At 35, Wiley is famous for two major television roles. One, her first real acting job, was in the prison series Orange is the New Black. For four years, she played fan favorite Poussey Washington. After that, she played Moira, an activist-turned-handmaid-turned-activist-again in the TV adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale. But she trained as a stage actor and is set to make her UK stage debut in the National Theatre’s revival of Blues for an Alabama Sky. She plays Angelos, a down-on-her-luck showgirl in 1930s Harlem hit by the Depression. This is her lunch break. it’s two weeks into rehearsals. They start work at 10am but, these days, that’s late. “I get up very early with my daughter,” she explains. Her wife, Lauren Morelli, a writer she met on OITNB, traveled to the UK with her, along with their 16-month-old baby, George. She shows me an adorable picture of George on her phone. “She looks zero like she’s 16 months old,” she says. “People definitely think there are two.” The ultimate sacrifice: as Moira in Handmaid’s Tale with OT Fagbenle. Photo: Jasper Savage/Hulu It is Wiley’s first time in the UK, although her mother was born here. It came straight from the set of The Handmaid’s Tale, which just finished its fifth season. “I’ve got two more years on my contract,” she says, sounding like she’s choosing her wording carefully. It’s a ruthless kind of show. Does this mean Moira will make it to season five? “Hahahaah,” he says, not taking the bait. “I don’t know! They don’t tell me!” It’s always been her ultimate goal to perform on Broadway in New York, but she seems happy to be in London. “There’s this prestige, at least in my mind, that comes with working at London’s National Theatre,” he says. “I thought, once I’m more established and people really understand that I’m a theater actor, maybe they’ll call me…” In fact, the play’s director, Lynette Linton, first called Wiley with the idea in 2019 “I was talking about who would it could be Angel. It just made perfect sense,” Linton tells me. The two have become firm friends. “It’s going to sound crazy, but it lights up a room. She’s such a genuine person and that’s why she’s such a good actress.” The project was supposed to open in December 2020, but the pandemic kept pushing it back. One of the characters in the play works in a family planning clinic, while another, a doctor, performs abortions. If it felt relevant three years ago, then after the repeal of Roe v Wade, it feels especially on the nose. Wiley nods. “Trump was still here when we started talking about it. At the time, I didn’t feel like it could get any more relevant. I don’t think anyone imagined that this is something that could happen, especially as someone who was born after Roe v Wade. I didn’t even realize that something like this could change.” “I’ve never had a day where someone hasn’t recognized me”: dress from ajeworld.com, earrings from sophiebillebrahe.com. and necklaces from alighieri.com. Photo: Rosaline Shahnavaz/The Observer Wiley has form for playing characters that have meaning and life outside of the series that created them. On OITNB, Poussey’s death at the hands of a corrections officer was a devastating portrait of authoritarian brutality against Black people. In The Handmaid’s Tale, Moira is an activist forced into sexual submission under the extremist regime of Gilead. “Well, the roles I’ve played so far on TV, I think mean something. In particular, these characters have taught me what I can do with my voice and with the roles I take on.” People often ask her if she deliberately took on socially conscious roles, but she says it just worked out that way. “But now I know the power that comes with taking on a role like Poussey, like Moira, like Angel, that’s what I want to do.” Does this mean she’ll be getting parts like this for the rest of her career? “Absolutely. I don’t think there’s any other choice for me, right now. Like, I belong to every marginalized community. I’m black, I’m gay, I’m a woman.” That smile again and a wry laugh. “My country hates me! So I feel like it’s my responsibility, or that I’ve certainly accepted, to be the voice for all of my different communities.” Wiley always knew she wanted to be an actress. He grew up in Washington DC. Her parents were both pastors, though they are now retired. He suspects that watching them preach had an influence. “Absolutely. Seeing my parents preach, I know that’s where I get it from. Basically, it’s about getting out there and telling a story.” When she was nine, she heard an ad on the radio for a theater summer camp. Her parents they agreed to send her, and she went every year for the next decade. “I didn’t have access to acting, other than what I saw on Nickelodeon and stuff, but I knew I wanted to be one of those kids.” Now, Wiley is in board of a nonprofit organization in New York, called Molière in the Park, which aims to expand access to theater for all and do free productions in Brooklyn. “I really, really, really believe in trying to make theater more accessible”. Behind the scenes: with wife Lauren Morelli. The couple has a daughter together. Photo: Marcus Ingram/Getty Images for the NAACP After being turned down by every drama school she applied to – “that was definitely a real rejection of confidence” – she ended up at university, where a teacher told her there was one last school she hadn’t tried: the prestigious Juilliard, in New York. “I was like, look lady, I already did it. I’ve already auditioned everywhere, and it’s not for me.” But he hadn’t tried Juilliard. “I was coming from this intense place of rejection, all these schools saying no, and I was so scared. So I tell my mum and dad – don’t tell anyone I’m doing this. I just couldn’t stand the fact that if I was rejected, people would know about it.” Her mother agreed to keep it quiet. “And then he said the whole Bible study on Wednesday night and they’re all in church praying to God for me,” she laughs. Whatever it was, it came out in the end. At 19, she moved to New York. One of the friends she made at Juilliard was Danielle Brooks, who played Poussey’s best friend, Taystee, on OITNB. It was a coincidence that they were both on the show, though it meant that Brooks, who had already been cast, could help Wiley practice her lines. OITNB was one of Netflix’s first original series, along with House of Cards, so when it arrived in 2013, even Wiley wasn’t sure what it was. “People would say, ‘So it’s a web series?’ I’d be like, “Well, I don’t think so?” I don’t really know.” It was an overnight hit. Its entire first season was released on the same day, and with it the age of binge-watching had dawned. This meant that for the cast, fame was not so much a gradual process as an immediate life-changing event. “Absolutely instantaneous. Exactly,” says Wiley. She snaps her fingers. “It came out on a Friday and after that weekend, I’ve never had a day go by where someone hasn’t recognized me, no matter what country I’m in.” For many of the cast, it was their first big job. “A lot of them took it a little more gracefully than I did and embraced it, even liked it.” He leans in. “And I hated fame. So much. Poussey is a character that everyone loves, so people are invading my personal space a lot, picking me up, kissing me on the face, trying to follow me home, lots of scary stuff.” For a while after the show launched, Wiley kept her job as a bartender in New York until Morelli told her it might be time to give her notice. “I was like, ‘People are recognizing me, it’s getting weird…’ He said, ‘Stop!’” “I hated fame. So many’: Samira Wiley wears dress from ajeworld.com and earrings from sophiebillebrahe.com. Photo: Rosaline Shahnavaz/The Observer When Poussey is killed by a correctional officer who is resting on her neck near the end of season four, it devastated many fans. “My wife wrote that episode,” says Wiley. “I remember him calling me because I knew he was writing it. She was just yelling, crying and unable to speak. I had no idea what was going on. I’m like, what’s going on? And he goes, I killed her, I just killed her. And I say, who did you kill? Of course, he meant that he had finished the script.” The episode was written after the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, both black men who were killed by police officers. Wiley knew it would make an impact. Many fans were outraged that the show had killed off their favorite character. “But that was the point,” he says. “They always said that’s why they used Poussey, because it wouldn’t have had the same impact if he was a character that people didn’t love as much.” Was she ready to leave the show? “I always like my goat when people say I’m gone,” she smiles. “I know you’re not saying this, you’re asking, but…
