Mariah Carey and Tracee Ellis Ross embraced their “ish” at Tuesday nights series premiere event for ABCs “Mixed-ish” by reflecting on how their biracial identity makes working on the new show even more personal.
“Im just so thankful that this show exists,” Carey told the assembled crowd during a Q&A with series creator Kenya Barris. “To everyone thats a fan of the show and of the topic and of the fact that weve evolved to a place where we can actually enlighten people, and without going into a whole long drawn out thing, its like representation is so important.”
“I actually cried when I watched the pilot,” she shared. “Obviously the humor is all there, but how displaced they are and it just made me feel like, thats exactly how I felt. I didnt grow up in a commune, but I might as well have.”
“Mixed-ish” is the latest in creator Barris ever-expanding “ish” universe, following “Black-ish” and “Grown-ish,” and centers around a younger version of Rosss “Black-ish” character Rainbow (played in the new series by Arica Himmel). Set in the 1980s, a young Rainbow and her family is forced out of the commune where she grew up and into mainstream society where she first comes to the realization that she and her siblings are “mixed.”
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Carey — who is of Irish, black and Afro Venezuelan descent — wrote the theme song for the new series, debuting the track, titled “In The Mix,” at the exclusive “Embrace Your Ish” event, which celebrated all three shows at Goya Studios in Hollywood.
“Its great that people will now maybe have a little more of a greater understanding and sense of compassion,” Carey added, before Barris teased that the team has reached out to the iconic singer for a cameo role on the series.
“Theres a handful of us mixed people in [this shows] world that are doing things and its a beautiful union for her,” Ross told Variety on the red carpet about Careys involvement.
Ross, who executive produces and narrates the show, is the daughter of legendary singer Diana Ross (who is African American) and Robert Ellis Silberstein (who is Jewish) and highlighted the importance of telling a story she hadnt seen before.
“When I got Black-ish, it was the first time Id ever been able to play a mixed woman on television because Id been playing black women. And we didnt explore it that much, so this is a really fun opportunity,” she added.
For “Mixed-ish” star Mark-Paul Gosselaar, the experience was also personal since his father is of German and Dutch Jewish descent and his mother is Dutch and Indonesian.
“Its about time, it really is. I didnt have to deal, fortunately and unfortunately, with what a lot of my bothers andOriginal Article
