Javicia Leslie was all dressed up, with nowhere to go.
Trapped in strict quarantine, she spent a week without speaking in person to anyone outside her Airbnb in Vancouver, British Columbia. She was there to finish filming the 2nd season of the CW series “Batwoman”, who has just returned from a trip to Los Angeles to see her family on vacation. Now, not even her hair and makeup artists could get in
“It’s a good thing that I’m so busy,” she said. “I don’t have time to be alone.”
Or monotonous. Leslie, 33, who will become the first black actress to portray Batwoman on screen when the second season of the series opens on Sunday, has been lighting up the room she calls home since August, with a white top off her shoulder, stacked quadruple earrings and a strong shade of eye-popping pink lipstick.
“I will be here until May,” she said. “But I managed to see my family for two weeks, so now I feel like I can finish the last five months strong.”
While waiting to resume filming the final half of the new season of “Batwoman”, she is going through the dark winter days watching the FX drama “Pose” and looking forward to spring, when her garden blooms with tulips and huge sunflowers they have “Almost 2.5 meters high”.
In this respect, she is not much different from her newly created character, Ryan Wilder, a young homeless woman who lives in a van with her plant before starting to fly between the rooftops of Gotham City as Batwoman. Ryan puts on the boots of the previous Batwoman, Bruce Wayne’s wealthy businesswoman and cousin, Kate Kane (Ruby Rose), but, as Leslie noted, his Batwoman is hardly a carbon copy.
Although, like Kate, Ryan is athletic and a proud lesbian, she is also more messy, more stupid, more wild. And while Kate grew up with two supportive parents and was the first of her class at an elite military academy, Ryan grew up alone in the streets full of criminals. “I know how they think,” she says in the new season. (Kate was not killed – her disappearance is critical for the new season – but Rose abandoned her lead role last year, citing a difficult recovery from an on-set accident.)
Leslie previously starred as Ali Finer, an atheist whose life was turned upside down by a Facebook friend request for “God” on the CBS series “God Friended Me”, and as a spoiled party girl in the police drama BET + “The Family Business. ”But this is his first leading role in a major series.
In an interview on Monday, she discussed the residual effect of being cast as a black superhero, what it was like to grow up loving Barbie and superheroes and the thrill of doing many of her own stunts. (She is a martial artist.) These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
Your character, Ryan Wilder, was recently created for this series. How does it compare to Kate Kane?
They come from different worlds. Ryan has a little bit of comic energy because she is so flawed. I always think of her as someone who breaks a bowl in a china store, like, “Whoa, what a pity. I didn’t want to do that, but I did. ”She is not as smooth as most superheroes. It wasn’t a situation where I had to try to make her different from Kate – she just is.
Did you know before you were cast that you would be the first black actress to play Batwoman if you got the part?
It crossed my mind a few times during the audition, but it really fell after I got the part. When I saw myself on a billboard like Batwoman for the first time two weeks ago, I only had to take a minute to live in the moment.
Who was the first person you told after being cast?
My mother, of course. She was super excited, like, “I’m going to be Batmom!” It is strange to say now that I am Batwoman, but she was my superwoman while growing up. She raised my brother and me alone while serving in the army, so I saw her fury daily.
Who were some of your other heroes growing up?
As a person of color, I was a huge Storm fan of “X-Men”, and Catwoman was the coolest supervillain. Outside the world of comics, it was people who used their art as activism – people who fought for their right to exist in the entertainment industry, such as Diahann Carroll, Dorothy Dandridge and Nina Simone.
What was on the walls of your childhood room?
Barbie everything. I simultaneously loved the superheroes I saw on TV and Barbie, who was right in front of me and allowed me to create my own personalities and worlds. I loved my Black Barbies, Barbie Dream House and Barbie Corvette.
How did you feel the first time you wore Batsuit?
I felt an immense responsibility because I represented a superhero. I had a huge bat sign on my chest. I was excited, but I felt his weight.
Do you feel frustrated that it took until 2021 to launch the first Black Batwoman?
The first Black Batwoman is the beginning of the change, but it should have happened a long time ago. Our world is very diverse, and leadership roles in entertainment need to reflect that.
Have you ever felt like you lost a role because you were black?
Not that I know. But, of course, it’s never so easy for me to say, “You didn’t choose me because I’m black.” When I started, black actors were not seen for leading roles in programs and films, unless there was a creator of black content. They were the only people who hired us.
What frustrates you the most in the entertainment industry?
You can’t just hire a person and say that you’ve done the performance. You have to make sure that a person is supported by a diverse newsroom, several stuntmen, several substitutes – it’s a ripple effect.
How close do you think we are to real representation on television?
We are still far, far away. When I was hired as the first black Batwoman, they also had to hire a black double and a black double. Our stunt coordinator, Marshall [Virtue], worked so hard to find a black stunt driver, and it just showed how much underrepresentation there is in this industry. And you look at the teams, and maybe 10 percent of them are people of color. Now that we have programs like the Ava DuVernay initiative [Array Crew, which connects underrepresented crew members to hiring managers], which allows people who create content to find people of color, LGBTQ people and women in a database, there is simply no more excuse. If you want a black camera operator, now you can find someone.
You didn’t prove bisexual to your mother until you got the part. Were you nervous?
My mom and I don’t talk about sex in general, so it wasn’t like I was hiding anything. I never felt like I should hide who I was – I’m from Upper Marlboro, Maryland, which has a very inclusive, loud and proud queer community. There was never a time when I had to fear anything because of who I am. But when I got the part, I wanted to have this conversation with her because I didn’t want her to discover anything she thought she didn’t know about me from someone else.
How did she react?
She was like, “You are my daughter and I will love and support you, no matter what.” Never looked like one going out time; it just seemed like a conversation. I was already walking my truth; I was just informing my mom.
You show some unhealthy skills in martial arts in the new season. Did you do all your own stunts?
Not all of them. But a lot of them, especially getting in and out of my scenes. I love being, like, 50 feet in the air and seeing all of Vancouver below me.
What encourages you in the entertainment industry?
I am proud that, as an underrepresented person in the industry, I am reaching out with my elbows out and making way. We are no longer allowing ourselves to be silenced.