Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1475555
34 SAG-AFTRA | Summer 2022 | sagaftra.org work. But when I had sustained injuries from Hamilton that required me to give my body a break, the logical next [step] was trying to book on-camera work. I went back to acting classes and … my acting teacher forced me to humble myself [and] it was the best thing anybody's done for me. Nobody cared that I was in Hamilton. It was, 'Can you talk, can you act, do you know what you're doing?'" It's become clear that DeBose knows what she's doing — although she isn't simply letting her accolades be definitive proof. In January, she joins Marvel Comics lore as a co-star of Kraven the Hunter, part of Sony's Spider-Man Universe. She's as committed to challenging herself as she's ever been, and at a moment when she has her choice of roles, that has meant taking on characters whose experiences are different than her own. Which brings us to West Side Story's Anita. In interviews, DeBose has often vocalized how playing Anita gave her an opportunity to explore her own Afro-Latin MARY KOUW/CBS DeBose hosts the 75th Annual Tony Awards on June 12. DeBose and co-star David Alvarez in Steven Spielberg's West Side Story. NIKO TAERNISE/20TH CENTURY STUDIOS