Photo: Zaafira. Hair:Afrotique. Makeup: Regina McCoy

“I would love to be a powerful Obeah woman in a high budget studio film. I want the character to highlight Bahamian legends and our culture. I also just love the concept of playing a character that embodies who I imagine my true self to be: a spiritual healer/oracle super villain with superpowers,” says Leah.

Leah Eneas is a Bahamian actress and performer who became enrolled in dance classes at age nine and began performing with The Bahamas Dance Theatre under Shirley Hall Bass at the age of ten. Leah who is also a professional singer remembers her time singing  with Black Cotton, a Jazz band in Nashville in her Freshman year of college.

“I was eighteen. I also got to record background vocals on a Country Music album that year (David Olney: The Wheel).”

Leah credits her current profession as an actor to ‘divine intervention’.

“I was going off to college with no idea of what I wanted to major in so I decided to study the Social Sciences, but something occurred on the way to Fisk University. I’d like to say that fate intervened. 

My father was escorting me to Nashville, Tennessee when our flight was delayed in Miami overnight. This resulted in all of my Science classes being closed by the time I got to school. I was told to simply get my elective courses out of the way. I had been dancing my whole life so I chose a dance class, a painting class, and an acting class because it was the only thing I had never actually been trained in.”

Leah who just recently teamed up Leshan Ferguson to co-host Real Love a radio talk show on Guardian 96.9 FM, sat down with Story-book Entertainment to answer a few questions.

Leah’s Interview

Story-book Entertainment (SBe): What has been you most memorable experience to date? 

Leah Eneas (Leah E): My most memorable experience was being cast in my first American feature film, “Beneath the Blue” directed by Michael Sellers produced by Susan Johnson. 

I was the only Bahamian with a main speaking role. That movie took me to Los Angeles to shoot in Universal Studios with seasoned actors on a real Hollywood set. I went to film festivals and walked red carpets and did so many interviews. That movie confirmed that I had what it took to be an international actress. 

SBe: Memorable role?

Leah E: My most memorable role was me playing the first Bahamian Gargoyle named, Gen in the short film, “Growing Up Gen” written and directed by Tara Woodside. I got to play a teenaged gargoyle that is actually hundreds of years old and she finds out that her father is an evil warlock.

Poster from “Growing Up Gen” film

Leah Eneas & Leshan Ferguson  (Real Love radio show)

I hope to continue to play

this character as it expands. The special effects makeup was done by Emerald Sands. I enjoyed working with those talented Bahamian women. 

SBe: What are some of the challenges working as an actor in the Bahamas?

Leah E: Acting is a challenge no matter where you are in the world. At the moment, there needs to be more funding going into productions and paying Bahamian actors. There has been so much growth in the Bahamian film industry, so I am confident that we will get to that point soon. Other challenges, for me, are about the frequency of the work I am offered. I am honestly lucky so I generally don’t have much to complain about.

SBe: Who are your role models?

Leah E: My Bahamian role models were always Viveca Watkins, Greg Lampkin, and Claudette “Cookie” Allens. I admire so many more people but to name a few, I would say, Bette Midler, Jenifer Lewis, Vanity, Halle Bailey, Whoopi Goldberg, Wendy Williams, Jordan Peele, Marsai Martin, Spike Lee, Quentin Tarantino among others.

SBe: If you had the choice to work with any two people in the business who would they be?

Leah E: Jordan Peele, and Bette Midler.

I would also LOVE to play characters from Octavia E. Butler, and Leslie Esdaile Banks books. They are two wonderful authors I have read over the years.

SBe: Where do you envision yourself in 5 years?

Leah E: I see myself happy.

I see myself writing and directing my own projects on a professional level.

SBe: Tell us something about Leah, that most people don’t know.

Leah E: I hate peanut butter but I eat peanuts. 

– I want to own a legal brothel somewhere in the world so that sex workers can work safely and get legit pay.

– I have toyed with the idea of doing stand-up comedy.

To Follow Leah:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ActressLeahE/

Instagram: @LeahTheLateBloomer

YouTube: Leah Eneas

Twitter: @EneasLeah