Normally, becoming a deceitful drug addict or a blackmailing, gold-digging vixen isn’t the highlight of anyone’s resume, but for model-turned actress Tika Sumpter, the roles are the culmination of a lifelong dream.

The Queens native, who made her acting debut in 2005 as Layla Williamson in ABC’s One Life To Live, has found success by embracing a variety of roles in various shows and films (The Game, Gossip Girl, Sparkle and the upcoming James Brown biopic, Get On Up). She’s now playing the scandalous Candace Young on Tyler Perry’s OWN series The Haves and The Have Nots.

With the new season kicking off on Tuesday, The 33-year-old Sumpter was happy to dish by phone about the conniving Candace; working with Kevin Hart and Ice Cube in the film Ride Along, out Jan. 17; and why she enjoys being an inspiration to her youngest fans.

That Candace Young is downright despicable at times, what’s it like to portray such a polarizing character?

“People come up to me and say, ‘I love you, but I don’t like you sometimes because that Candace is a mess!’ My character always puts everyone on edge and she when she walks into the room, you know something is going to happen. Candice brings out pieces of people that they don’t know will come out, and I love that.

She’s definitely diabolical and strategic, and she’s a smart person. With this new season, you’ll see more of her struggle and her background, and everyone in the show stepped it up to the next level to make the story fuller. I’m interested to see what viewers will think.”

Your first brush with comedy was in last year’s A Madea Christmas, did that experience make it easy to transition into Ice Cube’s Ride Along?

“Making that movie was so much fun, it felt like we were creating the new Beverly Hills Cop I had the straight-laced role playing the mediator between Ice Cube and Kevin Hart, and I got to laugh a lot while doing it. Kevin is just on fire and Ice Cube has transitioned from being a rapper into being the family man and movie mogul. He’s a sweetheart and I hope people go out to see it: there’s obviously the story about love and all of that, but it’s also really funny and about learning to accept others.”

Acting is a notoriously difficult field to break into, especially for women of color. How do you handle that particular challenge?

“I don’t see it [my blackness] as a burden at all. Are there more roles for white actresses? Yes, but that doesn’t mean I can’t get those roles because I always think I can change somebody’s mind. Like my part [as Raina Thorpe] in Gossip Girl. I don’t know if that part was written originally for a black woman, but I walked in like, ‘I’m beautiful, I have these skills and I’m going to show it,’ and I got the role.
There as just as many pretty brown girls as there are any other color girls and I don’t walk in [auditions] saying, “Geez, I’m brown,’ I just walk in with confidence.”

How do you feel about becoming a role model for a new generation of fans and actresses?

“I have all kinds of fans and I love it: little brown girls come up to me all the time saying ‘We love you. You’re beautiful and I see myself as beautiful now.” If I can help one person change for the better by encouraging them and helping them to realize their own potential, then I’m grateful.”