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Jada Pinkett Smith is focused. It's this level of concentration that makes her a  renaissance woman who has masterfully maintained a healthy balance of family and career. As a result, she is fast becoming a Hollywood mover and shaker—producing and directing films and costarring in small- and big-screen gems. She's even got her own rock band on the side. Nowadays, Mrs. Smith is rolling up her sleeves as Chief Nursing Officer Christina Hawthorne on TNT's new medical drama "HawthoRNe." ESSENCE.com caught up with the busy lady to talk about her character's unconvential parenting skills, why Pinkett Smith is not as secure as you think, and what the Obamas and the Smiths have in common.

ESSENCE.COM: We love that your character, Chief Nursing Officer Christina Hawthorne, fights for the underdogs and makes sure that her patients and staff don't fall by the wayside. How does she mirror Mrs. Smith?
JADA PINKETT SMITH: (Laughs.) Well, I'm definitely more of Mrs. Smith than I am Mrs. Hawthorne, but in my personal fight for the underdog it's in my blood, my roots, because I myself was an underdog growing up in Baltimore. Thankfully, I saw beyond my circumstances, so I constantly want to encourage every human being to reach for their highest goal if they are willing to take that journey. In that way she and I are a lot alike.

ESSENCE.COM: Now, where do you two stand on opposite sides of the fence?
PINKETT SMITH: She's married to a White guy and raising a [biracial] daughter, which presents its own set of challenges. Also, I'm a different kind of mother. Christina wants to do everything for her daughter, where as I've always believed that children are little adults and, at the end of the day, you have to teach them how to be responsible for their own lives. As parents our job is to take their power and use it in a way that is prolife, not take all of our child's power to make them do the things we want them to do.

ESSENCE.COM: Your show has perfect timing, especially since one of President Obama's leading issues is health care reform. Will your show tackle this issue?
PINKETT SMITH: We are definitely going to have some story lines that touch upon the politics of health care next season. However, this season we focus on how nurses interact with one another and how doctors heal and the nurses heal the soul. So there are a couple of issues where we do address the politics of health care and hospitals but it's something we'll dive more into in the future.