Jenkins still learning after 60 year journey from usher to actress

Hannah Cather • The Daily Beacon

Carol Mayo Jenkins is now a UT artist-in-residence in acting.

More than 60 years ago, a young, blonde Knoxvillian plotted her chance to become involved with UT's fledgling Carousel Theatre. She would do anything, she swore to her mother — even usher.

"I was the best usher they had ever had," Carol Mayo Jenkins, now a UT artist-in-residence in acting, said with a laugh. "I brought all my little high school friends, and we got all dressed up. I was there every night, and I saw every show all summer long."

Jenkins, who professes to have "always known" she wanted to perform, used the experience as a means of making connections and summoning the courage to audition. That fall, the 18-year-old was chosen for her first role opposite John Cullum in "The Petrified Forest," and what was to be a lengthy acting career began.

Despite her natural passion for acting, Jenkins, who is most commonly known for starring in the award-winning television series "Fame," insists her talent was not as inherent.

"I'm not what you would think of as a performer — I'm very shy," Jenkins said. "It took me years to learn how to act, but that's what I wanted to do."

After a combined year at Vanderbilt first then UT without academic achievement — "All I did was be in plays" — 19-year-old Jenkins made the decision to pursue acting full time. She persuaded her father, a successful local OB/GYN, to send her to London's Central School of Speech and Drama. He agreed, and the teenaged Jenkins traveled alone for her first time to England. She had no idea she'd remain there six years, nor did she suspect she would help to found a new theater school, Drama Centre London, during that time.

"That was really scary at first," she said. "No one could understand me, and I couldn't understand them. I had a deep Southern accent, this soft little girl southern voice, and it was really scary."

Jenkins managed to study and successfully adopt the lilting tone of her British friends from Manchester. This skill for cultivating accents has since served her well in many productions, cousin Phil Claxton said.

"She had the lead in 'The Trip to Bountiful,' which was set in Texas, in the spring," Claxton said. "I said to her afterward, 'How could you do that beautiful sort of Texan accent?' Because, you know, talking to her she has a slight English accent. She looked at me sort of haughtily and said, 'That's what I do.'"

Despite her prolific history on the international stage, including several runs on Broadway and at the American Conservatory Theatre, Claxton said his cousin's interest in their heritage impresses him most.

"She's just an exceptionally good family person and one who really unifies the Mayo family, in way," he said. "Carol has always cared quite a lot about family, she knows the family history well and she reaches out and tries to be inclusive of everyone."

Mary Ann Hill, a fellow UT actress who Jenkins calls her oldest friend, also attested to Jenkins' unassuming off-stage persona.

"She came up to New York to my wedding, and she was at the rehearsal dinner at my mother's little apartment," Hill said. "It was very low key, and there she was in this beautiful green velvet dress standing in my mother's kitchen washing all the dinner dishes. And I thought, this is a game girl."

In 2001, Jenkins proved herself "game" once more by moving back to Knoxville to care for her elderly mother. Jenkins' mother will celebrate her 100th birthday this February.

Besides her residency, Jenkins has since returned to the stage of her youth several times with the Clarence Brown Theatre Company. Most recently, she has appeared as Vera in Amy Herzog's "4000 Miles," which will run through Sunday, Nov. 16.

"I remember her as this sweet young girl bouncing around in her green convertible," Hill said. "To see her on stage now as an old lady battling off Alzheimer's was really quite moving."

Jenkins considers herself "fortunate" to be a part of the Clarence Brown Theatre team, crediting faculty like Kate Buckley and John Sipes for their inspiration.

"One of the reasons I love being here is I am constantly stimulated by the people I teach with," she said. "These are extraordinary theater artists, and so it's stimulating and exciting to be working with them and learning constantly from them.

"I always wanted to be a really, really good actress, and that's what I'm still working on."​