“Acting with her was like being in training camp with Mike Tyson, when he was in his prime, in '86.”
In this response alone, so far from the usual clichés used by the majority of actors in promotional work, she makes it clear that she is not just another one.
With this pugilistic simile, so typical and at the same time so unusual among those who walk the red carpets of Hollywood, Kali Reis paid homage to her co-star, Jodie Foster.
Both share the spotlight in the new season of the
True Detective anthology, Polar Night,
which has recovered the success of yesteryear with the story of two detectives (played by Reis and Foster) who investigate the disappearance of a group of scientists at a research station. arctic in Alaska.
The series is Reis's first work as an actress on television, but it has been enough to turn this 37-year-old active boxer, triple world champion, into the industry's great recent revelation, with a portfolio of projects in which appear the sequel to the celebrated police crime
Wind River
or
Asphalt City
, a paramedic thriller with Sean Penn.
And this fight has only just begun.
19-7-1.
That is the record of wins, losses and draws that make up the results sheet of Reis to this day, a world boxing star who also has the honor of having starred in the first fight between women broadcast on HBO – the same network. who now debuts his stellar leap into acting – for the entire country.
Ulis has been world champion in different weight categories and has also become the visible face of different activist associations that offer support to Native American women to fight discrimination.
Her nickname in the ring is KO Mequinonoag, the latter being her indigenous name that translates as “many feathers or many talents.”
Based on the praise received for her work in True Detective, she can afford to add her acting talent to that list.
Descendant of Cape Verdeans and Native Americans, her great Hollywood rise has coincided in time with the triumphant work of Lily Gladstone, who has made history by becoming the first American Indian to be nominated for an Oscar for her role in
The Killers of the Moon
. Martin Scorsese.
Although a good part of the critics have praised this new iteration of the detective saga, putting special focus on the chemistry of the protagonist duo, the premiere of
Polar Night
has in turn been accompanied by a sexist hate campaign that has blown up the rating of its episodes on review websites with negative reviews.
The reason?
That two empowered women are the protagonists of the season and that there is a lesbian in the series.
But no attempt at a misogynistic boycott scares a fighter hardened by blows, both in the ring and outside of it.
A scene from 'True Detective.
Polar Night'.HBO
Kali Reis found a refuge in the punching bag to escape from a more than turbulent adolescence.
She grew up as a marginalized child, in a neighborhood in which she was not black enough or native enough to fit into any particular group.
She is the youngest in a family of five siblings, raised by her mother, Patricia, after her father abandoned them.
At the age of 12, Kali was raped and beaten repeatedly by a young man belonging to her circle of friends.
“Once on a waterbed, once in a shed… I remember everything about them: what she was wearing, what she was doing.
She felt so ashamed about it that she didn't want to tell anyone.
She was so confused and hurt that I kept it to myself for years,” she recounted in an interview.
To numb and silence the trauma, he began drinking alcohol and using drugs.
He drank a bottle of whiskey a day and, when he didn't have enough money to buy it, he stole it.
Until boxing arrived.
“It became my outlet to channel that anger.
She was angry at having been raped.
I was furious to see how my father beat my mother.
I felt angry about many things.
I knew she was a fighter, but not that she was that good,” she corroborates.
It took her decades to reconcile with the 'self' of her past and she claims that she began to heal when she decided to share her story with other young women who had experienced traumas similar to hers.
“It has cost me a lot to love myself.
She was ashamed of what had happened to me and punished me for reasons she didn't know.
But if I hadn't gone through all that, I wouldn't be where I am today.
Now I can look in the mirror and be proud of that 12-year-old girl who is still inside me.”
As if it were the protagonist of
Million Dollar Baby
, Kali also had to sleep on many couches during her years as an amateur boxer.
While she was fighting for money in the ring, she resorted to moonlighting, holding up to three jobs at a time to be able to pay for trips to the championships.
In one of them she met Brian Cohen, who became her coach and best friend, then her manager and, since 2021, also her husband.
Her debut as an actress – and co-writer – came in 2021 with the film
Catch The Fair One
, about the story of a former boxer who becomes a vigilante to avenge the pimps who prostituted her sister.
Her performance was described as a “knockout” by media such as
Variety
and earned her a nomination for best actress at the independent film awards, in addition to winning the Audience Award at the Tribeca Festival.
Jodie Foster, who also produces this season of
True Detective
, only needed to see a few videos of the athlete to give her blessing to her signing.
“She is a legend of this game.
She is so smart, collaborative and encouraging.
I arrived with the goal of wanting to tell a story and I am leaving with a friend and great mentor,” Rais says about her.
But beyond fame, the spotlight and having the opportunity to replicate a legend like the protagonist of
The Silence of the Lambs
, her interpretation has been above all a therapeutic and cathartic experience for her.
“Acting is a great therapy session for me because I have to get a lot of bad things out of my past.
I can talk to that little girl who was raped.
“I can hug her and tell her I love her.”