C.J. Perry says “I don’t want to be equal to men– I want to have the opportunity.”
The WWE star and actress playing opposite Bruce Willis in the upcoming film “Cosmic Sin” has plenty to share about her career. She knows that women have shattered so many glass ceilings when it comes to seeking the same opportunities that men have in wrestling, and has been a big part of that. Not only is she a favorite in the WWE, but she also is an actress and producer with roles in the “Pitch Perfect” films, “Ride Along,” “Another Version of You,” and more. Never sitting still, she is busy with her YouTube Channel and will soon be able to share about her comic series! Get to know C.J. and find out what life was like filming “Cosmic Sin.”
Colleen Bement: Congratulations on your role in “Cosmic Sin.” This movie is right up the alley of our readers, and I cannot wait to see it. My first question is, what was it like on set? Were the scenes physically demanding?
C.J. Perry: It was such a whirlwind. I got the script and our mission and where we were shooting. Then about a week and a half later the whole COVID thing start happening. It was going to be shot pretty quick, but we had to move it to super, super quick. Trying to wrap the master film part of it all was like two and a half weeks when at the same time not know about this virus. We were able to shoot it all really quickly and finish it literally on the last day before everything in Hollywood got shut down across the country. We were very, very fortunate that we were able to do that. That was very exciting but also nerve-wracking because we had basically one to two takes at the most to get it done.
Yes, of course, it was demanding. I had a really big gun that I had to learn how to maneuver. This bazooka that was bigger than me, but it’s just like filming outside. We were in Atlanta where you always have weather conditions–rain, snow, working through all of that kind of stuff. But that just comes with the territory of filming.
CB: Yeah, Georgia definitely has some crazy weather this time of year.
CJ: It was literally this time last year, I think March 13th.
CB: Tell us about your character of Sol Cantos?
CJ: Soul was originally written for a man, so it was really cool to be able to play a role that was written for a man. He was super badass and snarky, and overly cocky, but a really, really good sniper–the best sniper in the galaxy. That’s where his cockiness came from. It was cool to have been able to change that role for a female because I feel like a lot of those roles are given to men. It was cool to be able to dive into a role and be the best sniper in the galaxy. I don’t think I’ve played that type of role in a movie or television, my character has often been confident and a villain, but she was not a villain.
She was on the good side, but she was very cocky and very ruthless. When you’re a warrior and you’re a sniper and that’s all you do is go out there and fight for your race and your survival, there’s an element of a little bit of ruthlessness about her. She’s a little hard around the edges. She is really tough, but that’s because of the things that she has seen. She doesn’t have time to cry. We have to go–we’ve gotta keep going, we don’t have time to cry. We have to keep moving, and that’s the type of character that she is. It’s very different from any other character that I’ve played before, but I enjoy the sniper roles.
CB: I love it. That’s empowering for women.
CJ: It was really, really cool to see them take this type of character into a woman. I was really happy about that.
CB: What was your audition like?
CJ: They had the script and I read it. Pretty standard, and then they called me to talk to me about it, and they wanted to see if I would wear braids for the role and have super long hair. I went to the Bahamas and they put these braids in and they loved it and they thought it looked really badass, and I was really excited about that. I actually enjoy when I am a character on television or a movie is to change a little bit of my outer look. Change something about the hair because it helps me dive into it a little bit–I became it a little bit.
CB: Fun!
CJ: The director was really cool because they wanted the braids and we started collaborating with different ideas, and we added a little bit of yellow in it. We just felt that she was edgy. She’s a little bit more rough around the edges, so I didn’t want her to be overly polished. No nails done, not like I’d be on my every day.
CB: In addition to your wrestling and acting careers, do you have any other side projects?
CJ: I feel like I am always working on something. I am right now working on my YouTube channel. That takes up a lot of time as well. I’ve been talking with my brother about some feature films that I want to produce, that’s kind of in the works. I have a comic book coming out?
CB: Exciting! Are you allowed to share anything about the comic book, or is it too hush-hush?
CJ: It’s four issues, and it’s still hush-hush. Follow me on social media to find out about all of those announcements.
CB: I have a couple of questions for you from my readers:
   1.) What do you think of your current push in WWE?
   CJ: That’s such a wrestling question. I don’t even know how to answer that question because I don’t know how to even answer that question because I don’t look at things as pushes and not pushes. I just take every opportunity I’m given. If it’s a strong opportunity of having a wrestling match on Facebook for a mix-matched challenge or fighting for my life against Nia Jax, my arch nemesis. I just think a lot is what we make of it. In WWE they give some people high profile stuff, but I also think it’s those times you’re given those 3 minutes matches. What are you going to do with those three minutes? How are you going to use your platforms for the rest of the week? I take everything that I’m given and put promos out on social media, and try to do whatever it takes for that story to hopefully get more opportunities. I believe a lot of times we have to create our own opportunity, and that’s why I am at where I’m at.
   2.) How do you feel the changes in the visibility of women’s wrestling have affected your career?
   CJ: It’s so awesome, I saw yesterday a Facebook post that I put in 2015 talking about how thankful for the men that have fought for giving women opportunities because we can’t do it without you. Seeing that change in the last six years is absolutely phenomenal because women have been fighting for more rights and more opportunities for centuries. It’s taken men who have decided to stand up and say hey, we need to give you these opportunities as well that helped change the world, and helped change society. I’m so thankful. In 2015 I was with The Rusev and we were righting John Cena, and I remember looking at the women’s matches, and they were having 2-minute matches, and they weren’t given mic time. They weren’t given the same opportunity. I remember just praying and trying to manifest all this to stop, and it’s really, really cool to see how many opportunities we’ve been given as women.
We’ve shattered so many glass ceilings. So many things I was told in 2014 and 2015 that we would never be able to do–we have done. I think the sky’s the limit, and I have always said that I don’t want to be equal to men– I want to have the opportunity. Like that famous quote “women that seek the equals of men laugh at this shit.” It’s a lot deeper of a conversation to go into all human beings need opportunity. It doesn’t matter what sexual orientation you are, what gender you are, what race or culture, religion you are, I believe that we just need more diverse representation and more opportunity.
CB: That’s powerful. Things have changed but we have a long way to go, and it’s thanks to people like you because you’re fighting for that. You’re really making a difference in any career–especially in show business.
CJ: Thank you. We’ve made some great changes in the world, and we just have to keep on fighting for opportunity for underdogs for women and people of color. And sometimes sexual orientation, ya know. More inclusion as a whole.
CB: What is it like for you to prepare for an acting role versus a wrestling appearance?
CJ: I think that there are a lot more similarities than a lot of people realize. I think that preparing for a role on scripted television or a movie, and at the WWE at having to do a lot of (preparation). I’ve journaled for my character, I create and really make that character come to life. I think that’s what’s really, really important. I think that wrestling, there’s so much mental preparation that goes in…and physical preparation. If you’re going out for an action movie, I would say you’re going to have a lot of similarities. You have to have your body look a certain type, you have to be in condition.
Acting’s hard. Acting’s hard as a whole, but especially where you’re in those roles in an action-thriller, you still have to go out and do a lot of that stuff. That takes time. Eating right. Working out. Getting ready to do all of this stuff, so there’s a lot of hours and hours of preparation that go into this.
With wrestling, I have to create my own gear. I work with designers to create my own gear. It’s a television show. I don’t think people realize that at the end of the day, it is a scripted television show, and we are characters, and we have a director and we’re in his sandbox. We create the characters and the stories that he envisions, and we do it to the best of our abilities. That’s how I approach all of it, and I really enjoy that aspect of it. It’s like playing make-believe for a living.
Stay up to date with C.J. on her socials.
Be sure to catch the trailer for “Cosmic Sin.”
https://youtu.be/MNxsB6o6DJs
Written by Colleen Bement
Evan Conroy
Ron Peterson