Photo: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP Starring in Barry Jenkins’s The Underground Railroad, Thuso Mbedu has made history as the first South African to lead an American television series, but she’s not too concerned about it. Joining me over Zoom from Los Angeles, the 29-year-old thespian is all smiles and all about her art. While demure and gracious, Mbedu radiates a youthful curiosity fervently speaking with her hands about her life’s calling: storytelling.
The Underground Railroad explores the notion of exceptionalism. Cora’s dear friend and fellow slave Caesar tells her she is “good luck” in the opening scene, and the sentiment is later reiterated by the many friends she makes during her odyssey toward a new life. While the central themes of good fortune and uniqueness are integral to Cora’s hero’s journey, it begins to haunt her. She rejects it at every turn, oftentimes pushing her closest loved ones away.
At the end of the school year, Mbedu performed an original poem for the drama department’s final exam. “When I’d written it, it wasn’t meant to be seen or read by anyone else. It was an introspective poem about myself to myself,” she says. Right after the performance, people began to weep and cry and thank Mbedu for her vulnerability. At that moment, something shifted. “I was like, ‘This is what I want to do with the rest of my life.
From there, Mbedu was ready to tell a story. She hopes audiences can draw parallels between the events depicted in the series and the current state of American affairs. In episode one, there are slave catchers and slave patrollers; now we have a police state. In episode two, various forces attempt to sterilize Black bodies; now we see Black mothers scared of whether they will live through childbirth.
That's storytelling with a purpose. Humble and understanding the assignment.