction let me know, we could try it. It was really cool.
Is there a character that you’ve played that you identified with the most?
All of the characters that I played were different than myself, but I could see a bit of myself in all of the characters that I’ve played. Like, in “Just Another Day,” I played a businesswoman, and I definitely am a businesswoman. And in “Speed Dating,” I played this good girl gone bad, and I identify with that character a little bit. She was raised in a church and my parents were, and so was I. And “Video Girl” I played a girl that was doing what I was doing, just basically doing the videos and the urban modeling to pay off her college bills and do something else. She wanted to be a veterinarian. So, I can identify with each one, but they were all different from myself as well.
What is your favorite thing about your career?
I really like traveling a lot. I like seeing different places.
Do you get to travel a lot in your spare time?
I try to. I try to take as many trips as possible, and being that I have a lot of friends who are very spontaneous, it definitely happens.
What is your least favorite thing about your career?
Well, my least favorite thing about the beginning of my career was doing the videos, because people would stereotype me as one of those provocative, promiscuous girls. Which I wasn’t, I was very shy, but very laid back and very cool. I wasn’t like that at all. So that would have to be my least favourite thing. And I haven’t come across a least favorite thing with the acting!
Do you find that people look at you differently, now that you’ve done some of the acting, as opposed to when you were just doing the videos?
I definitely see with the interviewing process, that people are more impressed that I really am serious about acting and I’m actually taking steps in order to improve myself, like taking classes and actually going and talking about it… I definitely see a difference in people seeing me as more respectable rather than, “Oh, she’s a sex icon.”
I know you have “Video Girl” coming out soon. But what’s next? Where do you see yourself a year from now?
Well hopefully in a year or so, I will just have a couple of movies starring me, where I am the star of the film, and I’m actually looking at a script right now, so hopefully that will come into play. And I’ll have another film coming out.
Do you see yourself doing acting long term? Or is there anything else you would like to do aside from acting?
Well, I find that there are a lot of different things that I would like to try; I was taking a massage therapy class at one point, and business marketing and real estate and all this stuff. I don’t know what I would end up doing, but right now its about the acting, that’s what I’m focusing on and what I’ve been wanting to do for a while, so that’s what it’s about.
In a lot of the press that you’ve done, I’ve seen references to you being exotic and nationalities. Do you think your nationality has played a part in your success?
I’m not sure. I wouldn’t know, but I think that it is really about who I was as a person, that I was pleasant to work with in combination with me being cute and sexy and all that. Because if I was pleasant to work with, but I had a really horrible attitude, I wouldn’t have gotten as many jobs as I did.
Do you have any advice for any aspiring actresses or models out there?
would really say continue doing what you want to do. Get educated. Don’t just sit back and wait for something to fall in front of you. If you want to be an actress, take some acting classes, get an agent, get a manager, someone that’s going to be able to push you, that’s going to support you, and be behind you. To give you information, tell you what you do need, tell you what you don’t need, what you need to work on, and what you have.
I also heard that you will be doing a blog for Global Grind?
I’m doing a guest blog, I write once every now and then. I’m actually setting up my own blog. And me, writing a blog for them is kind of like a science experiment. It’s amazing how you sit down and you come up with so many questions, you find so many things to sit down and write about. So I think it would be very interesting for me to write one.
What is the name of your blog? Is it going to be about your everyday life or when you’re doing projects, inside peeks?
It’s going to be a combination of everything, stuff that happened to me today, or maybe I’ll just answer a question that someone e-mailed in because I’m definitely making that a part of it. Fans can e-mail questions and I’ll pick a question and write what I think about it. It will definitely have a part in it, plus all of the projects that I am going to be doing.
Do you think that now with the digital world with Twitter and Facebook and things like that, that it is important to keep in touch with your fans in terms of being online?
Yes, I think it is. Initially I didn’t want to get a Twitter, but a friend that had it was like, “Oh, it’s really fun. People tell you what they think and it’s amazing to see what people think and the things people say.” And on top of that, she said, “Well, someone already has a Twitter under your name, and I think some people really think that that’s you, and I think it has like 6,000 followers already, and some of the things the girl was saying were really bubble headed, stupid stuff. So you might as well get one, to let people know that you are really intelligent.”
Words by Keir Bristol
Well, my brother was the one who started it, he used to be like, you should do videos, and you should do modeling. And I was like, “yeah, right.” I was like 16 or 17. And my brother was like, you know, you can make a lot of money. And I said, “well… exactly how much money?” he also mentioned that I would need an agent, and I got an agent … and that was pretty much it.You started out as a video girl but you knew that you didn’t want to do that forever… when did you decide to move into acting?
It was a couple of years… I definitely wanted to act for a long period of time, like forever, so I started looking for other things to do. One day I was watching a movie, and I thought, “That’s really dope, I could have done that part,” you know?”
Did you find that starting out as a video girl set you back when you tried to move into acting?
No, it didn’t set me back. It actually worked towards my advantage. But I also knew going into it that I would have to start at the bottom again. I didn’t go in there, expecting that since I’ve worked in the urban field that this should be really easy or that I should just get a part immediately. No, I knew that I had to separate myself from the urban world in order to jump into the acting.
You’ve had some filming experience with a number of very talented actors and actresses. What did you learn from them, and who was your favourite to work with?
I definitely can’t give a favourite, I enjoyed working with everybody on set, and it was a lot of fun. And everyone was really helpful with giving direction and making me feel comfortable. They were just really cool, very chill. they really helped me to see that it’s really laid back, it’s not so uptight. Everybody was just kind of like, if you think the character should go in a different direction let me know, we could try it. It was really cool.
Is there a character that you’ve played that you identified with the most?
All of the characters that I played were different than myself, but I could see a bit of myself in all of the characters that I’ve played. Like, in “Just Another Day,” I played a businesswoman, and I definitely am a businesswoman. And in “Speed Dating,” I played this good girl gone bad, and I identify with that character a little bit. She was raised in a church and my parents were, and so was I. And “Video Girl” I played a girl that was doing what I was doing, just basically doing the videos and the urban modeling to pay off her college bills and do something else. She wanted to be a veterinarian. So, I can identify with each one, but they were all different from myself as well.
What is your favourite thing about your career?
I really like travelling a lot. I like seeing different places.
Do you get to travel a lot in your spare time?
I try to. I try to take as many trips as possible, and being that I have a lot of friends who are very spontaneous, it definitely happens.
What is your least favourite thing about your career?
Well, my least favourite thing about the beginning of my career was doing the videos, because people would stereotype me as one of those provocative, promiscuous girls. Which I wasn’t, I was very shy, but very laid back and very cool. I wasn’t like that at all. So that would have to be my least favourite thing. And I haven’t come across a least favourite thing with the acting!
Do you find that people look at you differently, now that you’ve done some of the acting, as opposed to when you were just doing the videos?
I definitely see with the interviewing process, that people are more impressed that I really am serious about acting and I’m actually taking steps in order to improve myself, like taking classes and actually going and talking about it… I definitely see a difference in people seeing me as more respectable rather than, “Oh, she’s a sex icon.”
I know you have “Video Girl” coming out soon. But what’s next? Where do you see yourself a year from now?
Well hopefully in a year or so, I will just have a couple of movies starring me, where I am the star of the film, and I’m actually looking at a script right now, so hopefully that will come into play. And I’ll have another film coming out.
Do you see yourself doing acting long term? Or is there anything else you would like to do aside from acting?
Well, I find that there are a lot of different things that I would like to try; I was taking a massage therapy class at one point, and business marketing and real estate and all this stuff. I don’t know what I would end up doing, but right now its about the acting, that’s what I’m focusing on and what I’ve been wanting to do for a while, so that’s what it’s about.
In a lot of the press that you’ve done, I’ve seen references to you being exotic and nationalities. Do you think your nationality has played a part in your success?
I’m not sure. I wouldn’t know, but I think that it is really about who I was as a person, that I was pleasant to work with in combination with me being cute and sexy and all that. Because if I was pleasant to work with, but I had a really horrible attitude, I wouldn’t have gotten as many jobs as I did.
Do you have any advice for any aspiring actresses or models out there?
would really say continue doing what you want to do. Get educated. Don’t just sit back and wait for something to fall in front of you. If you want to be an actress, take some acting classes, get an agent, get a manager, someone that’s going to be able to push you, that’s going to support you, and be behind you. To give you information, tell you what you do need, tell you what you don’t need, what you need to work on, and what you have.
What other projects do you have coming up?
I’m doing the Celebrity Catwalk in LA, the 10th of September, and I’ll be in the September/October issue of YRB Magazine that’s coming out.
I also heard that you will be doing a blog for Global Grind?
I’m doing a guest blog, I write once every now and then. I’m actually setting up my own blog. And me, writing a blog for them is kind of like a science experiment. It’s amazing how you sit down and you come up with so many questions, you find so many things to sit down and write about. So I think it would be very interesting for me to write one.
What is the name of your blog? Is it going to be about your everyday life or when you’re doing projects, inside peeks?
It’s going to be a combination of everything, stuff that happened to me today, or maybe I’ll just answer a question that someone e-mailed in because I’m definitely making that a part of it. Fans can e-mail questions and I’ll pick a question and write what I think about it. It will definitely have a part in it, plus all of the projects that I am going to be doing.
Do you think that now with the digital world with Twitter and Facebook and things like that, that it is important to keep in touch with your fans in terms of being online?
Yes, I think it is. Initially I didn’t want to get a Twitter, but a friend that had it was like, “Oh, it’s really fun. People tell you what they think and it’s amazing to see what people think and the things people say.” And on top of that, she said, “Well, someone already has a Twitter under your name, and I think some people really think that that’s you, and I think it has like 6,000 followers already, and some of the things the girl was saying were really bubble headed, stupid stuff. So you might as well get one, to let people know that you are really intelligent.”
