Being Mary Jane Cast Gabrielle Union has excellent performance [VIDEO], Miami Heat Dwayne Wade's girlfriend shows off her acting skills

Being Mary Jane main character Mary Jane Paul, played by Gabrielle Union, is a single and successful black woman.  Being Mary Jane shows what it's like at the top - not easy.  Being Mary Jane cast also includes Richard Roundtree, Margaret Avery, Lisa Vidal and Richard Brooks.

"She's human. That's what I wanted to show, (that) this woman is a person that we all can relate to," said Mara Brock Akil, the creator of Being Mary Jane, a BET movie airing Tuesday (10:30 p.m. ET/PT) that is the cable network's first drama series with an eight-episode run next January.

According to USAToday, Mary Jane (Gabrielle Union) hosts her own show on the fifth-ranked cable news network.  Mary Jane is a smart, beautiful 38-year-old who yearns for more, both professionally and personally.

Her character wants "a husband and a family and more job stability and a bit more freedom that comes with success," Gabrielle Union says. "She's flawed. She's chasing perfection, and she's falling dramatically short and dealing with the consequences of not having it all in every aspect of her life."

Mary Jane has a complicated relationship with her family, including an ill mother, a marijuana dealer brother and a sister who is pregnant. "She wants more independence for her family so she can go back to just being a daughter and sister as opposed to a caregiver, which changes the familial dynamic," Union says.

Gabrielle Union felt drawn to Being Mary Jane's complex perspective on its title character. "You don't normally see every aspect of a character's life: home life with their families, work life, their life with their friends and their love life."

Akil, the producer, is also executive producer of comedies Girlfriends and The Game.  Akil says that this dramatic project provides more room to show character revelations.

"I've been looking to express all sides of this woman's humanity," Akil says. With half-hour comedy, "we don't have the time (and) you've got to keep it always funny. And life isn't always funny."

The movie has some light moments too. "This character uses humor to deal with her challenges," Akil said.

Being Mary Jane addresses concerns specific to the network's core African-American audience. In her work, Mary Jane pursues a story about social perceptions of black female attractiveness. Her mother suffers from lupus, an autoimmune disease which affects black women more than some other groups, Akil says.

Being Mary Jane gets intimate with Mary Jane, showing her pulling notes from the walls and shoving stuff under her bed when a lover arrives, primping for dates in the bathroom and dealing with the ups and downs of relationships. The show displays her failures and deals with infidelity, contraception and masturbation.

Watch Being Mary Jane trailer here:

"Mara allows the audience to see everything that goes into Mary Jane, whether that be the calls with her mother or her Post-It notes, her constant reminders of the person she wants to be," Gabrielle Union says.

Akil adds: "I wanted to show those raw, real sides, the secrets that we keep to ourselves, so that maybe we can see ourselves and say it's OK."

Tfilm cites statistics that 42% of black women have never been married, although it then says that this is one black woman's story and not representative of all.

"She's more than just a percentage number. She is a person, and this is what she's going through," Akil said. "And maybe you'll walk away with a little more understanding and compassion for her."