Aminah Nieves on why she took the '1923' Role: 'I didn't want to do it'

Aminah Nieves opened up on how important it was for her to bag a role in the Yellowstone prequel series 1923.

Aminah Nieves, who plays Teonna Rainwater, a Native American woman at a Catholic boarding school in Montana, on the Yellowstone prequel series, explained that she came very close to ignoring the project altogether.

In an interview with Enews, Aminah revealed, "I didn't want to do it. I actually told my manager that I wasn't going to audition for it. It's a big burden and you're opening up a lot more when you're actually living in what your family lived through."

The actress acknowledged that the brutalities and atrocities meted out to Native Americans, which also feature in 1923, made it possible for her to pursue her own dreams.

"Because of their strength and because of what they did for us," the 31-year-old said, "I didn't have to live through that in the same exact way that they did."

Aminah shared that she asked her family for guidance and eventually made the decision to audition.

"I was speaking with my Mom a lot," Aminah said. "I almost didn't feel worthy enough to tell this story because it's so important. It's scary when you're telling something that has been a part of you since you were just a thought, since you were a little light beam in the cosmos. It's terrifying."

The actress also talked about the complicated audition process for which she reached out to the family for support. 

"After the third self-tape, I couldn't not do it. I could not get that third self-tape. I couldn't get through it," she explained. "I was bawling. I was like, I need to do it, not only for me, but I looked at my Mom on the other side and I was like, ‘I gotta do it for her.'"