Saints & Sinners’ Jasmine Burke and Keith Robinson talk Viewership Increase & More
A Chat with Actors Jasmine Burke and Keith Robinson from Saints & Sinners
The second episode premiere telecasts of Bounce TV’s new original drama series Saints & Sinners reached 1.5 Million Viewers in the Second Episode Premiere Telecast, a 15% increase over the series debut, and set a new Bounce record for viewership Sunday, March 13.
Sonya’s Spotlight publisher, Sonya Jenkins, spoke with Jasmine Burke, who plays Dr. Christie Johnson, (the daughter and only living child of Pastor and Mrs. Johnson, who tends to local patients but has her own private issues) and Keith Robinson, who plays Miles Calloway (a former R&B star, one hit wonder, now serving as the minister of music at Greater Hope) after the cast-mates heard the news of record-breaking viewership.
“I am floating on Cloud 9,” Jasmine said. “I love the script, I love the writing and I’m excited to be a part of something that’s a first for Bounce Television.”
Keith Robinson was just as enthused. “It is most rewarding that people are watching Saints & Sinners and that it is well received.”
Both Jasmine and Keith, Georgia natives, gave me a little tea about the Saints & Sinners series during our chat, but wouldn’t tell me all the twists and turns for the upcoming episodes. Jasmine says the plot is like a crazy tornado and she even asked me, “Who killed my father [the pastor]? I want to know.” If she doesn’t know, I definitely don’t know. Keith, who says he’s vey similar to the character he plays on Saints & Sinners (except for the cheating portion), said that we all have a little saint and a little sinner in us, but admitted that he is surprised by some of the twists and turns in the script, just like Jasmine is. Guess we’ll have to watch the next episodes of Saints & Sinners, since Jasmine and Keith were obviously holding back on me.
I asked the actors their success tips for aspiring actors, and they were more open about that topic. “Take the craft really serious,” Jasmine stressed. “Learn the craft and do what is necessary to make yourself better at what you do best.” Jasmine said she hopes to someday create jobs for others and that understanding the business is important. Keith also wants to be on the creating and hiring end of the business. His advice to aspiring actors is for them to fall in love wth the process and not put a deadline on themselves. “No matter how many tines you get a ‘No,’ you’ve got to keep pressing until you get a ‘Yes,'” Keith said.
When I asked them about their personal lives, both Jasmine and Keith said they are not married (although Keith revealed he has a special someone). Jasmine revealed she’s not looking for anyone, and that she puts God first, family second and then career. Keith admitted that he is attracted to a woman who is attractive, loyal, spiritually grounded, goal oriented and who is not affected by fame and social media.
And since I always see Jasmine looking oh so beautiful on the red carpet at different awards shows, I asked her to share her beauty tips. She told me that simplicity is the key for her and she just uses soap & water, and moisturizes with coconut oil to keep her natural glow. Interestingly, both Jasmine and Keith are musicians and are working on separate music projects. Keith’s song, “Love Somebody” is presently in rotation on several radio stations while he works on his forthcoming album. He also wrapped filming for the Tupac biopic, where he played Tupac’s longtime manager. And Jasmine said her song and video, “Hear What I Hear” will be released next month.
While both Jasmine and Keith play complex characters on Saints & Sinners, in real life they are quite straight-forward – focused on their craft with plans to continue growing as actors and musicians, while giving back.
Jasmine Burke at the 2016 Trumpet Awards
Let’s check out more about Saints & Sinners:
Saints & Sinners centers around the pursuit of power, intertwined with greed, deception, corruption and murder – all set against the backdrop of a large southern church. Greater Hope Baptist Church is the heartbeat of Cypress, GA, a large southern town outside Atlanta. As times changed and Cypress grew, so did Greater Hope’s influence. With the return of a prodigal son and a shocking crime that rattles the core of the community, long-kept secrets, deceit, jealousy and compromising sexual affairs threaten to destroy the heart of the church and shatter the lives of those within it.
Saints & Sinners stars Vanessa Bell Calloway (Shameless, Coming to America); Christian Keyes (Mistresses, Let’s Stay Together); Keith Robinson (Dreamgirls, This Christmas); Clifton Powell (Ray, Murder in the First); Gloria Reuben (Mr. Robot, ER); J.D. Williams (The Wire, The Good Wife); Jasmine Burke (The Vampire Diaries, Army Wives); Afemo Omilami (Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Forrest Gump) and Richard Lawson (Numb3rs, Wag the Dog).
Bounce TV is the only emerging broadcast network producing original scripted series. The network’s three originally-produced sitcoms Mann & Wife (First Season), In The Cut (First Season) and Family Time (Third Season) all set network records for viewership in 2015.
- On Sunday, March 20 at 8:55 p.m., Bounce TV premiered the music video of the show’s theme song “Sinners (Saved by Grace),” performed by two superstars joining forces: Gospel phenom Deitrick Haddon and Big Boi from the enormously popular hip-hop duo Outkast. The song is featured on the forthcoming Saints & Sinners: Original Soundtrack From Season 1, out March 25 via all digital retailers. Haddon then guest stars in an all-new Saints & Sinners at 9:00 p.m. ET. In the episode, ulterior motives come into focus as ruthless ambition and secret alliances continue to blur the line between who is a saint and who is a sinner.
