SHARP WOMAN

Has stars in her eyes

Cleopatra Coleman is starring in two TV comedies simultaneously, without missing a beat.

EARLIER THIS SUMMER, Cleopatra Coleman watched the solar eclipse from her set in Vancouver and was awestruck. Not by the celestial burlesque — though that was cool too — but by the unusual humanity of the event. “I went down to the water to watch it, and someone let me borrow their glasses so I was able to see it,” she says. “I like moments like that. I think they unify us.” Coleman knows a thing or two about appreciating great moments. The Australian actress is currently starring in two TV shows: Last Man on Earth and, as of this month, White Famous, the latest by Californication creator Tom Kapinos. Between the two she plays very different — but equally affecting — characters, delivering performances with such ease that you think she must see the world differently than everybody else. “There’s this thing called the overview effect that some astronauts have felt when they went up to space,” she says as she continues to recount the eclipse. “They look at the earth all small and vulnerable, sitting in a totally different time. It’s so crazy.” Maybe that’s it; maybe she really is just working on another plane, somewhere behind the sun.