NEED TO KNOW
Keke Palmer has had a storied career for a 31-year-old. But if you ask her, she’s just getting started.
Palmer has been acting for the better half of her life, following her breakout role in 2006’s Akeelah and the Bee. True Jackson, VP — the Nickelodeon show in which she played the titular character — then skyrocketed her to fame.
Palmer tells PEOPLE she remembers being the “hottest thing in town,” booking roles and getting record deals, but there was a later time when even she wasn’t sure what was next for her.
“That was kind of, like, the peak,” she says. “Then I was no longer a child star, and I had to reexamine what kind of artist I wanted to be.”
“I found my voice in reinvention through social media and content creation, and ultimately becoming a producer and taking my traditional roots into something that allowed me to have a little bit more control,” adds the actress, who stars as a criminal on a mission to avenge her family in Prime Video’s The Pickup, alongside Pete Davidson and Eddie Murphy.
Peter ‘Hopper’ Stone/Nickelodeon/Everett
Recalling when social media became such a big part of her career — and identity — Palmer says there is a pivotal moment that stands out: a video from a 2019 Vanity Fair lie detector test.
“I don’t know who this man is. Sorry to this man,” Palmer said in the clip, after she was presented with a photo of former Vice President Dick Cheney.
“That’s when we’ve seen this era where I’ve become a meme,” Palmer jokes. “And [2022’s Jordan Peele movie] Nope, and just all these things that I couldn’t have predicted.”
She continues, “I was just following my heart and my creativity. And I think having the second wave of what that is, knowing what it’s like to go through the ebbs and flows of this industry and knowing that none of the excitement always lasts forever.”
Courtesy Amazon MGM Studios
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Like her character Zoe in The Pickup, who learns how to engage in combat and use a gun all to avenge her father’s death, Palmer had her eyes set on Hollywood from a young age with her own parents in mind, because their dreams to be performers were “deferred” while they lived in a small Illinois town.
At one point in the film, Davidson’s character Travis teases Palmer’s Zoe, pointing out that she learned all her skills just for one heist. In real life, Palmer says she felt the same way after being a jack of all trades for a specific reason.
“If we take out the words that he said, and we put ‘You learned how to sing, dance, act and be an all-around performer just to avenge your family’s dreams?’ It’s like, ‘Yes, motherf——, I did,’ ” the One of Them Days actress tells PEOPLE.
Now, Palmer is determined to keep that legacy going — not just for herself, but also for the next generation of aspiring stars like her.
“I just want to make sure that I’m creating something that other people can stand on,” she says. “For me, it’s at the point where it’s not just about making Keke Palmer the talent, but it’s about what I’ve learned as Keke Palmer the talent, and how I can create a foundation of something that makes it easier for the next generation.”
The Pickup is now available to stream on Prime Video.
