The Christian actress, and "Unplanned" star, will play a lead role in a faith-based movie about human trafficking.
After a nearly 15-year hiatus, Robia Scott burst back onto the acting scene in last year's hit pro-life movie Unplanned, turning in a truly arresting performance as arch villain Cheryl, the boss from money-grubbing abortion giant Planned Parenthood. She was so good in that role at being bad, that it seems almost hard to believe she is a Christian who would have left Hollywood back in the aughts to go into full-time ministry.
But we're getting ahead of ourselves. First to her next movie, which is called Pulled from Darkness, and - after a few coronavirus-related delays - should start filming later this year. It is based on a true story of a woman who was taken away from her children and sold into human trafficking and prostitution by her own husband to cover gambling debts.
Horrific, to be sure, but the victim was eventually freed, reunited with her family and came to Christ, so it has an uplifting and hope-inspiring resolution. Scott, who plays a lawyer who helps her, feels strongly about the issue of human trafficking and believes she is being called to expose it for the evil that it is.
"This topic is something that the Lord is really wanting to reveal and just bring light to, and get the masses onboard with understanding just how extreme this situation is."
Scott says it is a similar feeling to the one she had about the pro-life cause that helped convince her to go back into acting for that part in Unplanned. She adds that it's been interesting "to see how God's brought (her) back into the movie business."
People had mentioned the possibility to her over the years, but it started in earnest with a seemingly chance meeting with a Christian producer. That producer then introduced Scott to the writer/director team behind Unplanned - Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon - and they eventually offered her the role. After much prayer, she accepted and is absolutely sure many lives of unborn babies were saved because of the movie and that the Lord's hand guided the whole process.
"God just orchestrated the events that brought me back into Unplanned. I mean, only God. You know, there's thousands of actresses trying to get a part. And I hadn't had an agent. I'd been completely removed from acting and He just plucked me out and put me in this movie."
Scott's path into the entertainment business started as a teenager after she was inspired by that 1980's classic Flashdance and decided to take up dance. She was so good that she eventually landed a spot as one of the primary dancers for pop musician Prince's Diamonds and Pearls album and concert tour in 1991.
The New York native was "Pearl" and traveled the globe touring with the late Grammy-winner. She was able to then parlay that experience into acting, landing parts in 1990's hit TV shows like Beverly Hills, 90210 and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Scott became a Christian at about that time and less than a decade later hung up her acting spurs, so to speak, because she felt God calling her to use her gifts for Him. So she went into Christian ministry, visiting churches and engaging in public speaking. And in 2016, drawing on personal experience, she authored a book called Counterfeit Comforts that focuses on how to break away from things like overeating, anxiety, depression, et cetera, so that one can "experience the freedom that is available to us in Christ," as the book's Amazon page puts it.
And while Scott has no intention of leaving ministry, she does believe God is now directing her to use her gifts in the entertainment industry for His Glory. And we should get to see her acting range in Pulled from Darkness, because that lawyer she will play is a "good guy," as she puts it, which is the antithesis of her Unplanned character.
Provided filming begins this fall as scheduled, the movie should release next year, and Christian Film Blog will keep you posted on developments. In the meantime, if you'd like to learn more about Robia Scott's ministry, you can do so via this link to her website.