Even If I Go Home Empty-Handed, I Have Won - Teyana Taylor Opens Up on Awards Season
In a feature for Time’s Women of the Year profiles, the 35-year-old singer, actress, and director reflected on the hurdles she faced in her career and the persistence that brought her here.
Despite earning praise for her work in Kanye West’s “Fade” video at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards and scoring a hit with “Maybe” in 2014, Taylor said she once considered leaving music altogether.
“By 2020, I didn’t feel supported, and I was ready to walk away,” she told Time. “Everybody told me it was dumb. And I was like, ‘No, I am going to be a great actress. One day, I am going to be a great director.’ ”
Her persistence has paid off. Taylor landed roles in Coming 2 America, A Thousand and One, and White Men Can’t Jump, and in 2025 she earned widespread acclaim for her performance as Perfidia Beverly Hills in One Battle After Another.
The role brought her first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
The film, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, also stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Chase Infiniti, and Regina Hall, and received 12 other nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor.
“Even if I go home empty-handed, I have won,” Taylor said. She also expressed excitement at being honored alongside her “awards-season bestie,” fellow nominee Jacob Elordi, star of Frankenstein.
Other nominees in the Best Supporting Actress category include Elle Fanning and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas (Sentimental Value), Amy Madigan (Weapons), and Wunmi Mosaku (Sinners).
Taylor, reflecting on the season, emphasized joy over competition. “We’re young, we’re blessed, we’re being celebrated, this is the time to be happy and to have fun with it, especially in a space that some people take so seriously, and some people are cold, some people are robotic,” she said.
Looking ahead, Taylor shared her ambitions. “I would love the EGOT,” she said. “And if I don’t get that Tony, guess what that T is gonna stand for? Teyana.”
This year, she also earned a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Album for Escape Room. Taylor added, “When you have a creative that does it all, let them spread their wings. Never cage a creative.”
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