Nia Long is an actress a lot of us have watched for years, in movies like “Boyz n the Hood” and “Soul Food” and on TV in “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” Last spring she took on a role unlike any she’d done before. She played Katherine Jackson, Michael Jackson’s mother, in the film “Michael,” which opened in theaters on April 24, 2026.
And she had never once met the woman she was playing.
Nia did her homework. She watched old footage and studied how Katherine moved and spoke, trying to carry herself the way the mother of that famous family would. But the real Katherine was someone she’d only ever seen from a distance.
That changed after the movie came out.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Nia Long walks through what happened when Michael’s mother asked to see her.
Nia Long describes meeting Katherine Jackson after the “Michael” premiere
Variety said it well. After the release, the magazine wrote that “Nia Long got the tap on the shoulder she’s been waiting for forever. It was a summons from Katherine Jackson.” Michael’s mom wanted to meet her.
Nia walked in not knowing what to expect. She calls Katherine “Mother Jackson.” When they finally stood face to face, Katherine didn’t speak right away. She just gazed back at her.
So Nia spoke first.
What she said is the part people keep returning to. Here it is in her own words to Variety: “I said, ‘Do you realize none of this would be possible without you? You are the beginning of the Jackson legacy.’ And she teared up. It was a beautiful moment, and it was confirmation for me that she’s very pleased with the film. It was just perfect.”
That was all Nia had been hoping for. One quiet nod from the person who had actually lived it.
This wasn’t the first Jackson to cross Nia’s path. Back in the early 1990s, the director John Singleton introduced her to Michael himself at a Stevie Wonder concert. “I want you to meet my friend Michael,” Singleton told her. She still remembers how warm and easy he was. “The thing that still stands out is his curiosity and his ability to connect on a very human level,” she said. “I felt in that moment that he was a new friend.”
There’s a tender little detail from filming, too. Jaafar Jackson, Michael’s nephew, who plays Michael in the movie, told Variety that Nia would touch his hand in some scenes the way his grandmother does in real life. Nobody had told her to. She just did it.
Nia’s got plenty ahead of her. Just last week she shared the cover of her first memoir, “The Sound of Purpose,” set for May 25, 2027.
Still, it’s the moment with Mother Jackson she’ll hold onto. She tells the whole thing in the clip above.