‘Empire’ season 2: How ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ helped Vivica A. Fox land role

Empire -At the moment, Vivica A. Fox is one of the most high-profile guest stars on “Empire” season 2 as Cookie Lyon’s sister Candace, and while she has an incredible resume and work across almost every field, she has a rather bizarre show in part to thank for landing a role.

Specifically, Fox tells The Hollywood Reporter that appearing on “The Celebrity Apprentice” did actually help her get noticed at the right time, all thanks to a really intense showdown in Donald Trump’s famed boardroom:

“Lee Daniels was watching me on Celebrity Apprentice and after I had that epic boardroom showdown, he gave me a call. He was like, ‘Baby, I’m going to figure out some kind of way to get you on Empire.’ So, of course I was thrilled because doing Celebrity Apprentice was such a heck of a sacrifice for myself – five-and-a-half weeks of my life that I’ll never be able to get back – and putting myself out there, to reintroduce myself to my audience and to everyone, and it worked effectively. So when I got the call from him saying that he wanted me to be on Empire, I was like, ‘Yes.'”

First things first, we love the way that Fox describes “Celebrity Apprentice,” mostly because there is a part of us that feels like there’s one or two hours we will never get back after watching it. (Yet, we cannot help ourselves.) The thing is that it is so easy to pile on the show because of Trump and how innately ridiculous and even at times unfair it is, but the reality is that this show has actually helped out many careers. Just ask Piers Morgan or Arsenio Hall how their careers at least temporarily benefited from the show; even the late Joan Rivers used it as a springboard to do a variety of other things. It’s a good platform for that, in addition to being ridiculously entertaining. Of course, you can say the same thing about “Empire,” albeit in a different way.

To read more about the next new episode of the show, head over to the link here. Also, sign up now to get some other TV news on everything we cover, sent right over to you via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: Fox.)

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