Kim Wayans knew she had it in her.

The actress best known for her work on such television comedies as In Living Color, In the House and A Different World, takes on a heavy dramatic role as the mother of a lesbian teen in Pariah which hits theaters on Friday (30 December).

The role calls for Wayans, 50, to play a religious woman in a troubled marriage who desperately does not want her daughter (played by Adepero Oduye) to be gay and tries to choose everything from her clothes to her friends.

'She's a very domineering presence in her daughter's life and she wants to control her,' Wayans told Gay Star News at a recent press junket. 'You have a desperate mother desperate to save her child. She just broke my heart. I didn't see her as a monster or a villain. She's was just as much a victim of her beliefs. She was so sad, so sad and so lonely and disconnected from everyone else.'

Wayans is not a mother herself but she is an aunt to 38 nieces and nephews. It took some real acting for her to play a woman who would reject her child for being who she is.

'It was heartbreaking,' she said. 'A mother's love is supposed to be unconditional. It broke my heart to have to be in that space.'

Wayans reviews have been strong and there has been some awards buzz surrounding the film.

'Awards are great,' the actress said. 'They are really, really wonderful affirmation for all your hard work.'

But the greatest award, she said, is having people come up to the cast and director Dee Rees and tell them how Pariah has affected their life and transformed  them.

Wayans was especially moved by a woman who has a lesbian daughter who came up to her after a screening in Washington D.C. and said to her: 'It taught me I have to go home and love my child.'

'I don't know what shelf I'd put that award on,' Wayans said.

She hopes the film will especially hit home with parents of gay children and also people with homophobic attitudes.

'I hope they'll receive it with love and acceptance,' Wayans said. 'I hope it will open eyes for people, I hope it will create dialogue.'

The actress hopes for more dramatic work but has no plans to forsake comedy. She has written a television pilot called Growing Up Wayans which was inspired by her childhood which has her playing a mother of six raising her kids in New York City.

'We are shopping it around,' she said. 'I think it's a show that will resonate with a lot of people.'