(Photo credit to Monique Dupree and COFOH)
Written by Colleen Bement, Editor
Entertaining is at the very core of Monique Dupree. “Tha True Original Gata” is referred to affectionately as The First Black Scream Queen and her talent doesn’t stop there. This actress and pro-wrestler was also the first black “Tromette” in many of Lloyd Kaufman’s Troma Entertainment films. She is recognized for her recent role as “Caliban” from Troma Entertainment’s “#Shakespeare’s Shitstorm” and has been in over 100 films and television projects. She wears many hats including publishing, promotion, photography, internet radio, fitness, production, and, of course, pro-wrestling. When meeting this horror star, fans instantly gravitate to her vibe as she is just the most genuine human. It was an absolute treat to chat with Monique, and please enjoy our interview from last month’s Colorado Festival of Horror: Slasher Hotel.
Colleen Bement: Was there a moment when you knew that you wanted to be an entertainer?
Monique Dupree: As far back as I can remember I’ve been an entertainer. I always had the mindset that I just entertained. Even in diapers. Seriously, I’d want to entertain my family at gatherings because I had a big family. I was raised by my grandmother and my great-grandmother. Everyone would come over to the house, and I would always stop in and perform. At that time, I thought I was going to sing and dance, so that’s what I did. But anything that I could do, I was trying to put together outfits even then. Even back then I would go into my grandmother’s closet and put something together. I would grab my great-grandmother’s wig, which I did not know was not allowed. I always thought it was a prop! I can’t say there was an actual age, just that this has always been me. It’s always been me. In some form or fashion, I need to entertain–showcase–something. It’s just who I am.
This weekend has been such an emotionally rough weekend for me. A year ago my younger brother passed away on the 16th, but the thing is, being here with my Denver Colorado family whom I’ve become close to has helped to elevate my emotional state to where I was. I’ve been feeling very down and they lift me up. Hosting Karaoke and being able to entertain keeps me going. Without that, I don’t where I would be, honestly.
CB: Your Karaoke was wonderful. So fun!
MD: It was the first time, and even though the room wasn’t completely full, the songs kept coming. We literally had to cut off the songs. So that’s what you want in any room, no matter how many people you have, if you can have that thing where people want to do songs, then you’re good. It was very successful.
CB: I read somewhere that you’re cool with being typecast as a “bad guy.” I love that! What is it about being a bad guy that excites you?
MD: You’re the person that people don’t like, or sometimes depending on the bad guy, they want to hate, but then they’re silently rooting for you at the same time. It just depends on what kind of bad guy. I love being a bad guy. Somebody said to be typecast like Danny Trejo, and I said I don’t mind being the female Danny Trejo because he’s working. All the time. I just love performing and being out there. There’s something about being the hell/bad guy because even in wrestling, I’m what’s considered to be the “hell.” I come out and I yell at little children which is actually the only place where that’s a good thing. In wrestling a kid can yell at you and you can yell back, and that’s considered great!
There is something about it for me. It’s also an escapism because at heart, I’m just a person who wants to make other people happy. Even if I don’t feel good, I don’t want anyone else to feel like I’m feeling, so I do my level best to be good-hearted. I feel like being the bad guy can exorcise any demons, if that makes sense. Or when the world treats me horribly, I can take it and put it into a character instead of giving it to some person who doesn’t deserve it. It’s really cleansing for me.
CB: I love that you can take the energy and turn it into that.
MD: It’s important because energy has to go somewhere. If you suppress it you essentially kill yourself faster. It’s literally like a cancer. Negative energy, when you hold onto it, it eats away at you. So I take that energy and I utilize it for the projects that I’m doing. If I don’t have a project at the time, I create these little characters on Instagram and Facebook where I’m essentially being bad. It helps to cleanse me of those things. It’s really important.
CB: Halloween is around the corner, and I’d love to know, what was the movie that scared you the most as a teenager? “The Amityville Horror” scared me!
MD: I wasn’t supposed to watch anything, just like I wasn’t supposed to listen to comedy albums that my family listened to behind closed doors, like Red Foxx. I was really young but “The Fog” scared the crap out of me. I was very young, so all I knew, was if it was a foggy day, something was going to kill me. I can’t go outside! I would say, something’s going to eat me! Christine was another one that really scared me. Oftentimes, things that have semblances of realism through it are the things that scare me the most. Christine is a car essentially possessed and comes to life, and I get in a car, all the time. You get in a car and you’re thinking, what’s going to happen? Those are the things that actually scare me. Later on “Nightmare on Elm Street” because we all go to sleep, and most of us dream, and remember our dreams. I thought that was really cutting-edge. When that movie came out I was like oh yeah, that was it! “The Fog” and “Christine” were the two things that I got to watch before I was allowed to start watching things like that.
CB: Did I read this right: You have 10 children? I can’t imagine. What was your secret to staying sane?
MD: Who said that I stayed sane? I always wanted children and my grandmother told me I was going to have 10 and I told her that she lied. I wanted a boy and a girl. The classic cookie-cutter boy and a girl and a white picket fence. But, I met this man, my husband, and I was just like, give me a baby and he said OK. A couple of months later I was pregnant. I was like I love this vibe cause I love him, and then they just kept coming. I lost my whole-ass mind for a little while. It was rough. During my second pregnancy, I went through a really, really rough time. It was the first and only time I had even been in a mental facility. They told me that she was going to be born with spinal issues and that I should abort her, and I just kind of lost it. I was in a mental hospital for five days, and I decided that I’m keeping her. I don’t care what she comes out to be like. Of course, she’s the perfect 20-something-year-old.
So somewhere along the fifth or six-ish child, we just started buying more food and passing down the clothing. I was really good at holding on to the passed-down clothing. I’m not a hoarder, but I hold onto memories like first things and so forth. We had clothes. We worked very hard just to pay the bills. It’s just something that we’ve done. My husband and I had a rough patch. We waited ‘til we had 10 kids to separate, cause our youngest is 10. We separated for a few years. We still lived together so I technically didn’t call it separated, but we tried to see other people. We really decided that–I mean–it’s just us. And now our bond is even stronger than ever. We just kind of all did it.
We homeschooled because a lot of my kids had different types of learning disabilities like severe ADHD, and Epstein Bar, so we had to teach everybody in a different way. That, at first, was very trying and I cried a lot and said I couldn’t do this when I was the one who suggested it. They wanted to put my children into special education, but I just knew that the kids that were there weren’t learning anything and I did not want that to be my children, so we pulled them out of school. It takes a village to raise a child, and our older kids helped the younger kids, and I let them learn at their own pace. I don’t rush them. We’re all individuals. I don’t like that whole cookie-cutter thinking by this age, you’re supposed to know this. Who said that you have to learn the same way as another person. I teach my kids the way that they want to learn.
CB: Switching gears, I know there’s a strike, but do you happen to have any projects in the works?
MD: I had quite a few projects in the works but I noticed that there was a total halt with it. I’ve been leaning on my burlesque more since the strike because we’re allowed to do those things. I’m excited about this project where I voice a doll and I’ve always wanted to do that. Normally when I want to do something, I put it out on Facebook. Sometimes I get a lot of bites, and sometimes I don’t get any. That’s how I get a lot of my work. I’m not looking for fame. Even though if Marvel called me tomorrow, there’s no question that I’ll do it. However, I see how fame affects them and their families, and I’m actually afraid of that. I feel that if I really got out there and hit a level of fame, that scares me because I have children. I already have stalkers and what they call haters. I have gone to dinner with my brother where everybody’s like you’re Candyman, and he doesn’t have a moment’s peace. He’s appreciative of his fans, but I’m only speaking as his sister sitting there watching that happen, and I don’t want that. I want the success of being able to be a working actor. I love being able to do burlesque and do this and do that.
CB: I wanted to ask you if you could have a superpower, what it would be, but I feel like you already have a superpower. You connect with people.
MD: I feel like I am often overlooked. As a black woman and a horror actress, I get overlooked with a lot of the scream queen stuff, and it seems like all of the cooker cutter people that kind of look the same and vibe the same, and then you have me. Oftentimes I feel like I’m overlooked. Instead of bringing me down, I don’t change who I am to try to be seen. I just continue to do what I do because I feel like the right people gravitate towards me. I learned a lot from my family members who are no longer here. I’ve learned so much from the people who are no longer here. I have my husband and I have my brother, and I have my children, but everybody that I grew up with in my household, except for my aunt, they’re all gone. They all had these important lessons that I took. I was raised old-school and I took so many of these life lessons that make me the person that I am today. I keep moving forward.
CB: That’s your superpower. You keep moving forward.
MD: I guess so. The minute that you stop, that’s an issue for you. You’re allowing the things that happen to you to actually affect you. Things are going to happen to us all of the time because it’s called life, but how you respond to it is so pivotal for your own well-being.
Stay in touch with Monique:
- Twitter @Thaoriginalgata
- Instagram: @moniquegatadupree
- Facebook: @thatrueoriginalgata
- TikTok @thatrueoriginalgata
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