BA Exclusive: ’Grown-ish’ Star Francia Raisa Talks ‘A Different World’ and How The Series Opened Her Eyes To Social Issues

Grown-ish actress Francia Raisa recently spoke with Baller Alert to share her thoughts on her experience on the show.

In the interview, Raisa shared her thoughts on how the show compares to the 90s series A Different World, which is set in a predominantly black Hillman College and follows the journey of Denise Huxtable and her friends.

“We almost pay homage to them in a way,” Raisa said. ”When you love a show so much, you’re like ‘Is this going to work?’ and it does. I think our writers are so smart and it’s incredible, and our cast is really great. I mean, our executive producer was really really smart about this show,” she continued.

Raisa also shared her thoughts on how the topics of the show have made her aware of other social issues, particularly the importance of upcoming elections.

“I’m ten years older than everyone, so high school and college was so different for me, so to see what it’s like right now for everyone else was really eye-opening. I mean, just even having a safe space, especially now with the election coming up and voting and stuff. I wasn’t big back in the day. I mean, unfortunately, it took Trump to come into office for all of us to open our eyes. I like to see the positive thing in everything, and I’m like ‘that’s the positive thing’ because when I was younger, I did not pay attention, so I’m glad for that now.”