Stella Baker on Her New The CW Series and the Items She Splurged on for Summer

Who are some of the creators that make you excited to work in this business?

There’s a lot. I have my old-school faves, but the contemporary people who inspire me a

lot are… Florence Pugh is really talented, and I love watching her. I think Kelvin Harrison Jr. is a really talented actor, and I love watching his movies. I think Sam Levinson is doing really interesting work. Succession is an amazing TV show and an amazing cast. It’s been a weird year, but I think there are a lot of artists reinventing the craft in a really exciting way. 

Your parents are also actors. Did you know from a young age that this was the career path you wanted to take?

No. I think maybe deep down I did. My mom started acting when she was 11. She had a strong career in Australia and ended up leaving high school early to continue her acting career. My dad has had a strong, solid career. Growing up, the narrative was very much, “This is a really difficult industry, and it’s based on luck, and if you can make a living doing it, that’s incredibly rare, and you are really lucky, and it doesn’t happen to many people.” The messaging was very much, “Education first and then acting later, if that’s something you want.” So I spent most of my life being like, “I’m not interested. I want to write. I want to be a writer.” I went to college and studied philosophy, but deep down, I was always so curious about it and wanted to try it, but I was just scared. I did a play and had so much fun doing it, and people were like, “Hey, you are good at that,” and I was like, “Well, great. Thank God. Now, I can just focus on this thing finally.” My parents came to see that play. I was 20, and I was like, “This is what I want to do, and I’m going to try and go to grad school for it.” I remember my dad saying to me, “If you’re happy making no money doing this for the rest of your life—because that’s likely what will happen—then this is a very solid path to follow.” I’ve been really lucky so far, and I feel really grateful. I don’t know what will happen next, but I just love acting. 

You co-wrote, produced, and starred in the short film Candace. What are the kinds of projects that interest you as a writer and/or producer? Do you have any other projects in the works?

Yeah, I have a few scripts in the works, but I don’t know if I want to talk about them. They feel very nascent, you know? It’s definitely something I want to do. I would love to write and direct, and I have scripts I’ve been working on for years, and I’ll get there.

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