Andra Day reveals she considered retiring from acting after playing jazz legend Billie Holiday

Andra Day revealed in a podcast interview Thursday that she considered retiring from acting after portraying jazz legend Billie Holiday.

The 36-year-old singer made her major film acting debut in The United States vs. Billie Holiday and last week earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actress after recently winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama.

‘I laugh because it just seems so unreal. I feel like only God could have put something like this together. It reminds me of how much care and dedication people put into this story,’ Andra said in an interview with Variety’s Awards Circuit podcast.

Andra said she started smoking, drinking and cussing and also lost 39lbs to bring authenticity to her role.

‘I thought I was gonna retire after this movie from acting because I thought, ”This s*** is too deep.” I’ve always loved actors and always had respect for them, but now I have a whole new respect for them and how deep they have to go,’ Andra said.

‘If I had to do something like this again: not eating, not sleeping, just drinking and smoking, I don’t know if I could survive that s***,’ added the Rise Up singer.

Andra, however, said retiring from acting became a fleeing thought as she considered the big picture.

‘It’s difficult to get these stories funded and to get off the ground. A lot of our narratives have been suppressed, so I want to tell stories in movies and music,’ she said.

Andra recalled hearing the Holiday song Strange Fruit for the first time at age 11 and remembered it being ‘confusing’, ‘kind of scary’ and filled with ‘overwhelming sadness’.

Holiday recorded Strange Fruit in 1939 and the song based on a poem about lynching plays a key role in the narrative of The United States vs. Billie Holiday.

‘She was essentially lynched for singing the song,’ Andra said.

‘It’s an ugly song, but it’s true, which is what makes it beautiful,’ she added.

The United States vs. Billie Holiday was released in February by Hulu.