Actress and model Shannon Thornton has finally gotten her big break as she features in Starz's 2020 drama series P-Valley. 

Thornton portrays the main character of the series, Keyshawn, most popularly known as Ms. Mississippi. The series is an adaptation of Hall's play, Pussy Valley, which follows the lives of the workers at a strip club in the Mississippi Delta. 

The series premiered on Starz on July 12, 2020, and was renewed for a second season two weeks after its premiere. The actress received a positive response from the critics for her performance as the gem-faced exotic dancer in the show. 

As Mississippi, Thornton plays the sweet stripper with obvious good looks. She is known for her exotic appearance and even has a unique way of putting on her makeup.

During her December 2020 interview with Essence, the actress revealed she wanted to become a fashion illustrator when she stepped into "the difficult and complicated" New York entertainment industry.

She shared her beauty essentials and disclosed some of her top tips to look glamorous at all times. 

Shannon Thornton On Skincare

Thornton revealed being "really big" about investing in facials and chemical peels to keep her skin clear because of her acne-prone, oily skin. 

During filming, she had to show up in a lot of makeup and dance simultaneously, every day for several months. They were working 16 hours per day, which sometimes resulted in many breakouts on her skin. 

"To calm all the breakouts, a facial was very much needed, and it made such a difference," she added. "Staying away from dairy really helped with those hormonal breakouts around the chin and jawline."

Shannon Thornton On Becoming Mississippi

Mississippi's style and looks were inspired by actual photos of Thornton pulled out from her Instagram account. Mississippi is younger in age than Thornton, and her style is wild, young, and very childlike.

According to the Connecticut native, playing around with eyeshadows and liners would be essential to accentuate Mississippi's eye makeup to achieve big, doll-like eyes.

The "nude lips and experimental eye shadow" look is Mississippi's most iconic look, Thornton said.

The nude lip was pretty consistent throughout the first season, and you just see her playing around a lot with cut creases and little sparkles. We’ll play around with glitter and little stones on my eyebrow, or something like that for fun.

However, Thornton expressed she does not like to go heavy on makeup when she isn't playing Mississippi. 

"I’ll pencil in my eyebrows and put on some mascara and lip gloss, and I’m fine," she stated. "Finally, maybe some shimmer powder to highlight my cheekbones and the bridge of my nose."

Important Lessons from Mississippi

Thornton revealed that one of the biggest things she learned from the people she worked with and the character she played is how beautiful and empowering it is to own your sexuality and how it’s okay to be sexy.

We’re playing sex workers and there’s this huge stigma behind the word 'stripper' when in reality this is labor for these women.

The work of a stripper is "just like any other job," she added. Thornton also shared her reluctance when she was first offered the role in the series because she was afraid of being judged.

She concluded the interview with a positive message for everyone to enjoy the moment without the fear of being judged so that they, too, could be sexy and confident, like Mississippi.