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NOTa year ago, Uzo Aduba had a Sliding doors moment. She decided to stop acting, just hours before landing her life-changing role. “I decided to quit on Friday September 14, 2012,” she remembers, the date engraved in her memory. “I was planning to call my agent on Monday and say ‘I’m done, I’m not doing this anymore.’ But at 5:43 pm that night, I got the call to come and play Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren in Orange is the new black. It was crazy. It always reminds me of that line of The Godfather Part III: ‘Just when I thought I was out they bring me back inside.’ ”
Thank goodness they did, as the 40-year-old has since become a three-time Emmy winner. Born in Boston to Nigerian parents, Uzoamaka Aduba studied classical singing in college before becoming an actor. After a decade of acclaimed stage work and television plays, she finally managed to win multiple Netflix Prison Success Awards. Orange is the new black. More followed last year for her turn as pioneering American politician Shirley Chisholm on the Hulu / BBC series Mrs. America.
Aduba now stars in reboot of HBO’s psychotherapy drama Processing. When the critically acclaimed series – adapted from Israeli creation Be’Tipul – first broadcast between 2008 and 2010, Gabriel Byrne played the role of a shrink from Baltimore. Now that has been revived with Aduba taking the lead role as Los Angeles-based therapist Dr. Brooke Taylor and last week she was Emmy nominated for her performance in the drama.
She sees three patients in one episode each per week, either on Zoom or in her posh mid-century Baldwin Hills home (after her office building was closed by the pandemic). Each fourth installment ends the week with a focus on Brooke herself. No spoilers, but it does have its own issues.
What attracted you to your Processing role?
Based on a conversation with the showrunners and the scripts they sent, it was an immediate yes. I understood the gap between Brooke’s professional life and her personal life behind the scenes. I also understood her experience of trying to navigate through pain and loss.
We learn that Brooke has lost a parent… it must have felt raw, after your own mother Nonyem dead of Cancer latest November. How did portraying your grief affect you?
In fact, I have found it to be very healing and therapeutic. My mom was the closest person I ever lost, so I didn’t know how my grief would manifest. What I know now, with a certain distance, is that this project entered my life at the right time. I was able to find a place to put my pain and get over it. I came out feeling good… I won’t say weightless, but certainly lighter.
The show has not been broadcast for 11 years. Why restart it now?
It was the right time. Globally, we have experienced a kind of collective trauma. We’ve been through a once-in-a-century global pandemic and what the lockdown is doing to body, mind, and spirit. Add in the public conversations about mental health that we are having right now and that is an important point to bring it back.
It was filmed under Restrictions related to covid. The script also makes explicit reference to the pandemic. Was it important?
This was essential, in part because the number of people seeking therapists is at an all time high. There has been an absurd rise during the pandemic. The need to talk to someone is obviously there. Not including it would have been ignoring the elephant in the room.
Is it helpful in reducing the stigma surrounding mental health to see people of color playing therapists and patients on screen?
I think so. This stigma still exists in all areas, but even more so in marginalized groups. The participation of both sides, as doctor or patient, is much lower. It is important to see someone of color both on the chair as a doctor and on the metaphorical couch as a patient. This allows people of color to see outlets other than the church as a place to seek advice and guidance.
Dr Brooke stands very still and listens a lot. Have you practiced your listening face in a mirror?
[Laughs] No, but I have spent decades watching my mother. She was an amazing social worker and listener. When you talked to her, she always stopped what she was doing. She would turn off the TV, put the book down, whatever, and give you her full attention, her laser-focused eyes and ears. I remember when I was a kid recording this and admiring it – the difference between listening and feeling heard. This is what I have tried to do with Dr Brooke and his patients. I didn’t want a whistle or a pin drop to interrupt when he heard them.
Have you been in therapy yourself?
I was in therapy before I started this show and still am now. I was taking my shoot during lunch breaks from the shoot, which was very meta.
How is Processing change your attitude towards your own therapy?
It definitely gave me more respect for the job. I always knew my therapist had other clients, sure, but feeling the weight of my own day with these fictitious clients made me think, “Wow, this is how your day begins and ends. It’s filled with pain, suffering, trauma, joy, whatever else, while keeping yours at the same time. It is heavy work.
Brooke is beautifully designed home will be a major topic of discussion. Do you share its taste?
I actually do. Oddly enough, do you know the sofa the patients sit on? I have the exact same sofa, down to the color of the fabric. There are other pieces of the decor that I will definitely borrow.
It also serves strong looks.
Lewks, you mean [laughs]. Yes, our costume designer, Tiffany Hasbourne, has done an amazing job creating a juxtaposition between Brooke’s unraveling personal life and her clothes. She makes a big effort to pull herself together. It’s particularly relevant right now, I think. Coming out of confinement, we know that no one wore lipstick, earrings or styled their hair every day. We were all in tracksuits. Her clothes illustrate her desire to look perfect, to look good when she is not at all well.
You are best known for the ensemble shows. Did you feel ready to steer your own flagship vehicle?
It was pressure, but cool pressure. I had the great privilege of learning the tricks of the trade on Orange for seven years as part of an ensemble. Then on Mrs. America, Cate Blanchett – Cate the Great, as I call her – was a born leader. She was a force of nature in the hot seat and I learned so much from watching her.
Shirley chisholm was the first black woman elected to Congress and first black candidate run for the presidential nomination. Did you feel a great responsibility playing such an important character?
Absolutely. Obviously, I never had the opportunity to meet her [Chisholm died in 2005], but I watched documentaries, read books about her and about her, and listened to many of her speeches before I put myself in her shoes. And his wig.
Have you felt any change in mood since the Biden administration?
It’s hard to say in the midst of the pandemic. What I hope is that when the world opens up again, we also open up mentally. True leadership is not just a matter of intelligence and experience, it is an ability to bring people together. This is only the beginning, but it will hopefully be part of this administration’s legacy.
Your Processing the character mentions his “creeping existential terror” over the past year. What kept you sane?
It was tough, but I was sort of living “the new normal” before the pandemic anyway, with everything going on with my mom. I enjoyed slowing down and spending time with my family. I have a lovely dog named Fenway. Mr. Fenway Bark, to give him his full name. He helped a lot.
What cultural things did you like during the lockdown?
I fell in love with Kate Hudson Siblings Day Podcast. I watched the same TV as everyone else, I think: King tiger, The Queen’s Gambit, the Ruth Bader Ginsburg document, the Hillary document. I can destroy you was super funny. Michaela Coel is a genius, I think… an incredible artist and talent.
What will be the first thing you do in a new A world without Covid?
Go overseas. I can’t wait to travel again. Can’t wait to go to Nigeria, Egypt, eat in Rome. And I love London so much, you don’t even know.
You have won many awards. Where do you keep them?
I just moved from New York to California and I’m still organizing my office, but they’re sitting on a shelf in there. I look at them and say, “Holy shit, this is crazy.
How would you like to use your singing skills more in your work?
I would kill to sing again. I practice every day. In fact, I have a singing lesson in a few hours.
You were a college athlete. Are you still running?
I got back to it this summer. I have been running and cycling which is new to me. I took a spin class this morning, actually. Coming out of confinement, I try to get back to the things that have brought me peace and happiness in the past. Fitness always has, so I sculpted this time for myself again and I love it.
You have invested in a National Women’s Football League team, Angel City FC. What inspired this?
Natalie Portman asked if I would be interested and I said yes immediately. I like women’s sport. I love everything that supports, uplifts and inspires women. The idea of LA having a new team made me so excited. My niece is a great footballer, so I was like, “This is for her.”
You had to play Aunt Uju in a television adaptation of Chimamanda Ngozi’s novel Adichie Americanah. What happened to this?
Good question. I think the project still finds its place. I can’t answer, so I’ll stop talking there.
What are the projects in the pipeline?
There are roles to come but I can’t talk about them yet. Let’s just say I can’t wait to get home – in so many different ways. Is it mysterious and enigmatic enough?
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