Karen LeBlanc rules in Oprah Winfrey’s new vineyard-set drama ‘The Kings of Napa’

She’ll take a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon, please.

Nowadays, Toronto actress Karen LeBlanc – a pink wine woman in actual life – resides out her winery fantasy, courtesy of “The Kings of Napa.” Shot in Canada and airing on OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Community, it’s a breezy nighttime cleaning soap – with a twist.At its centre, the one Black-owned vineyard in California’s Napa Valley, full with excessive drama and commensuratestakes. Suppose a Black “Successsion,”at the least on the subject of its dynastic parts. “Nothing is on cruise,” she tells me. “It’s a dash from begin to end.”

LeBlanc performs Vanessa King, the matriarch, a former information reporter who ditched her profession to lift her household and rule the vineyard. A fan of flowing kimono getups and loads of bling, topped with a fierce disposition, she is somebody who had LeBlanc channelling her “interior Michelle Obama and Cicely Tyson.”

The present is aspirational in a means that has LeBlanc additionally reflecting on her personal trajectory on the small display. “After 30 years of enjoying Black characters from all walks of life,” she says, “that is the primary time I’ve performed a rich, refined, Ivy League lady. That’s the continuum. Audiences are conversant in Black wealth and excellence in music, sports activities and legislation, and we’ve seen exhibits lately that signify these worlds. However we haven’t seen many tales of Black entrepreneurship, and that’s what makes this present stand out. From ‘The Jeffersons’ to ‘The Cosby Present,’ ‘The Contemporary Prince of Bel-Air’ to ‘Empire,’ I really feel like ‘The Kings of Napa’ is the following step ahead within the illustration of Black characters.”

What’s love obtained to do with it?

Advanced household dynamics are one thing LeBlanc is aware of a factor or two about, particularly since she is the youngest of eight youngsters. “It actually explains how I got here to be a performer, vying for consideration to be seen and heard,” she says. “We by no means had lots. I obtained a job with my mother after I was 13 at a comfort retailer and did landscaping for a summer season. So, I'm no stranger to onerous work and striving for extra.” Likewise, her character Vanessa“has labored onerous to get the place she is: a girl of color through the ’80s when the glass ceiling was very excessive.”

LeBlanc recollects watching “Fame,”that includes Debbie Allen,as a child and pondering, I need to try this. She began off as a singer and had one in every of her earliest gigs at Canada’s Wonderland. Then got here an R&B band and voice work for TV. “I used to be singing, waitressing and performing,” she says, when she obtained an pressing name to fill in as Tina Turner within the “Legends in Live performance” tour. “I had 48 hours to get my Tina present collectively and by no means appeared again. Spent 10 years perfecting the present and toured the world. I used to be even within the North Pole.”

Turner, whom LeBlanc additionally performed on an episode of “The Playboy Membership” in 2011, stays a touchstone for the actress. LeBlanc’s favorite track of hers? “Proud Mary.” “I realized that doing one thing you're keen on can add years to your life,” she says, “that music is highly effective and might uplift. Music is a common language. In Malaysia and Japan, everybody knew ‘Proud Mary.’ Tina is solely one of the best ... one of many hardest-working girls on- and ​off-stage.”

Moments to bottle

Whereas LeBlanc, who has carried out in Toronto productions of “Lease” and “Outrageous!”, makes her residence within the Distillery District – and might typically be discovered poking round St. Lawrence Market – she has not but made it to the precise Napa Valley. She was planning to go for analysis earlier than the pandemic intervened. Nevertheless, she did get immersed in vino whereas capturing the present in final summer season. The outside of the King property? A vineyard within the Niagara area known as Chateau des Charmes.

When our alternate turns to the Oprah-nesss of all of it, LeBlanc’s emotion is palpable. “I grew up with Oprah on the TV display in my lounge,” she says. “She was our adviser, guru and pal.”