Image: BlackFilm.com

Antonique Smith, perhaps best known for playing Faith Evans in the Biggie Smalls biopic Notorious, is launching a real-life music career with help from Kickstarter. Over the weekend, the actress exceeded her fundraising goal of $50,000 (by $27). The money will cover the cost of finishing and promoting her debut album “Speechless.”

Smith has a solid acting career, having also appeared on Broadway in the musical Rent and in the movie Abduction (starring Twilight’s Taylor Lautner). This year, she’ll appear opposite Zoe Kravitz and Gabourey Sidibe in the film Yelling to the Sky. She talks with Black Enterprise about the risks and benefits of embarking on a music career that’s been crowdsourced.

“It’s not just fundraising; it’s also the growth and awareness of the brand. We don’t want to just do an album and put it out in a couple of months,” she tells the site. “We are creating the anticipation. We are centralizing my fan base.”

There is a rule about returning all of the money if you don’t reach your goal by the campaign deadline. But she was able to build a group of 217 “core supporters,” some who donated in excess of $7,500.

“Some people were from random countries like Austria and Finland who gave large amounts. Some are family and friends and people I went to 5th grade with. It was good to see names I haven’t seen in years,” she tells the site.

For more about Antonique Smith and her Kickstarter campaign, click here.