With a groundbreaking role in Grease: Live as the latest addition to an ever-growing resume, Keke Palmer is striking all the right notes.
It’s hard to meet Keke Palmer without imagining her shrieking in horror a now-familiar image of the actress, who played Zayday Williams in last year’s hit dark-comedy series Scream Queens. However, as the 22-year-old poses while draped across a row of chairs in New York City’s Beauty Bar, there are no fearful exclamations; instead, she has a smart suggestion for the photographer. “You know what would look really good?” says Palmer, a hint of Midwestern twang creeping through the Illinois native’s accent. “If we put my hair in pin curls.” Sure enough, when she returns minutes later with hair clips intertwined in her pixie cut, “really good” is a major understatement.
Palmer’s eye for detail has undoubtedly benefited her career, which was jumpstarted in 2004 by a supporting role in Barbershop 2. At age 11, she demonstrated her budding directorial talents as the lead in Akeelah and the Bee. “It’s actually a funny story,” she says, post-photo shoot. “We were on set and my director, Doug Atchison, was trying to tell me to do something, but I felt like he wanted me to overact. I was like, ‘Doug, I’m trying to win an Oscar here.’” She punctuates the memory with the infectious laugh that proves to be her trademark throughout our conversation.
This story is from the February 2016 edition of NYLON.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the February 2016 edition of NYLON.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Girl Power
as the new pink ranger, naomi scott is ready to destroy expectations.
Broadened Horizons
As Broad City’s Abbi And Ilana Venture Into Unfamiliar Territory—Like Politics, And The State Of Florida—Their IRL Selves Are Experiencing Their Own Evolution. .
Jean Queen
Dani Stahl visits levi’s custom tailor shop in brooklyn.
Sahra Vang Nguyen
Sahra Vang Nguyen from serving up authentic eats to filming eye-opening documentaries, this polymath is making her message heard.
Born Ready
Nothing could’ve prepared kelsey asbille for the challenge of her crucial role in the chilling thriller wind river, but that didn’t stop her from facing it head on.
Rising Tide
Harris Dickinson came out of nowhere to deliver a haunting debut performance in beach rats. he’s about to be everywhere.
The Honest Truth
Songwriter and hitmaker Julia Michaels is embarking on her solo singing career, and making sincerity the next big thing in pop.
Kylea Borges Her 1964 Ford Ranchero
“I didn’t plan any scenic journey,” concedes Kylea Borges when I find her and her white ’64 Ford Ranchero, Mona, posted up in a parking lot in Oakland, California.
Arrow De Wilde
This teenage rock frontwoman can writhe onstage in a strait jacket and spit fake blood with the best of them.
Amina Mucciolo
This l.a. creative’s apartment shows her true colors.