Danielle Brooks was an “emotional wreck” when she saw her movie The Color Purple for the first time.

The Orange Is the New Black actress saw her portrayal of Sofia in the new movie musical at a private screening alongside her co-stars Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson and H.E.R.

She explained on The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast that she sat away from her co-stars because she knew it would be an emotional experience for her.

“I knew I was going to be an emotional wreck and I wanted to go through all the feelings and emotions kind of by myself and experience it without this influence of feeling everyone else,” she explained. “I wept a lot to see my name up their first – then I saw my face and I heard my voice. I was like, ‘That’s me.’ Like this little girl inside of me that’s like 10 years old and going arts educational programmes running around acting like frogs and stuff, I could not believe that was my face, my voice, my name on that screen and doing a damn good job.”

Brooks, who first portrayed Sofia in the Broadway stage adaptation, was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award for her performance and she is still up for a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) award.

The 34-year-old admitted she was reluctant to see the film before the general public, despite encouragement from the film’s producer Oprah Winfrey.

“Miss Oprah kept saying, ‘You need to see it’ and I was like, ‘No, I’m waiting until Christmas like everybody else.’ She was like, ‘Why?’, I was like, ‘Because I’m not ready yet,'” she recalled. “I had heard a lot of buzz about my performance already from editors or just people involved who had seen it and I was starting to be like, ‘I don’t know if I’m ready for all of this.'”

Winfrey played Sofia in the 1985 movie adaptation of Alice Walker’s novel.

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