Looking calm and assured, Dr. Tommie “Toneo” Stewart settles into a chair in her office in Tullibody Hall at Alabama State University. Posters and awards line the walls in her office, where she has worked as director of theater for the last six years.
On this particular morning, however, she is not Stewart the director but Tonea the actress, fielding telephone calls from her agent and publicist and juggling interviews. All this after her appearance in A Time to Kill, the new movie based on the John Grisham novel of the same name.
Stewart is not new to acting or to the attention that comes with success in the business. Her credits include two television movies, four television series, ten equity theater performances, two touring company performances, 16 years of touring her one-woman “informance” show, and now films. Until now, however, her work — most recently in Matlock, In the Heat of the Night, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Livin’ Large — has always taken a back seat to her primary roles as teacher, wife and mother to three children, ages 16, 21 and 24.
But this movie has propelled her into a new level of attention. “Having the opportunity to be a part of A Time to Kill was a chance in a lifetime for me,” says Stewart. “It is the most meaningful role I’ve played on the giant screen.”
