SAMIRA WILEY

The Orange Is The New Black star opens up about her rise from bartender to big-time actress

Samira Wiley is on the phone from her apartment in Toronto, where filming for the second series of The Handmaid’s Tale is wrapping up after six months. The first season of the show – based on Margaret Atwood’s 1985 dystopian novel – was lauded for its shocking portrayal of a totalitarian society where women have just one purpose: to procreate for the men in power and their barren wives – but then heroes like Moira (played by Wiley) come along, fighting the patriarchy and rebelling for the greater good.

Season two, which is coming soon to Channel 4, is, quite literally, another story. It’s uncharted territory. There’s no precedent, no blueprint for the return to the oppressive confines of Gilead – but Atwood is on board, collaborating with the show’s writers for the second chapter. Wiley, 31, laughs as she admits she had never read any of Atwood’s novels, but was blown away by the script. ‘I remember feeling, “This is awesome!” I mentioned it to my wife [Orange Is The New Black writer Lauren Morelli, who she married last year], and I had no idea that Margaret Atwood is one of Lauren’s favourite authors. She couldn’t believe that I had no idea who she was. I think she was a little disappointed in me!’

The show has won eight Emmys, two Golden Globes and 25 other accolades (Wiley was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress, losing out to her Handmaid’s co-star Ann Dowd). Producer and lead star Elisabeth Moss, who Wiley calls, ‘a dream of an actor, producer and friend’ also scooped a Golden Globe and an Emmy for her performance as Offred.

Yet before The Handmaid’s Tale, Wiley had already found her way into homes and hearts playing the bighearted and fearless Poussey in Orange Is The New Black, the hit series set in a women’s prison. It was here she met her wife, and Wiley reveals she’s the ultimate sounding board for her career choices, too. ‘When I read the script for Handmaid’s, even though I loved it, I was still apprehensive about the fact Moira was gay. I know that’s who I am, but I wanted to be seen as an actor and not just a gay actor.

So I had a little struggle with that, and then my wife told me I was crazy and that I should shut up and take the role!’

Wiley’s serious about what she sees as her responsibility as a black actor, too. She says that, growing up, Angela Bassett was the woman who gave her the confidence to pursue her passion. ‘It’s really hard to dream if you don’t see someone like you having done it before,’ she admits. ‘To know I’m on the other side and am able to give young girls hope, I love being here for the cause. I think visibility is of the utmost importance and I think that having so many diverse characters in this

day and age means our media, our television and our movies reflect what our actual world looks like.’

In playing The Handmaid’s Tale’s Moira, Wiley has become even more aware of the role she wants to carve out for herself. ‘She’s helped me understand my responsibility as a person with a platform,’ she explains. ‘I’m still figuring out my journey, but in the past few years I’ve become more open with myself and more of a champion of the LGBT community, and a lot of that I get from Moira.’

I wonder if Trump’s stance on colour, sexual identity or anything deemed ‘other’ has made her more outspoken? ‘Absolutely. It feels like a real necessity. It has to be countered with love, because it feels like this message comes from fear and hate. I want to make it my responsibility to radically love people.’

The past few years have transformed Wiley’s life. In 2013, when she landed her role on OITNB, Wiley was working as a bartender in New York. It was a job she was ‘scared to quit’ while shooting the show’s first season, after a bad previous experience with a series that didn’t get off the ground (‘I told everyone that I was going to be on this show and felt pretty embarrassed afterwards when the episodes didn’t air’). Yet on 11th July that year, everything changed – within hours of the prison drama hitting Netflix, Wiley was recognised by a viewer at her local pharmacy, and the attention hasn’t stopped since. ‘It’s been every single day of my life. I went from having complete anonymity in New York to having people follow me home.’ Wiley now lives in LA, which she says is a ‘much more liveable city’ thanks to the volume of famous people wafting around. ‘There are so many celebrities in LA and there seems to be some sort of unspoken etiquette that you have a little space and respect your personal bubble.’

While season one of Handmaid’s Tale was bleak, second time around, things have got even darker, as the plot delves into the murkier, toxic hinterland of The Colonies. ‘I definitely don’t suggest that anyone binge-watches – I think it’s a lot to take in,’ says Wiley, admitting even the cast found it heavy going, ‘I tried to rally the troops to go out on a Friday night, and have us let loose a little.’

Letting loose is Wiley’s default setting, partly thanks to the career-defining experience of OITNB. ‘It was such a fun, goof-off, crazy, playing-pranks-on-people set,’ she reveals. ‘I remember throwing food at each other in between takes. It was my first job and I didn’t really know what was going on – I probably did some things that I wouldn’t do now! We’d jump up and down, stand on tables and randomly have push-up contests.’

She says the cast became her best friends (she has just returned from a 72-hour trip to Sydney for the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras with her co-stars Danielle Brooks [Taystee], Lea Delaria [Boo] and Yael Stone [Lorna] when we speak), so it was extremely hard when her character, Poussey, was killed off around two years ago. ‘It was my life. My everything. I saw the first two episodes [after the death] and it was hard for me to watch,’ she admits. ‘Even though

I’m not in that season, it revolves around Poussey’s death. I met my wife on Orange,

I met some of my best friends of my life there, and to watch a show where Poussey – who I think sometimes is an extension of me – is no longer a person, was really hard. I planned to come back to it but I haven’t been able to yet.’

Fans took Poussey’s death hard. And that grief for a much-loved character still fills many of the comments on Wiley’s social media channels. ‘I knew it would be a shock to people, but gosh, I didn’t know it was going to be like this. There were two emotions – deep sadness and disbelief, or all-consuming anger. There was no in between. People still haven’t come to terms with it and I think, honestly, this just means we really did our job. We wanted to reflect the time that we’re living in, and black people were getting killed in the streets of America.

The writers felt a responsibility to show that.’

Handmaid’s Tale holds up that mirror to society, too

– and that realism doesn’t show any signs of abating in this season. Wiley says that as a cast, they haven’t discussed how they think the new episodes will be received, but admits she feels pressure for the series to be a success. ‘I feel like I have a responsibility to knock it out of the park again. It’s really good to have that. It makes me feel alive.’

‘I WANT TO MAKE IT MY RESPONSIBILITY TO RADICALLY LOVE PEOPLE’