Aunjanua Ellis-Taylor’s recent name change was a nod to her late mother.
The Oscar-nominated actress, 54, explained her decision to add “Taylor” to her professional name – nearly three decades after she began acting – in a recent interview with Diversity.
“The love of my life, my mother, gave me my dad’s name. I said, ‘Wait a minute, ma’am, I want your name,'” she told the newspaper.
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After a moment of thought, Purple the actress decided to do something about it.
“Last birthday I said: ‘What am I doing? I want to carry it with me every day,’ she said Diversity. “So how do I do that without having to do it on a conscious level? That’s my name.”
So, she’s changed the professional moniker she’s used while racking up acting credits for decades — not to mention two Emmy nominations (The Land of Lovecraft, When they see us) and an Oscar nomination for her performance in 2022 King Richard.
For PurpleAva DuVernay‘with Origin and all other future projects, the actress will be credited as Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor.
Aujanue Ellis-Taylor.
Dia Dipasupil/WireImage
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This isn’t the first time Ellis-Taylor has used her career to pay tribute to her late mother.
At the 94th Academy Awards — where she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Serena and Venus Williams’ mother, Oracene “Brandy” Williams — the actress’ dress included a special tribute to her mother.
Ellis-Taylor hit the red carpet at the 2022 awards in an orange Donatella Versace gown, with a special embroidered message on the left shoulder of the dress: the words “Jax Baby.”
Explaining Laverne Cox’s sweet nod to Live on E!: The Oscars, Ellis-Taylor said her mom’s “name is Jacqueline and I’m Jax’s baby,” adding, “My nephew’s name is Jax, too.”
“Donatella Versace fulfilled my wish and made it come true,” she added.
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Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor at the 2022 Oscars Jordan Strauss/AP/Shutterstock Will Smith surprises ‘King Richard’ costar Aunjanue Ellis at the Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards
Ahead of the 2022 Academy Awards — where Ariana DeBose took home Best Supporting Actress for story from the west side — Ellis-Taylor spoke with PEOPLE about her role in the King Richard and what she learned from her on-screen husband Will Smith.
She said Smith, 55, who played the Williams sisters’ father, Richard Williams, showed an impressive “level of commitment” in the role, which won him an Oscar for best actor.
“It’s very holistic with him, you know, who he is on camera with Richard Williams and how much he loved those girls, he loved those girls so much when we weren’t filming,” she recalled to PEOPLE. “They fell in love with it because it’s easy to do. It was great.”
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She continued, “The thing that surprised me the most about him was the first day I went to rehearsal with him, he had post-it notes for every scene in the whole movie. I just thought, ‘He doesn’t have to do that.'”
“It just shows his level of commitment even at this stage in his career,” she added. “I was so impressed by that.”
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Source: HIS Education