SAMIRA WILEY

Wiley, 29, followed up her Screen Actors Guild Award– winning role as the good-natured Poussey Washington on Orange Is the New Black with the thriller Nerve, now in theaters. She was just cast in the Hulu adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale, available for streaming in early 2017. And on Aug. 31, she begins her run on the FX comedy-drama You’re the Worst as a new character, Justina, a therapist.

How would you describe Justina? She’s a young professional who is trying, despite all odds, to do her job to the best of her ability, to keep everything together. But that’s what everyone says, right? She’s probably a little crazy too.

How hard was it to say goodbye on the season finale of OITNB? It was extremely hard. I’m still in the process. I actually haven’t watched all of season four yet because doing that is really saying my final goodbye and I don’t know if I’m ready for that.

How did OITNB change your life? It has given me my career. I was a bartender when I first auditioned, and I actually stayed bartending the entire time that we shot season one because, being a struggling actor in New York, I didn’t want to put myself in the position of not having a job. I went from that to having it be difficult to walk down the street.

Is there a role that you’ve always wanted to play that you are hoping to get a chance at now? I really want to play a superhero. I want to take the role-model thing up a notch. I’ve always been a fan of movies and TV, and to be able to play the ultimate TV superhero would be awesome.