Naturi Naughton has spent much of her career stepping into other people’s stories. Now, she is creating stories of her own.
The actress, singer, director and producer recently premiered her new short film, The Last Worker, at Surrounded by Stories, an independent film showcase that brings filmmakers, film lovers, actors and industry creatives together for screenings, panels and conversations. Co-founded by actor, singer and producer Tristan “Mack” Wilds and award-winning filmmaker Greg Cally, it champions filmmakers of color telling our stories in our own voices.
The Last Worker
For Naughton, The Last Worker is more than a futuristic film about technology. It is a warning about what could happen when technology advances faster than human beings can adapt. Naughton directed, wrote, produced and starred in the film.
“I was going to talk about AI and the challenges of humans in the workforce,” Naughton said. “I just wanted to kind of push the envelope and have a discussion about how it’s deteriorating human beings and their social abilities.”
Her hope is that the film does more than entertain.
“So when you see The Last Worker, I hope people are provoked to think and also to feel,” she said.
The subject is particularly timely as artificial intelligence and automation continue to reshape workplaces and raise questions about which jobs will remain distinctly human. Naughton says she actually conceived the project some time ago, only to see the concerns she was exploring become increasingly familiar.
“I wrote it a while ago, It’s finally coming out. It’s like I saw the future,” she said. “Well, I knew it was coming.”
During a conversation with radio and television personality Jazmyn Summers for Radio One, Naughton pointed to seeing autonomous Waymo vehicles in Los Angeles as one of the moments that made the future feel especially tangible.
“I said, ‘Oh my gosh, what are we going to do if we can’t even…’” she recalled. “So I just really support humans in the workplace.”
That concern is at the heart of The Last Worker, a 21-minute science-fiction short set in a fully automated future. A humanoid support robot begins questioning purpose, memory and humanity after a sexually violent encounter with a human she is assigned to support.
With The Last Worker, one of those questions is deliberately uncomfortable: In a world increasingly designed around artificial intelligence, what happens to the humans?
Naughton wants audiences to sit with that question long after the screen goes dark.
The project represents another step in Naughton’s increasingly expansive career behind the camera.
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Her Career: Never Limited
The East Orange, New Jersey, native first became known as a member of the platinum-selling R&B trio 3LW before establishing herself as an actress. She went on to portray Lil’ Kim in Notorious, appear in Fame and build a six-season television run as Tasha St. Patrick on Starz’s Power, a role she continued in Power Book II: Ghost. She has earned multiple NAACP Image Awards for her work.
But Naughton has never been limited to one lane. She also has a long history with Broadway, making her debut as Little Inez in Hairspray. Two decades later, she is back on Broadway getting rave reviews for her role as Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby,
And she is clearly looking beyond acting.
Naughton executive produced the award-winning film Color Book, which premiered at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival, and made her directorial debut with the short film 333 in 2025. The Last Worker now adds another directing credit to her growing résumé.
For Naughton, the next phase is about creating as well as performing.
“Just working more, directing, hopefully doing more in this space and producing more projects with my husband,” she said.
That partnership is part professional and part personal. Naughton is married to entrepreneur and talent manager Xavier “Two” Lewis, and the couple have worked together through their production company. Her approach to their relationship is grounded in friendship as much as romance.
“My husband truly is my best friend,” she said. “He looks out for me. I look out for him.”
She also offered a decidedly practical answer when asked how couples keep their relationship exciting.
“Don’t get too comfortable,” Naughton said. “You got to surprise them every once in a while. Pop out. Pop out with a cute little nighttime outfit.”
There is another quality Naughton brings to her work that may be particularly useful as she moves further into directing: she is, by her own admission, extremely particular.
Her Pet Peeve
“My pet peeve probably would be not being meticulous,” she said. “I’m very meticulous. So when people don’t do things all the way right, I get crazy.”
Her biggest personal weakness, however, is almost the opposite.
“My bad habit is being late,” she admitted. “Oh my gosh. I got to get better at being on time, but being on Broadway has fixed that because the curtain goes up on time.”
For an artist who has moved from music to film, television, Broadway and now filmmaking, the curtain is hardly coming down.
Article by Jazmyn Summers. Photos by Dominique Maddox. You can hear Jazmyn every morning on “Jazmyn in the Morning “on Sirius XM Channel 362 Grown Folk Jamz. Subscribe to Jazmyn Summers’ YouTube. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram.