WHAT’S GOING ON

Upscale magazine, date unknown

Photography can be seen in the NonaNet magazine gallery

 

After putting the greatest fighter of all time in his place in Ali, Nona Gaye is kicking butt this month in The Matrix: Revolutions. She's making all the right Hollywood moves, so why don't more people know her beautiful face?

 

 

We don't know Nona Gaye.

 

The hauntingly beautiful actress has landed two of the most coveted roles for black actresses this decade, staring in both Ali and The Matrix sequels, yet she's largely still flying under the mega-celebrity radar. Currently shooting The Polar Express opposite Tom Hanks, she's continuing her Hollywood trek in high-profile flicks.

 

While we're still grooving to the sex you up classics crooned by her infamous father, little is known about his starlet daughter, who's clearly creating a path of her own. "I love being my father's daughter," says the 29-year-old of her dad, Marvin Gaye, who was shot to death in 1984. "I miss him so much and wish he could see what I am doing. But I'm not in his shadow."

 

It's no easy feat being the daughter of an R&B legend, especially if you have dreams of being an entertainer. Traci Ross and Lalah Hathaway--daughters of Diana and Donny, respectively--can relate. Expectations are beyond measure and the struggle to be seen beyond your parent's illustrious shadow can be a life-long headache.

 

Once an adoring Marvin Gaye fan asked Nona for an autograph and insisted she sign as "Marvin Gaye's daughter." The title opens as many doors as it shuts. When Nona dropped her little-known solo debut, Made for the Future, in 1992, the endless comparisons to her father nearly sank the project. "I think people put their longing and wishing for him to be back in me," muses the singer, just minutes before a recording session for her upcoming second album with Epic Records. "They want me to sing like him, move like he moved."

 

"Sometimes I get that feeling like there are big shoes to fill, but with acting there are no shoes," she continues. "Everything I've done, it's on my own merit." After her first album flopped, Nona took a break. She gave birth to her son Nolan, raised him for two years and then jumped back into Hollywood, marching into the offices of the William Morris Agency--home to such sensations as Halle Berry, Whoopi Goldberg and Bill Cosby--to ask if they'd represent her.

 

She was shocked when the agency suggested that she act. "I guess they figured that if you could do both [act and sing], do both," says Nona. "I went out on my first call and I remember them saying, ‘Just get your feet wet. You won't get it, but we want you to see what it's like.' It was for Ali and I got it."

 

Although she was the only unknown of the three lead actresses in the biopic of the fighter, Nona's performance of his second wife, Belinda, nearly had the audience in tears and garnered a call from USA Today for a Best Actress nomination at the Oscars. She displayed a familiar strength and femininity that's rare in Hollywood's ranks, which peaked the interest of a few directors.

 

Nona then found herself up against Aaliyah for the roll of Zee in The Matrix: Reloaded. After Aaliyah's untimely death in an August 2001 plane crash, Nona went through the audition process again. "It took over a year and a half to get that role," she remembers. Again, the directors had to choose between Nona and another actress. They chose Nona. "It was bittersweet," she says, recalling Aaliyah's tragedy. "But I really want to make sure I'm deserving of the blessings I get."

 

In Revolutions, which is in theaters this month, Nona won't be sporting the funky leather look of her Matrix contemporaries because "I live in Zion," she remarks, but she has some wild action-filled moments and the memory of horrific bruises to prove it. "They said the character doesn't have much physically to do," remembers a duped Nona, whose character didn't require the weapons training of her cast members but probably could have used a little sumthin' sumthin'. "We're hanging from the ropes, and there are cushions and pads for us to fall on. I said, ‘This is really great, thanks for the non-active role.'" Her personal training, a mix of Pilates, yoga and running, "really helped."

 

Nona's recent screen time isn't her first foray into the public eye. Back in 1983, her father introduced her to the world on Soul Train at age nine. "She sings quite well," he said proudly. At 14, the Washington, D.C. native cut her first demo, and by 16 she was signed to Atlantic Records. But her name hit tabloids in the early nineties when she resurfaced as the paramour du jour of the elusive music icon, Prince.

 

While composing the music for a Versace fashion show, the Purple One arranged a meeting between the late Gianni Versace and Nona, who wound up modeling in the show. It was her only runway gig among some print work, including a campaign with Armani. She recorded a song with Prince, but they broke up before he could produce her album. "It just wasn't meant to be," admits Nona of their short-term love affair. "It was too much hiding on both sides. I was very young."

 

Now with an acting career that veteran actresses would die for, Nona is crafting her star power J.Lo-style (minus the drama, of course), making bold moves in both music and film. R. Kelly, who "was a perfect gentleman," she reveals, is one of the several heavy-hitter producers on her upcoming album. While this release is a subtle mix of ballads and up-tempo joints, she adds that it's "very soulful." But don’t expect to hear whispers of Marvin on Nona's new CD. Do, she says, expect to hear good music. "I'm not my dad," she reminds, "but I like to sing, and I have a style of my own."

 

- YTASHA L. WOMACK