In the early 2000s, then-teenaged actress and singer Joaquina Kalukango saw Jennifer Lopez cover Gloria Gaynor’s 1978 disco classic “I Will Survive” in the 1997 film “Selena.” Studying Lopez’s performance, the Atlanta native realized actors could portray musical legends whose memorable songs are synonymous with their characters and personal struggles.
Two decades after that realization, Kalukango was cast as Gaynor in “I Will Survive: The Gloria Gaynor Story,” a made-for-TV biopic premiering Saturday on Lifetime.
The two-hour drama, featuring live vocals by Kalukango, takes the empowerment anthem’s lyrics and applies them to Gaynor’s struggles to overcome obstacles in the music business, her love life, her faith and health. Kalukango, also one of the film’s co-executive producers, told UATL having the blessing of the “Queen of Disco” encouraged her to exercise her creative latitude.
“She picked everybody in this movie, and I had strong opinions about costumes, hair and the script I wanted to express,” she said.
“We know artists so much for the music, but we never know the story, challenges and struggles behind it. I want to peel back the layers behind who this woman is, everything she’s endured and how she continues to rise above it.”
Credit: Lifetime
Credit: Lifetime
Raised in the West End by parents who immigrated from Angola in 1983, Kalukango’s passion for musical theater began when she was an eighth grader at Paul D. West Middle School in East Point.
Performing Monica’s “For You I Will” at her school’s talent show, her guidance counselor convinced her to audition for the visual and performing arts magnet program at Tri-Cities High School. The predominately Black high school in East Point has a storied performing arts program that produced such talented alumni as OutKast, R&B quartet Xscape and “Saturday Night Live” cast member Kenan Thompson.
Kalukango said being exposed to various playwrights and dramatic works in her Tri-Cities classes, from August Wilson to Shakespeare, helped her develop into a versatile performer.
“I owe everything to my teachers because they taught us focus, drive and instilled so much confidence in us. We were so empowered, loved and nourished, it made us take pride in our art and craft.”
After graduating from Tri-Cities, Kalukango enrolled into the rigorous Juilliard School, where she gained confidence working with professionals and trying out for casting directors.
“We were introduced to these people early on, so they knew us. It was comfortable to audition and see my wildest dreams coming true as an Atlanta girl on the New York stage,” she said.
It wasn’t long before Kalukango started regularly appearing in Broadway productions like “The Color Purple,” “Godspell” and “Into the Woods.” She was nominated for her first Tony Award for “Slave Play” in 2020.
She still remembers training at Julliard with classmates who would go on to achieve success, such as Oscar-nomined actress Danielle Brooks and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Katori Hall.
“We’ve all seen each other in the trenches, barely able to afford anything in crazy, rat-infested apartments just trying to make it in New York City and now we’re doing exactly what we all set out to do,” she said.
Credit: Matthew Murphy
Credit: Matthew Murphy
In 2022, Kalukango earned a Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical in “Paradise Square,” a play about conflicts between Irish and Black communities in New York City during the Civil War. Her dynamic performance of one of the show’s big numbers, “Let It Burn,” got her a standing ovation at the 75th Tonys ceremony.
Kalukango said learning to accept the accolades and acknowledgment from theater veterans has been a process.
“I’m still in shock, because I’ve always considered myself an actress first. Leading a musical is terrifying. I felt like a fraud in that world, but we got so much love after that performance,” she said.
Kenny Leon, who directed Kalukango in “Holler If Ya Hear Me” on Broadway in 2014 and in the 2021 biopic “Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia,” gave the performer her first professional acting job with True Colors Theatre Company in Atlanta in 2004. He said he appreciates her charisma and professionalism.
“Joaquina is indeed one of the best actors to ever do the thang … always grounded in truth in a raw and real way. Having witnessed her artistry since she was a teen, she’s the light that shows up in every project — no matter what it is,” Leon said.
Following her turn as Gloria Gaynor, Kalukango is currently working on a film about the Fisk Jubilee Singers, while delivering vocal concert performances of pop, country and disco songs. She also plans to record an album later this year.
Kalukango is proud her hometown continues to be a hotbed for entertainment. She hopes to see more young Black girls in Atlanta giving a career in musical theater a chance.
“Atlanta has always been a mecca of incredibly talented, fly people, and I’m so proud we’re getting our due. We’re opening it up, and I can’t wait to see what else comes out of it because we need more,” she said.
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