If you only know Teyonah Parris as Dawn on Mad Men , you’ve got some catching up to do. The star of Dear White People and Survivor’s Remorse officially has gone from supporting actor to scene-stealer.
Roadside Attractions / Via Tumblr
Teyonah Parris may have broken ground as the first black actor on AMC's game-changing series Mad Men, but she's not a household name. At least, not yet. However, if her latest slew of roles is any indication, it won't be long before Parris joins the ranks of some of the boldfaced names with whom she studied at The Juilliard School, where she attended alongside Adam Driver, of Girls fame, in between Samira Wiley and Danielle Brooks, stars of Orange Is the New Black, and oh — Nicole Beharie of Sleepy Hollow was a classmate too.
"It's just so many great folks and we all support each other and lift each other up," the twentysomething actor told BuzzFeed News, sitting on a couch in her hotel suite at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills. "It's really special."
This talented bunch is enjoying a moment — and Parris is taking so many shots she can't help but score.
She stars as the fame-driven Coco Conners in one of this year's most highly anticipated films, Dear White People, which expands into theaters nationwide on Oct. 24. She's Missy Vaughn, who brings refinement to the Calloway family in the comedy series Survivor's Remorse, which premiered Oct. 4 on Starz and has already been renewed for a second season. She's Wanda, "the random black best friend" in the rom-com spoof They Came Together. And she'll also appear in the second half of Mad Men's final season, where she plays Don Draper's former secretary, Dawn Chambers, newly promoted to head of personnel at Sterling Cooper & Partners.
With all these high-profile projects being released in rapid-fire succession, Parris' ascent has gone from 0 to 100, real quick. But it'd be a mistake to call the South Carolina native an overnight success.
"Everything just kind of happened now, and it was a bit of a shock for me as well," Parris said of the coincidental timing, even though some of her projects were filmed one to two years ago. "It's been exciting, and it hasn't been an overnight situation at all."
Teyonah Parris as Colandrea "Coco" Conners in the film Dear White People.
Courtesy of Roadside Attractions / Via Ashley Nguyen
Two years ago, the incisive concept trailer for Dear White People left people thirsty for the full film. Billed as "a satire about being a black face in a very white place," it raised 166% of its crowdfunding goal, and it finally sees a nationwide release this week. Parris realizes the movie's title might read as polarizing, but she's been quoted before explaining that the film is more about identity than race.
"People are like, 'Ahh, it must be about X, Y, or Z," Parris said. "I think when people see it, they'll realize that it's a much more human story and it just so happens to be being told by four African-American people."
She continued, "I think no matter who you are, at some point in your life you've probably said, 'OK, well, who am I and where do I fit in?'"
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