Rising Star Cloie Wyatt Taylor On What It Takes To Shine In The Entertainment Industry

An Interview With Edward Sylvan

You are enough. You don’t need to look like (or be) everyone else to be lovable. Your voice has meaning and is meant to be heard.

As a part of our series about pop culture’s rising stars, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Cloie Wyatt Taylor.

Cloie Wyatt Taylor currently stars as Victoria “Vicky” Sims, best friend and personal assistant to “Lana” (MC Lyte) in Partners in Rhyme, a lively comedy for AMC Networks’ streaming channel Allblk.

From the rural suburbs of Maryland to the streets of New York and beaches of Los Angeles, Cloie is a multi-hyphenate artist entertaining audiences across stage and screen. Beginning in the dance world at the age of three and inspired by hours of watching Annie on repeat, she quickly caught the acting bug and as a young teen landed her first role on the soap opera All My Children. Other notable television guest star appearances include Shameless, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Superstore, Grey’s Anatomy, Law & Order SVU, and How to Get Away with Murder.

An Alum of New York University Tisch School, Cloie received her undergrad training from the Atlantic Theater Company plus the Collaborative Arts Project musical theater program. She trained and performed with the Dance Theatre of Harlem, Arlington Ballet and the finest dance masters of Cuba.

Noteworthy stage credits include Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Brothers of the Knight, directed by and starring Debbie Allen, at the iconic John F. Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts, and the titular role in Lizastrata; earning her a Lead Performance nomination by the L.A. Drama Critics Circle.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

I’ve known I wanted to perform since always. I feel very blessed to know that I’m in alignment here. I may have lots of questions in other places, but I know that I’m living in my purpose.

For example, I’m not great with social media. I do what I can when I have the space to do so.

Anyhoo, while on Instagram I found a recent message from a classmate I was in elementary to middle school with and it was one of those moments that appear only when you really need it.

It was the most beautifully affirming message: How she has followed my career since we were kids and how fun it is to know that I’m doing the thing I said I was going to do. I still get teary when I think about that. Shoutout to her, and she knows who she is — angels are everywhere.

You star as Vicky in Allblk’s Partners in Rhyme. Are you similar to your character?

I think Vicky is a variation on themes I’ve witnessed within myself. It is me, so as separate as they are, there’s overlap and discovery.

Among other things, with Vicky I get to explore my optimism and my Gemini “party girl” side. It’s a vibe, for sure.

For me, acting is less about being seen and more about offering some sort of healing/compassion/context for what a character might be going through.

By getting to play in that skin, I get to give a little hug to the parts of myself, maybe, aren’t always seen.

It has been said that mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting?

You mean like when I called my 5th grade teacher “mommy” in front of the class? That has nothing to do with acting, but it sure will teach you a thing or two about life.

Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I learned to lead with love — although people could tease or bully me, they can’t take away my thunder. I’m a very sensitive person, so it’s not like it didn’t hurt — But I had to consider the source. Who is making fun of me and why? What do I know about the circumstances? Even as an adult, that lesson rings true when I encounter bullies — and I’m nice so I 100% encounter bullies still. I have to consider the source and keep it moving — whatever that means in the moment. Sometimes the answer is to keep it moving, other times I’ll have to cuss somebody out — all depends. Either way, I learned to lead with love.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you have worked on?

I feel so honored that I get to work with the greats on “Partners in Rhyme.” I flipped when I found out that Marla Gibbs was going to appear. I got to hang with her while we filmed — it was unreal.

On stage, Liza Minnelli, herself, came to one of my final performances in LIZASTRATA, a musical mash-up of the Liza Minnelli music canon and the Greek play, Lysistrata (shoutout Troubies and Getty Villa). I was playing the lead, the “Liza” role, and Ms Minnelli came to see it, and sat in the FRONT row!

I remember hitting my lighting special for our “Mein Herr” number. I heard her laugh out loud and thought: Whelp. You’re either gonna die or you’re going to fly.

Turns out, I didn’t die. Also turns out that Liza was wonderful and loved, loved, loved our show. What’s more: I got nominated for “Best Lead Performance” from the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for that role. When you’re nominated in the same category as Alfred Molina and Maria Dizzia it’s pretty good day.

You have been blessed with success in a career path that can be challenging. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

Oh, thank you so much! How much time you got? Ha! Here are some of the stuff I’ve been working through for myself lately:

1. You can’t dim your light for other people. Yes, be compassionate and aware, and you’re allowed to take up space and shine your light. Brightly.

But we’re not put on this earth to be convenient — so why be small? You’re not for everyone but the people who want to rock with you, rock with you.

2. Always remember that you have power, agency, and a voice — no one can take that away or duplicate it. It’s your own brand of magic.

3. Also, I’m realizing that life is too big to fail and that if you need to “win” at something, you can. For me, it often comes down to perspective.

For example, there are plenty of times when I can get into the mindset of what my career is/what it isn’t, etc. I believe comparison can be hard to avoid, realistically. But then I remember to zoom out and look at the whole picture, especially the small things.

What are your “3 things I wish someone told me when I first started”:

1. You are enough.

2. You don’t need to look like (or be) everyone else to be lovable.

3. Your voice has meaning and is meant to be heard.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

Healthy emotional boundaries all day. Treat your business/career with the same attention and respect you would an office job because YOU are your own cause and cure. No matter how much you love the gig you’re on, space and distance allow the creative reserve to fill up. You can’t stay at the office “all night” forever — same thing here. Whether we like it or not, we all have to go home sometime.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

Ooh. I’d have a cause called something like “Actors Are People Too”. I think — both in the industry and in life — people forget that performers are 100% human too, turns out. I think it’s powerful, what we do. It would be helpful for the industry (and the world) to understand that the output, for us, does come at a cost.

Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)

I can’t pick one, but I can say it’s the show where I’m creating with and playing opposite Lin-Manuel Miranda and Audra McDonald. I think we could tear it up and make stage fire. Hey y’all, heeey….

What can you share about The Mattachine Family?

I’m so excited for the world to see it. On all of the levels, it’s such a beautiful, feel-good movie. Andy Vallentine, Danny Vallentine, and the team did such an amazing job at bringing this story to life. Working with Nico Tortorella, Emily Hampshire and Jake Choi — I had such a blast and learned so much. Appreciate these humans. Truly.

How can our readers follow you online?

I’m @alwayscloie across all social media platforms.

This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!