Actor brings authentic self to debut role
Star hopes ‘The Prom’ speaks directly to young people who identify as LGBTQ
During her second day ever on a film set, Jo Ellen Pellman came face to face with an irateMeryl Streep.
“You oweme a house!” Streep, a three-time Oscar winner snarled, eyes flashing, as she ripped off her blazer and lunged at the 24-year-old ingénue.
Pellman’s eyes widened. “I’m so sorry!” she said, holding up a hand in apology.
“And… cut!” Pellmanwas playing EmmaNolan, a high school student in a close-minded Indiana townwhowants to take her girlfriend to the promin theNetflix adaptation of the musical “The Prom.” Like Emma, Pellman is aMidwesterner whoidentifies as queer. But unlike her character, the young actor grewup in a supportive environment that has affected howshe views the film’s potential.
“For young peoplewho identify asLGBTQ, I hope it can be a two-hour break fromall that’s happening in theworld,” she said. “Like, ‘It’s going to beOK. My people are out there.’”
Still, this is her first film role, it happens to be the lead, and her co-stars— including Streep, James Corden andNicole Kidman as narcissistic Broadway actorswho parachute in to help her character— are names she has long looked up to.
Pellman projected complete confidence in the presence of the stars, Ryan Murphy, the film’s director, said.
“She had no fear,” even though her experience until then had consisted of roles like GirlNo. 2 in an episode of “TheMarvelous Mrs. Maisel.”
Murphy, on the other hand, whose credits include “AmericanHorror Story” and “Pose,” said, “I was so nervous the first time I directedMeryl Streep— I think I did four takes. Iwas trembling.”
Pellman said shewas hardly immuneto Streep’s star power.
“I love that that’s theway it came across,” she said. “Inside, Iwas like ‘OMG, that’sMeryl Streep!’”
It tookMurphy all of one meeting to decide Pellman was his Emma.
“Iwatched her tape, and I knew,” he said. “She had that mixture of soul and spunk and spirit— and that amazing smile.”
Pellman, a recent graduate of theUniversity of Michigan, wasworking three jobs while going to open calls inNewYork City when she heard about the nationwide search to cast the role.
“It felt like a long shot,” she said. But Pellman, as a queerwomanherself, connected with Emma’s optimism and determination when she sawthe play on Broadway with Caitlin Kinnunen in the part.
She didn’t knowuntil shortly before her meeting withMurphy that Ariana DeBose, whoplaysEmma’s girlfriend, Alyssa Green, would be the only other actor there. “I sawAriana’s name on the call sheet, and I freaked out because she’s someone I’ve looked up to my whole career,” she said.
ButMurphy said that if
Pellmanwas nervous, she didn’t let on.
“As soon as Jo Ellen talked about her life, she didn’t even have to read,” he said. “She spoke very movingly about being a queerwomanand having a gay singlemomwho raised her. I remember she walked out and Iwas just like, ‘Thank God that’s over. We’ve found our girl.’”
Pellmanwas less sure. But she did get one hint at her interview. “He hugged us at the end of the audition,” she said.“Whendoes that ever happen? ARyan Murphy hug? That’s huge!”
WhenMurphy called the next day to tell Pellman she’d landed her dream role, shewas perusing the coats at a thrift shop.
The first person she calledwas her mother. Or, rather, tried to. Monica Pellman didn’t pick up.
Itwas a rare absence for thewomanPellman credits with raising her in a supportive, LGBTQaffirming household— an
experience that she’s grateful diverges fromEmma’s.
“WhenI came outmy senior year of high school, itwas no big deal,” she said. “I just blurted out one night whilewatchingTV, ‘Mom, I think I’m queer.’ And she was like, ‘That’s completely fine.’ She justwantedme to be happy.”
Pellman’s mother, whom she calls “prettymuch the coolest person ever,” declined to be interviewed.
UnlikeEmma, Pellman was not an outcast growing up in Cincinnati, which is a far cry fromEdgewater, Indiana, the film’s fictional setting.
She characterizes her high school as “pretty progressive.” Most of her close friendswere gay, she said, adding, “I’m lucky because Iwas never bullied.”
Itwas that affirmation that she drewfromin her portrayal ofEmmaas a forceful— if reluctant— leaderwhocomes into her own over the course of
the film.
“It’s the best feeling in theworld, knowing I can bringmy authentic self to the role,” Pellman said. “And not just be accepted, but celebrated.”
“Whenshe called to tell meshe got the role, there was a certain rightness in theworld,” BrentWagner, whorecently retired as chair of theUniversity of Michigan’s musical theater department, said. “Because if she hadn’t gotten it, she’d be out there fighting for the Emmasof theworld.”
She and DeBose, 29, a fellowqueerwomanwhom Pellman calls “the one personwhoalways knows exactly what I’m going through,” co-founded the UnrulyHearts Initiative to connect youngLGBTQ people with organizations that help provide housing, mental health services and mentorship.
That isn’t the only time she has shared her talents. In 2017, she traveled to India, conducting theater workshops inMumbai with incarceratedwomen and victims of human trafficking.
Despite the praise heaped on her recently — Kidman, in an email, referred to her “1940s movie star face”— Pellman has SelinaMeyer’s mouth. “During the scenewhen I have all these dodgeballs thrown atme by members of the crew, I got hit in the face really hard,” she said, and reflexively screamed an epithet back. “Itwas very funny. Everyone laughed.”
DeBose saidPellman was the person on setwho brought people together — and that they talk on FaceTime regularly. “She’s Emma2.0,” she said. “She’s great at cultivating community and is the personwho rallied the troops.”
Pellman said she hopes the film speaks directly to young peoplewhoidentify asLGBTQ. “I hope they’re like, ‘I’mworthy of a happy ending,’ ” she said.