Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1475555
sagaftra.org | Summer 2022 | SAG-AFTRA 33 Ariana DeBose accepts The Actor ® for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role. STEWART COOK/SHUTTERSTOCK FOR SAG AWARDS I t's safe to say that Ariana DeBose is becoming a household name. That is, if she isn't already. Her performance as Anita in director Steven Spielberg's West Side Story guaranteed her a slew of honors during the 2022 awards season. By its end, she had received the Screen Actors Guild Award ® for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role as well as the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Not only that, she made history as the first openly queer Afro-Latin actor to do so. "It was one of the first times I had stepped out as an actor [and] really owned that [identity]," says DeBose, when asked about receiving The Actor ® . "Finding myself and my first major studio film being recognized by this massive delegation of people was really special. It's wild, even to be nominated; I was like, 'Wow!'" The buzz that's followed DeBose since then has only grown. She has hosted gigs for the 2022 Tony Awards and Saturday Night Live, and with more on the way, it's only expected to get louder. If there's ever been a perfect time to get to know Ariana DeBose as a performer, as a rising star and as a passionate human being, this is it. The best way to start is from the beginning. Born and raised in North Carolina, DeBose recalls knowing that she wanted to be a performer at a very young age. At the same time she was reenacting soap opera scenes on the staircase of her grandmother's apartment complex, she was developing a love for dancing and taking classes. As she got older, that love expanded into singing and acting, but essentially, she credits her mother for pushing her to explore theater. "She was constantly challenging me to do things I wasn't good at instead of staying where I was comfortable, and that's when I got into theater; because I wasn't good at it and it made me work harder," DeBose tells SAG-AFTRA. "Ultimately, what I've learned is that I was good at stepping into someone else's shoes and having empathy and compassion for them … and as an adult, that's [become] my superpower." DeBose's talent and powers have certainly brought her a long way. After an abrupt end to her time as a top 20 finalist on season six of the dance competition show So You Think You Can Dance, she ultimately found a new stage on which to perform: Broadway. While Hamilton fans know her as the original Bullet (2015-2016), her other credits include Bring It On: The Musical (2011), Motown: The Musical (2013), Pippin (2014) and Summer: The Donna Summer Musical (2018), which earned her a Tony nomination. Along the way, she lit up the screen with Netflix's The Prom (2020) and Apple TV+'s Schmigadoon! (2021–present). She's currently appearing in season four of HBO's Westworld, and, of course, West Side Story. With so many notable stage and screen credits, did DeBose ever imagine working on Broadway, television and the big screen when starting out? Did she ever feel as though she had to choose one or the other to be successful? Her answer is a resounding no: "I said yes to the work that I was being offered, and for about 10 years, it was onstage