Yaya DaCosta on Her CHICAGO MED Exit, Reuniting with Her ALL MY CHILDREN Mom for Fox’s OUR KIND OF PEOPLE

When fans learned that Yaya DaCosta was exiting CHICAGO MED at the end of last season, they got a bit of a silver lining: she had joined the new Fox drama OUR KIND OF PEOPLE as the lead.

For DaCosta, “my exit from CHICAGO MED and the arrival of this show, all happened really simultaneously,” she told reporters during OUR KIND OF PEOPLE’s virtual Television Critics Association panel. “There was a window of opening and a question mark of whether I would stay or go [on MED]. And in that window, offers were coming in, and I fell in love with OUR KIND OF PEOPLE, fell in love with [series creator] Karin Gist, and of course, jumped at the opportunity to work with [executive producer] Lee Daniels again.”

“Karin wanted her, I wanted her, Tasha Smith, our director, really wanted her,” Daniels, who previously worked with DaCosta on THE BUTLER, added. “We prayed that she could do it, because she did have many other offers. Karin and I are just excited about working with her again.”

DaCosta—who plays Angela Vaughn, a single mother who is trying to find success with her Black haircare line, while trying to get answers about her mysterious family history—is equally as enthused. “This show is a dream in so many ways,” she said. “It’s so saucy, it’s so much fun. And there’s so much about my character that I felt was really important to bring to the forefront of our discussions…we’re playing with these serious themes, but we’re making them so fun and exciting.”

The show also marks a reunion for DaCosta with Debbi Morgan, who previously worked together on ALL MY CHILDREN.

“I played Debbi Morgan’s daughter [on the soap],” DaCosta noted. “And it’s such an honor to be working with her again, in such a different capacity, [though this time] not her daughter, [but] as niece and auntie who are really more like sisters.”

Watch a new preview for OUR KIND OF PEOPLE, which also stars Morris Chestnut, Joe Morton, Nadine Ellis, Lance Gross, Rhyon Nicole Brown, Kyle Barry, and Alana Bright…

OUR KIND OF PEOPLE, Series Premiere, Tuesday, September 21, 9/8c, Fox

RELATED:

• CHICAGO MED Season 6 Finale: How Did the Show Write Out April and Natalie?
• Fox Orders OUR KIND OF PEOPLE to Series
• CHICAGO MED Bosses Tease Ethan’s Medical Crisis, Will and Natalie’s Lies Being Exposed in the Season 6 Finale
• CHICAGO MED: Yaya DaCosta and Torrey DeVitto Set Exit

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