Teyana Taylor is already known for juggling countless roles—singer, dancer, choreographer, actor, director—but she casually added another title during a candid conversation with Oscar Isaac: aspiring chef.
While chatting about her collaboration with Paul Thomas Anderson on One Battle After Another for Variety, Taylor shared that she’s currently in culinary school, diving into cooking with the same passion she brings to all her creative work.
The revelation slipped out almost casually, but it immediately grabbed Isaac’s attention.
“I’m also in culinary school to become a chef,” Taylor said, sparking an instant reaction.
“Culinary school as well—how do you have time?” Isaac asked.
Taylor explained that cooking isn’t just another venture for her—it’s grounding. She said the kitchen gives her rare pockets of peace in the middle of her hectic life. “It’s actually the thing that gives me a few [moments] to just be quiet and cook,” she shared, calling food its own form of art.
That patience and process, she added, has shifted the way she thinks creatively. Sometimes, as she put it, “you’ve got to let sit for three hours before you can cook it.”
Of course, culinary school isn’t just about chopping and sautéing. Taylor admitted she was caught off guard by the academic load, especially the business classes.
“When I signed up and realized I had business classes and all other types of shit, I was like, ‘Oh, s**t, baby,’” she joked. Still, she powered through—doing assignments on her iPad while jetting off to film premieres.
The conversation also drifted into Taylor’s acting process, including how she layers emotion into her roles. She talked about picturing feelings as colors, which helps her switch emotional gears quickly within a scene.
It’s a method that blends her dancer’s instincts with her natural performance style. “I’m an over-communicator,” she said. “If we talk about what a scene feels like, I just do it.”
Isaac applauded that fluidity, pointing out how her physical awareness brings weight to her performances.
