Orange Is The New Black

Season 4 M-Net Edge (*102) 21:00

Samira Wiley’s character Poussey Washington is a favourite in prison drama Orange Is The New Black (2013-current) because of her smile and loveable, loyal personality. And while drug-trafficking inmate Poussey was a military brat with no focus, 29-year-old Samira had a very different upbringing…

Her parents Dennis and Christine 1

co-pastored the first black church in Washington DC since the ’80s – the Covenant Baptist United Church Of Christ. Their church was also performing civil unions in 2007, long before the state recognised gay marriage.

Open-minded Samira says that her 2

parents and their experiences have taught her a lot. “I’ve seen them dragged through the mud, but I wouldn’t be who I am without them,” she says.

She studied drama at the presti3

gious Julliard School in New York, where she met bestie Danielle Brooks, who plays Poussey’s prison pal Taystee in Orange Is The New Black. Samira graduated in 2010 and worked as a bartender to make extra cash.

Samira also does voiceover work 4

and voiced character Michonne in the 2016 videogame The Walking Dead: Michonne, based on the hit zombie show The Walking Dead (2010-current).

Like her character, Samira is gay. 5

In 2014, she started dating Orange Is The New Black writer Lauren Morelli who came out about her sexuality that same year. Says Samira, “Our relationship started as a professional relationship and I admire Lauren’s work as a writer. I was such a fan of hers from the beginning.”

Samira also loves Shakespeare and 6

“clichéd as it sounds, I want to play Juliet [in Romeo & Juliet],” she says.