Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 29, 1994 TAG: 9408190005
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LUAINE LEE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Instead of seeking more roles, she wants to move on.
It has been 10 years since Bill Cosby convinced Givens to perform instead of pursue a career in medicine. Now she longs to fulfill that earlier goal - one she has had since the third grade.
She also feels compelled to write the truth about her rocky marriage to boxing heavyweight champion Mike Tyson.
And she's yearning for a home and family.
Can this be the same sexpot who had to be sewn into her clothes for her role in ``A Rage in Harlem'' (1991)? Is this the saucy lady who tamed Eddie Murphy in ``Boomerang'' (1993)?
Is this the woman who plays a young lover in the soon-to-be-released ``Foreign Student,'' a film about an interracial romance?
``Who are these women I've been doing? They were older than me. They were more woman than I am. I wanted to bring it back to me,'' Givens says.
Givens does just that in the comedy ``Blankman,'' which will be released in August. She plays a kindly television reporter who spotlights an eccentric superhero, played by Damon Wayans.
But acting isn't enough for Givens. It's just one of her many passions.
``I want to be as infatuated with life [as with acting],'' she says.
The public memory of Givens as the complaining wife in her divorce from Tyson is something she would like to erase. Tabloids painted her as a gold-digging opportunist who was overly influenced by her mother.
(After their divorce Tyson was convicted of raping a beauty-pageant contestant and is currently serving time.)
Pausing a moment, her dark eyes cast down at her slender hands, Givens says, ``Mike and I stayed in contact for a while. We haven't recently. And probably will again.
``My love for Michael, I can't even explain. But I also had to take care of myself in a way, just to be happy. And I had to start dating because I'm not good at that.''
Looking back on the turmoil of their parting, she offers an explanation of what went wrong.
``Oftentimes our society doesn't encourage our `heroes' to grow,''she says. ``You're exempt from certain rules that most people have to live by.
``And then, in the end, those things can hurt you after you've been exempt for so long.''
It's clear that the public portrait of Givens is a distorted shadow of the private one.
Wayans, who produced and stars in ``Blankman,'' says he didn't know what to expect when he met Givens.
``She's sweet. You know, I was expecting The Bitch,'' he says.
``I had known Robin from hanging out at the Improv, but I really didn't know what to expect because she comes with so much baggage. But she's very sweet.''
Givens is convinced some of her problems were the result of being too young and ill-prepared for what life offered. She was too young for college, too young for marriage, too young for the glare of overnight fame that came with her role in the TV series ``Head of the Class'' (1986-91).
Givens was shy as a teen - the kind of girl who would eat alone in the school lunchroom rather than intrude on other people's tables.
``Dating for me was never the easiest thing. I don't date a lot, I just fall in love,'' she says, laughing.
Is she in involved with someone now?
``I would say that I just finished a romance, but maybe not,'' she says, raising her eyebrows.
She won't reveal his name, but she confides that he's not in show business. And that sometimes makes it difficult for him to adjust to the erratic nature of her business.
``I want to get married and have a family,'' she says. ``I'm 29 and will be 30 on Nov. 27.
``To be perfectly honest, I feel a little sad and a little angry - not because I feel I should still be married but because I feel like I've gone through this already.''
Givens has also gone through a lot in her career. By the time she was 22 she had already accomplished things that can take other actresses years.
She got her first real taste of show business when she auditioned for Bill Cosby for a role on ``The Cosby Show.'' She didn't get the part, but at Cosby's urging she went to California to pursue an acting career.
She was there for only three days when she snagged a role in ``Beverly Hills Madame'' (1986), which starred Faye Dunaway.
``While I was doing that I got an offer for two pilots: `Amen' and `Head of the Class,''' she says. ``I could only test for one, so I chose `Head of the Class.'''
Selecting Givens for the part of the precocious student in ``Head of the Class'' was nearly typecasting. She graduated from high school at 15, then went to Sarah Lawrence College, graduating at 19.
``I'm a dreamer. I always have been. That's how I go to sleep. If I'm having problems sleeping, I think of something wonderful.
``When I was little, Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz, I couldn't believe that wasn't going to happen. `Please, God, let me go to Oz tonight.'
``When I realized that you couldn't go, I was so disappointed.''
If it wasn't going to happen with a click of her ruby slippers, Givens vowed to make it happen herself. You CAN have it all, she says, smiling, but it's very, very difficult.
``My mom has this theory: A family, a career, children - you can do two out of three very well. One will be sacrificed.
``But I think if you realize it's difficult, you really can do it.''
Her mother has been a profound influence on Givens and her younger sister, Stephanie.
``We were raised by my mom without a father. They were divorced when I was 2,'' she says.
``In our home we had our mother there and I think that gave us the sense that you can do anything and be anything if you work hard enough.''
Givens' mother designed computer systems, owned her own company, worked for a time for Ross Perot and now owns a bookstore in New York.
While Givens doesn't worry about aging, she says she is concerned by the restrictions she finds in Hollywood.
``In terms of age, I think you get better and better. I'm looking forward to being 40.''
Luaine Lee is a California-based free-lance writer.
by CNB