Truly, Madly, Deadly_ The Unofficial True Blood Companion - Becca Wilcott [26]
The “huge culture shock” proved beneficial for Wesley, however, with her entire world view evolving alongside the opportunities she was offered, and more she had to fight for. “I’ve gotten away from feeling I’m too dark. We’re all women of color . . . [I]nstead of asking, ‘Why didn’t I get this?’ or ‘Why did the light-skinned girl get that?’. . . [I’m] focusing on the positive [and] celebrating all colors and all ethnicities.”
Ultimately, going to Indiana was the best choice Wesley could have made for herself. Upon graduating from the program, she landed a highly sought-after place at Juilliard School’s Drama Division (along with offers to attend four other of the top programs in the country) where she was put through her paces with roles in such classics as Macbeth, Richard III, The Winter’s Tale, The Marriage of Figaro, and In the Blood. She also spent a summer studying Shakespeare at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where she played Juliet.
Making a name for herself was always the plan for this driven performer. “My family always told me to dream big, so I made sure that I got out of [Las Vegas] and explored new places, because the world is huge.” Sage advice, because not long after she graduated from Juilliard in 2005, Sam Mendes (director of Alan Ball’s Oscar-winning film American Beauty) took notice of Wesley, casting her to star alongside Julianne Moore and Bill Nighy in the 2006 Broadway play The Vertical Hour by David Hare. “[A] young actor could not ask for anything more than to work with people of the caliber of Sam Mendes, Julianne Moore, and Bill Nighy . . . I learned so much just by watching them. And they treated me like family . . .”
The following year Wesley stepped into the role of Raya, a young woman trying to raise her tuition by entering a step-dancing competition, in the crowd-favorite How She Move by British director Ian Iqbal Rashid. “He met with me over lunch, and I remember I had my natural hair out, so I had this ’fro. I had my braids in, so I wasn’t looking very ingenue-ish. We talked about theater, and I told him how I know I seem really hard, with these Angela Bassett arms, but I’m really a flower . . . I won’t bite ya. I seem like I will, but I won’t.” To prepare for the role of a woman of Jamaican descent, Wesley studied with a dialect coach. She also underwent five weeks of intensive dance rehearsal. “The reason I trained so hard in school was so that I could be versatile and play any character. With all these [tricks] in my bag, I’m like a chameleon. I always tell other young actors to go to school, or at least watch movies to learn as much as you can.”
Call it hard work, good timing, or plain luck: Alan Ball had already cast the character of Tara Thornton, a fast-talking, surly bartender, in True Blood — a character, worth noting, that the novel series writer Charlaine Harris had originally imagined as Caucasian — with Passions actor Brook Kerr, but things took a turn in Wesley’s favor when Kerr was dropped and Wesley was brought in. “I just took it as sort of a blessing . . . no one wants to lose a job, but everybody wants to work . . . I related to Tara on a level that hit very close to home for me.” In the series, Tara battles a number of personal demons, including an alcoholic and evangelical mother who frequently beats and humiliates her.
Alan Ball noted that Wesley was one of the only actors who attempted to show Tara’s softer side. “Rutina just nailed the part from the beginning. She traded the toughness for vulnerability. She was really strong, present, and funny in her audition. I didn’t see the actress, I saw Tara.” He continues, “I like to work with actors who have been taught. They can come in and know instantly how to play a scene. Rutina trusts the material.”
Wesley echoes Ball’s sentiment, saying, “I immediately