An Emmy for a role landed when she quit acting

UZO ADUBA’s enthusiasm during this interview was contagious. RUBEN V. NEPALES

LOS ANGELES—On the day that Uzo Aduba decided to quit acting, she got the Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren part in “Orange Is the New Black.” She recently won her first Emmy (Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series) for the role. Uzo, cheerful and blessed with an enthusiasm that is quite contagious, told us about the stroke of fate on a single day that radically changed her life.

“Actually, on the day I got this job, I had quit acting for the first time in my life,” began the actress, who wore a sleeveless dress that bared her toned arms. “Actors have moments when they’re like, ‘This is so hard. Should I stop?’ In my heart, in my mind, I had never quit…until that day. I went home ready to go pursue something else.”

IN A Christian Siriano gown on the red carpet of this year’s Emmys. AP

“Both my parents are from Nigeria,” said the Massachusetts native whose credits include stage performances, among them “Coram Boy” on Broadway. She attended Boston University’s College of Fine Arts. “I’m a first-generation American-Nigerian. We’re Ebos [ethnic group]—the more traditional path would be a professional career—medicine, law, engineering, business, finance. My parents always supported me.”

With a smile, the actress whose full first name Uzoamaka means “the road is good” in Nigerian, shared, “My mom is this little Ebo woman. To all of us, her kids, she was like, ‘I don’t care what you people do. Whatever it is that you do, just do it well.’”

She continued, “When my mom dropped me off at the train station—when I moved to New York City (to pursue acting)—she turned off the car, looked at me and said, ‘Uzo, just work hard. I don’t care what it is you’re pursuing, just work hard. Something will come if you work hard.’

“To this day, it stays with me. I just held on to that. That was the thing I wanted to do more than anything—to work hard. Gosh, this TV thing is hard. It wasn’t coming. I was working hard. I thought, maybe I should just go to law school. I said, ‘Lord, if you will find a way for me to go to law school, I will go.’”

Yet one more frustrating audition led her to finally decide to end her acting ambition that day. She explained, “I went to this audition for ‘Blue Bloods’ that day. I had been preparing all week for that audition. I thought, I might have figured out a way to play the part. But the directions I got were completely wrong. It was the first time I was going to Brooklyn—usually the auditions are in Manhattan. I was wandering around Brooklyn, trying to figure out where I was going.

“I got there 20 minutes late. I went in and read. I remember thinking, that went really well but you’re not going to get it because you were 20 minutes late. That’s the universe trying to tell you this is not for you. I said, ‘Uzo, put it down, let it go.’ So I left the audition immediately. I was crying all the way from Brooklyn back to my house.

“On the train, I remember, I closed my eyes, just said, ‘I quit, you win, I give up. I cannot do this anymore.’ That’s when I made that prayer. I just said, ‘My family always wanted me to be a lawyer when I was a little kid. If He will make the way for me to go and do that, I will go.’

TAYLOR Schilling wouldn’t mind having Oprah Winfrey as cellmate. RUBEN V. NEPALES

“Then two hours later, I got the phone call about ‘Orange Is the New Black.’”

The Netflix prison drama and its cast, including Uzo (whose unpredictable, wild-haired Crazy Eyes character is one of the show’s draws), have been winning acclaim.

The show’s catchy title even led President Barack Obama to use it in a joke in a televised White House event. Razzing US Speaker of the House John Boehner, noted for his artificial tan, and the Republicans for disliking Boehner more than they scorn the President, Mr. Obama cracked, “I guess orange really is the new black!” The presidential quip was wildly received.

‘That face’

Asked for her reaction when she heard no less than the President citing their show’s title from out of the blue, Uzo gushed, “Oh my gosh! First of all, I’m going to give you that face right now.” She then demonstrated that surprised and delighted look.

Uzo, who sang with the New England Conservatory at the White House in the late 1990s, said, “My feeling when President Obama made that joke was, I could not believe it. I humbly bring this up. I was there again at the White House for the African Summit dinner. My mother and I were sitting at a table with the President and the First Lady there. They are huge fans of the show. They are lovely, gracious, incredible people. I am just thankful that he made that joke. I thought it was funny.”

AS A CONVICT in the Netflix hit “Orange Is the New Black”. PHOTO from  imdb.com

In a separate interview, Taylor Schilling, whose lead character Piper Chapman is the romantic obsession of Uzo’s character, also related her reaction to Mr. Obama’s joke.

“I died,” quipped Taylor, garbed in a midrib-baring black ensemble. “I was with Uzo. Both of us were like, we didn’t know it was happening. Then it was just like (she broke into a scream of excitement): ‘Oh my God! Oh my gosh!’ The President knew who we were! It was exciting. I was very excited by it. I’m such a dork.”

If, just in case, she ended up in jail, who would she prefer to be stuck with in the cell? Taylor answered, “I would like to be stuck with Carl Sagan or Oprah Winfrey. Or maybe James Baldwin or Jesus.”

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