After it happened, the character wanted to make sure she stayed on the show. What do you think was going through her head?
Exactly. That was the most impactful thing. Regardless of her being so incredibly violated, her dignity was completely shot, she still didn’t want that to disqualify her as a candidate to fall in love with Adam. That’s kind of what ends up happening in a world like that, and it’s kind of what happens in abusive relationships from what I’ve studied. They still want to stay even though they’ve gone through such a traumatic experience. She still wanted to stay, she still wanted to be a candidate, and she didn’t want that to be the reason she didn’t make it through.
The show puts a pretty harsh spotlight on our expected standards of beauty. You’ve been in the industry for years – what do you think it gets right?
Growing up, I wasn’t really allowed to wear makeup. I still don’t know how to do my own hair. I only started highlighting my hair because of work on-set. I was never really allowed to partake in the process of ‘being beautiful.’ It was always from the inside out. So for me as an actor, I really didn’t ever give in to having to portray a beautiful character. I would actually feel under pressure of ‘oh my gosh, I don’t know how to do makeup.’ For this show, we had to have our nails done, we had tans, we had heels. That to me is the most stressful thing to upkeep because it’s so opposite of what I see beauty as. Amongst the other girls, all longtime actors, we discussed this and the pressure of being beautiful. Especially in today’s media with things being shot in High Definition and access to the internet, you can really see how things are altered with Photoshop and different types of lighting, different filters. I think true beauty from the inside out is becoming more prevalent and realized. There’s such a freedom in that.
Where can we see you next?
I just wrapped a hyper-violent gangster epic called “Darc.” There’s a lot of blood, a lot of fighting, a lot of gore. I play a kidnapped daughter, taken hostage by a Japanese clan. That’s a completely different character. It’s also a character isolated from the world, but in this instance, wardrobe, makeup, hair didn’t matter, it was raw and gritty.
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