first spotlight. i wanted to feature new faces around hollywood. especially black actresses. we can
talk about black hollywood. the quantity. the quality. or we can think positive and embrace and support our people who are paving the road making it a little easier. rutina caught my eye with her debut as the star of how she moves. turns out she is a juilliard grad....
and you know how that makes me feel.
:>spotlight on: rutina wesley
“I was born to be onstage. I loved storytelling..... I feel like that was my path.” -rutina wesley
rutina wesley hails from las vegas nevada where her father was a tap dancer and mother a show girl, surrounded by the arts at a young age. she graduated from las vegas academy of international studies, performing and visual arts. it was after high school rutina settled on pursuing acting. knowing she would have to leave her home of las vegas to pursue bigger dreams, and after missing theatre school auditions, she landed at university of evansville in indiana majoring in theatre performance. after reciving her undergraduate degree she auditioned for the prestigious acting program at the juilliard school in new york city
[dream]and became a part of group 34. while at juilliard she appeared in several stage productions, such as The Winters Tale , Macbeth and The Marriage of Figaro.
She also did a summer stint @ London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts
[anotherdream] where she landed the role of juliet in a production of the Shakespeare play, Romeo and Juliet. after being cast and ending up on the cutting room floor for the film Hitch, rutina graduated and was soon picked up by director david hare. she made her broadway debut as one of the original cast members in hare's The Vertical Hour with julianne moore and bill nighy.in 2007 rutina made her screen debut starring in How She Move, an independent film that premiered at Sundance and brought rutina to the forefront. currently rutina wesley stars as tara in everyone's favorite vampire show, True Blood which is currently in its second season. catch it on hbo sundays@ 9pm
my current inspiration. her story is so similar to my own and where i want to go. congratulations and many blessings in your journey rutina! cant wait to make some art with you. like that shakespeare prod. im on it.
sources: wikipedia, juilliard, kam williams interview. pics.googl images
