Teyana Taylor as Perfidia Beverly Hills in 'One Battle After Another' Warner Bros. Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment Teyana Taylor wasn't sure if her eyes and ears were deceiving her when she woke up to news of her Golden Globe Award nomination on the couch in her L.A. home this morning, where she'd fallen asleep the night before. "My aunt was rumbling around the kitchen, and I'm a light sleeper, so I kind of woke up, and she already had [the livestream] on, but that's what I was nervous about because I didn't want to watch it," Taylor admits. Though she tried to fall back asleep to calm her nerves, it wasn't long before her team group chat was buzzing with congratulatory messages and phone calls alerting her of her nomination for best supporting actress in a motion picture. "Experiencing this at five o'clock in the morning, it's a thing like, 'Oh my God, am I dreaming right now?' 'Am I going to wake up?' " Taylor tells The Hollywood Reporter. "I'm definitely overjoyed and overwhelmed in the best way." Related Stories Movies Dwayne Johnson Says His First Golden Globes Nomination for 'The Smashing Machine' Represents "The Fight in Everybody" Movies Michael B. Jordan on Being a First-Time Golden Globe Nominee, Why He Isn't Sure He Wants to Play Two Characters in a Film Again Taylor's turn as the French 75 revolutionary Perfidia Beverly Hills in Paul Thomas Anderson's action thriller One Battle After Another earned her her first Golden Globe nom. Though Taylor knew working with the famed director would make the experience a "special" one, the potential for critical acclaim never crossed her mind when she was offered the role. "I was more so indulged in making him proud and making my peers proud and my castmates proud," she says. "I'm about to work with PTA, Sean Penn, Leonardo DiCaprio, Regina Hall, Benicio [Del Toro], Chase [Infiniti]. I don't even think my mind was on awards because all this stuff is very new for me." It's through the music industry that Taylor rose to fame, choreographing the video for Beyoncé's "Ring the Alarm" in 2006 at just 15 years old, years before she'd sign with Pharrell Williams' Star Trak Entertainment and later Kanye West's GOOD Music. Taylor released three albums - and directed music videos for a number of her peers - before publicly announcing her retirement from music in 2020. "I felt like I was being forced to stay in one box, and that's not where I wanted to be. I knew it was more for me, that I didn't want to keep putting all the other things that I love on the back burner. And I remember when I made that decision, people told me, 'That's not a smart decision. You shouldn't do that,' " Taylor recalls. Refusing to be deterred by naysayers, the singer/actress says she set her sights on acting and became determined to show others that you don't have to be boxed in to one career. "It's emotional because I remember I felt very isolated, like I was in this alone. And it's so crazy because after I retired, I want to say a month or two later, I got the role for A Thousand and One, so that was the faith walk, the leap of faith. That was trusting in yourself and trusting in God and not questioning. So even coming back to music, I came back to music on my terms," she adds of her 2025 album Escape Room, for which she received her first Grammy nomination, for best R&B album. "To be nominated for a Grammy and now a Golden Globe and Critics Choice award is a lot. I'm so grateful. I don't take this lightly." The same can be said of Taylor's approach to Perfidia, a character whose struggle with postpartum depression ultimately causes her to leave her partner (DiCaprio) and their daughter Willa (later played by Infiniti). "One thing that I was always prepared for and knew was that this movie would create healthy dialogue and shake the table," Taylor says of reactions to the film. "I love that. I love healthy communication. I love when we can talk and discuss. What bothers you about it? What do you love about it? What did it shed light on? Was it the uncomfortable, harsh realities that we had to face? Did you understand? Were you empathetic toward her? Did you relate to the postpartum depression?" Perfidia's fate is a bit left up to the audience's imagination after she skips the country and isn't seen or heard from again, save for a letter she leaves for Willa reaffirming her love for her. "I often think about what her 16 years were like and her having to live through the choices that she made," says Taylor. "I think that we hear that in her voice [as the letter is read], and it kind of makes me excited to see what would happen if we did a part two. There's a lot of space to create something magical with that." As for whether she's chatted with Anderson about that possibility, she adds, "I'm already