Triple-Threat Entertainer Tamela D’Amico Discusses Her Jazz Career & Her New Film ‘One Little Finger,’ & The Importance of Seeing Children’s Abilities

(Last Updated On: February 14, 2021)

Tamela D’Amico is a triple-threat entertainer and has been doing it all for years. Initially, she was well-known in Hollywood for being a jazz recording artist.  She also sings the theme song, “Love and the Gun,” in both English and Italian for the film, Rob the Mob. Tamela is best known for her role on Disney’s Best Friends Whenever and Amazon’s Englishman in L.A. Currently, she is starring in the Indian-American film One Little Finger, releasing on Amazon and Apple worldwide on November 16th (also International Day of Tolerance). She plays ‘Raina,’ an American neurologist researching music therapy in India. The film employed more than 80 people with disabilities, many of those being student musicians, and the title track “One Little Finger” is currently being considered for a Grammy. The purpose of the film is to educate people about the abilities of those with disabilities, and all money earned is going straight into the One Little Finger Foundation. We chatted with Tamela about her singing and acting journey, the inspiration of the film, and the importance of focusing on these children’s abilities. 

Hi Tamela. You’re talented in so many different areas. How did you get started? Did acting or singing come first?

It kind of relatively all came together.  Professionally, in Hollywood, I think people know me as a singer first since that journey took off first. I had a deep love for acting and singing and the entertainment industry in general at a young age. I was an odd little kid. Instead of watching Sesame Street, I was watching the Judy Garland Show, I Love Lucy and classic movies. I fell in love with Hollywood. Back in that time, you had to be a triple-threat. I thought I had to be good at all these things to succeed. It started there, and my love of storytelling led me to go to film school at FSU. After that, I started working with some of the biggest producers that I had admired and continued my studies at the Strasberg Institute. Creating some stuff on my own led me to start my own production company which afforded me the opportunity to have my own record label and create my own TV and film productions. Along the way, I’ve had the most wonderful mentors and I’m super grateful that I had the right people championing me along the way.

How did your music evolve over time? What were some of your favorites to sing and perform?

Over time, I watched a lot of old movies. I was sort of a reincarnated young soul, anyway. I know many of these American jazz standards. As I was watching them, I knew it was something that was innately in me. I knew I had a voice but I was very shy as a child. I didn’t speak much until I was 9 or 10 years old. When I got to high school and there were opportunities to perform, I was very shy about it.  I wouldn’t invite my family, and my mom soon caught on.  She’d show up to these performances and cheer me on, which was sweet.

When I got to LA, I started taking it more seriously and launched my career. When you get to LA, it’s important to link up with the people you know. I’m a networker so I reached out to groups of people I wanted to be associated with and got involved.

 I didn’t start professionally in Jazz. I started in pop music and R & B. I realized quickly that I didn’t want to be singing that for the rest of my life. It may work now but as I get older, it wouldn’t be fun.  When you get to be older, those one-hit wonders don’t really track. I asked myself what I really love. I really love jazz. I really need to make that my “home,” because that’s my heart.

 I started singing around town, got noticed, and started a girl group called the Cosmopolitans and we started singing. We got discovered outside Capital Records at a Jimmy Kimmel function for the Feast of San Gennaro, an Italian festival in September. I came off stage and everyone was handing me their card. That led to doing a demo at Capital Records. All the girls are truly successful and talented. They went to different music paths and I stayed in jazz. After that, I won some jazz festivals and competitions. Then, I raised some money to record my 1st album, which then got picked up and distributed everywhere, as well as all my music that came after that.

Over time, I watched a lot of old movies. I was sort of a reincarnated soul young anyway. I know many of these American jazz standards. As I was watching them, I knew it was something that was innately in me. I knew I had a voice but I was very shy as a child. I didn’t speak much until I was 9 or 10 years old. When I got to high school and there were opportunities to perform, I was very shy about it.  I wouldn’t invite my family, and my mom soon caught on.  She’d show up to these performances and cheer me on, which was sweet.

That’s wonderful. You’ve become very well-known for your jazz music.

Jazz has a certain niche. I always say you don’t choose to be a jazz singer, it chooses you. I still sing all different styles of music. I often get hired to record movie soundtracks and regular pop genre, but jazz is my heart.

Yes, I see you did the soundtrack for the movie, Rob the Mob.

I’m not in the movie but I sing the same track in English and Italian over and over six different ways. That was extraordinary. It was a great experience. It’s also an amazing film, based on a true story directed by Raymond De Felitta.

You’re most well-known in the acting world for Best Friends Whenever and the Englishman in LA. What is so memorable about those two series?

Those are two of the things I did. Best Friends Whenever is a great kids show. I always felt like when I was doing the show that if I had something like this when I was a kid, I would’ve loved it. It’s about two time-traveling best friends. I play Janet Smythe who is the villain. I play the younger version of her. Nora Dunn from Saturday Night Live played the older version of her.  That was super fun to work with someone that I greatly admire. I love Nora Dunn. I think she’s hilarious. I had the opportunity to emulate her since I was playing a younger version of her. It afforded me a wonderful dose of young fans that are very loyal. I enjoyed being a Disney villain.

Let’s talk about the Indian drama film One Little Finger and how it promotes the theme “Ability in Disability.”

I had to travel to India. The film was done over 5 years, and I traveled back and forth over 2 years to Assam, which is in Northeast India.  I felt like what my character was going through that I was also going through because it was the first time that I had traveled to India.  My character is an American neurologist who uproots her life to research music therapy. She goes to India to a disability institute. She finds herself teaching children with disabilities.  She brings them together through music therapy and inspires them to challenge themselves and their ability. Their lives are completely transformed as is her life. Her philosophy changes because she’s touched by the beauty and the culture, but also by the children. Through her experience there, she learns how the balance of the mind, body, and soul are truly vital in realizing the meaning of life. Disability is just a perception. Ability is where it’s at.

What do you hope viewers take away from this film?

The most important thing I want people to take away from this film is that some people are born with disabilities, but anyone in your life can become disabled at any moment even you.  It’s something that doesn’t get discussed, especially if you’re in America until it happens.  One Little Finger is an international film that’s become a movement basically. It’s become a movement to break the barriers of the word disability. I hope viewers have a lot of respect for the talent in this film.

There are over 80 people in this film with disabilities.  Some of these kids are actual actors with many films under their belt. Some of them weren’t actors but trained for six months before I arrived to turn themselves into actors. I was impressed and there really is ability in disability. I’ve learned so much from the film about playing to your strengths as a person no matter what the challenges are. I hope people take the “person first,” language into consideration, meaning you describe what a person is versus what disability a person has. You don’t say “That’s a disabled person or “She has cerebral palsy.”  You say, “That’s my sister. She’s a nurse. She also happens to have cerebral palsy.” It’s about putting people first and championing their abilities over their disabilities.

That is so inspiring.

It really was. It was a game-changer for me. I came back to America, seeing everything in a new way. Beyond what the film was about, Indian people run on so much joy, even people who have nothing.  In America, you realize how many people are miserable over nothing. Obviously, we’re in the middle of a pandemic. People are miserable. I think so many people in America are on anti-depressants, and then you go to a third world country and see things they could be miserable about, but in India, they still live with so much joy and respect for their lives. Anytime I see someone come to America from India, I want to know, “What’s your story? How did you come here?” In some rural parts there it seems hopeless.  However, they just keep the faith and joy which was a life lesson to me.

Let’s talk about the fact you can do everything, including direct and produce. I see you’ve done music videos and a web series.

I did this web series called Sex Ed: the Series. Now you’ll see there’s a series on Netflix called Sex Education, which is similar to ours but we were first. We have over 150 million views on YouTube. We were nominated for a Webby and Streamy, which are basically like Internet Emmys. I had a great time working with the writer who had brought the project to me, Ernie Vecchione. I re-developed it for him for an Internet series. We were one of the first successful web series out there.  At that time when we released it, people were saying, “Oh Tamela, no one is going to watch television on the internet. “ I was like,” Just you wait. That’s where we’re going. “

Of course, that’s exactly where we are, especially now. That’s all anyone is doing being locked up in their home right now. It was such a joy to make because in America we don’t talk about several things and one of them is sexuality. There is a major problem with teen pregnancy. We talk about it when it happens but no one has any prep beyond fifth grade about talking about sex ed. It’s an issue. It’s an issue of being prude I think.

Our show tracked the journey of eight students that enter a college-level sex-ed class. They think it’s going to be easy but it’s very difficult. The class is led by long-time actress Joanna Cassidy, who’s famous for doing Blade Runner. She was fantastic to work with and has become a close friend. It was a great ride and it still lives on YouTube.  We didn’t end up continuing the series because it kind of ran its course.

You’re also a brand ambassador for many eco-friendly companies.

I became a social influencer by default. I’m very eco-conscious. From having all those music fans and all those fans from the Disney Channel, my social media blew up. When that happened, brands contacted me and asked if I would support what they were doing. If I posted it on social media, they’ll do an exchange for the product. Very soon, people were offering me money and it became another arm in my career so I had to be cautious about what I posted because of my integrity. My goal was to mainly work with companies run by women or fair trade or a method of sustainability.

 There are a lot of clothing companies on Instagram that are fast fashion or expendable clothing. I won’t work with someone like that because I know the clothes are being made improperly in a third world country by children. It’s not of interest to me because fast fashion is bad for the planet. I work with a lot of eco-designers and brands. Over time, I’ve become a brand ambassador and social influencer as a job. I get paid a great amount of money to work with brands and get their product out there. If it’s something I believe in, then I will become a brand ambassador or an affiliate where I’m actually being commissioned and part of their company.

What other upcoming projects are you working on?

While in quarantine, my now fiancé and I did a pandemic short film called FEVER, which is on YouTube. It was born out of this dream or nightmare I had. We were stuck in the house and I had this creative idea so we did it together, just the two of us. I have several projects under my Bellona Entertainment banner in pre-production that are now pushed to next year because we can’t work because due to Covid restrictions. I can’t really say what they are for several reasons. I don’t want to jinx things because I’m a superstitious person but there are lots of things I’m directing and also starring in. I’m also due to record another album. I’ll be recording by the end of the year and releasing it next year.

What hobbies have you been doing during quarantine?

I am a movie lover so like everyone else we’ve taken this time to watch more movies and TV. However, I’m going through a lot of classics and a lot of movies from childhood that I saw but didn’t understand because I was too young. I was definitely afraid of E.T as a child l until I was 25. I saw it when I was too young.  Watching it now and crying when E.T is all grey and dying and then he comes back, I realized that I totally missed the mark on this as a kid. It’s great re-experiencing those things.

I’m a big hiker. I’ve been working out. I like to do a lot of cardio barre and P 90X, which is an old thing but we brought back on DVD. I’ve been horseback riding a few times but this year has been odd with the fires and the cold fronts and the heat. It was difficult in knowing you were safe in some ways, but I’d love to get out and do more horseback riding.

What do you consider some of your greatest achievements?

I think this film One Little Finger is one of them. I know I’ll never make anything like it again because the opportunity was so unique. In life, I don’t believe my greatest accomplishments are only career-based. But when you look at your life on paper and you look at those bullet points, you think “I’ve done some cool things.”

I’m always looking at the next thing and try not to rest on my laurels. That’s the perfectionist in me. I always remember the one summer before college when I was a student teacher at summer school and I taught a 15-year-old who was left back several times how to read. Things like that touch my soul more than an amazing thing I did for my career. I feel like everything in my career is an accomplishment but it’s for me. I’m only competitive with myself.

But it’s the aspect of helping others and doing this film and going to India and working with these amazing artists who in this industry haven’t really given opportunities to or unfortunately don’t look twice at in America or anywhere.   That feels like an achievement because there’s not enough discussion about disability. These people are people too. After this film, you notice if someone passes you in a wheelchair that you may not meet their gaze. I always meet their gaze now more than ever.  These are people who need to be honored and respected just like anyone else and championed for their abilities.  This film has an important message and probably is one of the important things I’ll ever do in my career.

One Little Finger opens worldwide today on Amazon Prime and AppleTV.  They chose today because today is the International Day of Tolerance. Make sure to stream the movie. It sounds very inspiring. You can follow Tamela on social media on Instagram at @tameladamico.

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