JOIN USWhen Samira Wiley was first cast as Poussey Washington in Orange Is The New Black, she kept her night job. “I bartended the entire time that I shot Season 1 because I didn’t know if I was going to be in the next episode,” Wiley said. “I’d been ‘recurring’ on another television show before, and after the second episode, they never called me again. I’d thought I was the main character’s best friend.” She laughed. “I was not.”
Four seasons later, Poussey has become the Litchfield Penitentiary inmate everyone wants to be best friends with, and not just because of her high-octane hooch. The true crime of Poussey, a military brat whose teenage sin was falling in love with the base commander’s daughter, has always been hazy. But this season promises to be a revelation when Poussey meets her idol, Judy King (Blair Brown), a Martha Stewart-inspired lifestyle guru who has landed in the clink.
In an interview, the soulful, Juilliard-trained Wiley, 29, discussed role models and the love that calls itself Pousoso. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
This is a huge season for Poussey. What can we expect?
I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m just really wanting her to find some love. And she finds this connection with Soso (Kimiko Glenn). I’m also excited about the whole Judy King of it all. They say, “Never meet your heroes,” and Judy is like Beyoncé to Poussey. You really see that Poussey’s mind is leaving prison, even though her body is physically here. She’s just living in that place of hope.
Poussey seems like a prime example of the trouble with heavy sentences for low-level drug crimes.
Her original sentence was six years for having a backpack with joints in it. When you see someone like Poussey, who has so much potential, it’s sad because it really does mirror life.
You recently earned great reviews for the off-Broadway play Daphne’s Dive. Did you go into Juilliard for theatre?
I always had theatre in mind. I have yet to do Broadway, but it is still my No 1 dream. There’s something about a play, in which every single night is going to be different, that makes me feel alive.
Danielle Brooks, who plays Taystee on Orange, was also at Juilliard.
I sometimes get a talent crush on people because I’m so drawn in that I become enamoured with them. And Danielle is definitely one of them. She’s just so vibrant.
And your girlfriend, Lauren Morelli, is a writer on the show. Do you ever find your relationship playing out on screen?
No. (Laughs.) The writers are 3,000 miles away in Los Angeles, and that’s where everything happens.
Your parents are pastors. Were they accepting when you came out?
My parents were the first black Baptist church in Washington DC doing union ceremonies before (gay) marriage was legal. And they lost probably half of their congregation. But they’re strong in their convictions, and they are people I really, truly look up to.
How did their experience affect you?
I’ve seen my parents dragged through the mud. But I wouldn’t be the person I am today without them. I have a responsibility as a potential role model that I take seriously. It’s one thing to live my own life and know that I’m OK. But there’s another thing I want to take on, and that is letting people know that they’re OK, too.
What’s the moral of your story?
We can climb mountains with self-love.