The Pulse of Entertainment: Veteran Actress Starletta DuPois Cast
in One Battle After Another, Starring Leonardo DiCaprio - in IMAX Theatres Now
(October 3, 2025) - "I never had a casting director come to
me," said veteran actress Starletta DuPois (Waiting to Exhale) about her new role in the Warner
Bros film One Battle After Another starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn and Regina Hall - in IMAX
theatres now. "That's amazing. She said I had been recommended to her. It was a home audition. I went over the scene....she
put me on tape and the director Paul (Thomas Anderson), like it."
As they said, the rest is history. Starletta
appears in the film as Grandma Jennie. The story line, taken from the 1990 novel Vineland by Thomas Pynchon, follows a group
of ex-revolutionaries who reunite to rescue one of its members' daughter. The member is played by Leonardo, and his daughter
is played by Chase Infiniti. She is kidnapped by their old enemy who resurfaces after 16 years. Others cast members in the
film include Benicio del Toro, and Teyana Taylor.
One Battle After Another,
Rated R, is directed by Academy Award nominated filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson. It is produced by Anderson, Sara Murphy, and
Adam Somner. One Battle After Another is a Ghoulardi Film Company and Warner Bros. Pictures production.
"I worked three days,"
she told me as we talked about her experience on the film that had a budget of 130 million. "During that time, I became
a grandmother. In my 80s with a new grand babe!"
"When I finished my scene they took me to the hospital to see the
baby because I was concern....she had to do a C-section," Starletta continued. "When we had the premiere everyone
asked about the baby."
DuPois, who is 87 years-young, holds a bachelor's
degree in biology and an honorary doctorate degree from her alma mater University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Starletta has
over 45 films to her credit that span over 50 years. She has earned a Tony Award nomination for her role in The Might Gents
and an NAACP Image Award for her role in A Raisin in the Sun. Starletta DuPois has been given the Presidential Citation for
her work, which includes her most notable roles in the projects Friday After Next and Waiting to Exhale as Whitney Houston's
character's mother.
"The movie is packed with very fine actors and actresses,"
she said as we continued talking about One Battle After Another.
Starletta DuPois has acted alongside Angela Bassett, James Earl Jones,
Cicely Tyson, Ruby Dee, Danny Glover, Robert Duvall, Jack Nicholson, and Denzel Washington. The Philly native's television
series credits include The Jeffersons, Little House on the Prairie, Lost, City of Angels, Black Jesus, The Steve Harvey Show.
Her stage credits include Fences, Miss Evers' Boys, August Wilson's The Piano Lesson and Joe Turner's Come and Gone. Starletta's
voice is in animation projects, such as The First Black U.S. Marshall, the true story of Bass Reeves, where she plays a Black
Choctaw Native American, It is due to be released in 2026. Recently in Atlanta she was honored with the Trailblazer Award
for Women of Color.
In closing our interview, I asked the veteran actress how she maintains such as active acting career
for 50 years and she said, "I didn't let a ‘no' stop me. God has us here for a reason." www.OneBattleAfterAnotherMovie.com
SYNDICATED COLUMN: Dr. Eunice Moseley has an estimated weekly readership of over one million with The Pulse of Entertainment. She is also a Business Management/Public Relations Strategist and Consultant at Freelance Associates
and is Promotions Director (at-large) for The
Baltimore Times. www.ThePulseofEntertainment.com. EVENTS: "Uplifting Minds II" Entertainment Conference (ULMII), founded by Eunice in 1999,
is into its 26th year. Next events are coming to Baltimore via Zoom Saturday April 19, 2025, presented by Security Square Mall and The Baltimore Times, and Los Angeles via Zoom Saturday,
November 8, 2025. The ULMII event is a free
entertainment conference offering a Professional Panel Q&A Session, a Professional Talent Showcase and National Talent
Competition (vocal, songwriting, dance and acting) where aspiring artists have a chance to receive over $20,000 valued in
prizes/product/services. Log onto www.UpliftingMinds2.com RSVP for Zoom Access at EventBrite.com or email info@thepulseofentertainment.com.ent.com.
