Uzo Aduba didn't think she had a "place at the table" in Hollywood as a "gap-toothed, dark-skinned Black actress".
Uzo Adbua didn't think she'd be a hit in Hollywood
The 'Orange is the New Black' star got her first big break playing Suzanne 'Crazy Eyes' Warren in the hit Netflix prison drama, a role that won the actress an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 2014, an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2015, and two SAG Awards for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series in 2014 and 2015.
However, she has admitted she didn't have much confidence in her career and thought she was only destined for theatre.
She told Parade magazine: "The year before I got Orange, I started to get honest with myself about what I really wanted. And going back to the idea of the seat at the table like, I didn't even dare honestly to dream of anything beyond the theatre. I didn't see a space for me in Hollywood. I was an oddball.
Asked if she was speaking as a woman of colour, she clarified: "I'm saying this as a gap-toothed, dark-skinned Black actress with an African-sounding name. There's more nuance to it. This was a very different time - there was no Idris Elba or Chiwetel Ejiofor or Lupita Nyong. It was more than 10 years ago but feels like 100 years ago."
Asked if she ever thought about changing her name she replied: "In my culture, the keeping of one's name is important. Giving that up would be giving up so much of myself."
The 42-year-old 'Painkiller' star admits she was not "daring" enough to put herself forward for some roles, only doing four auditions around the same time she got the call from Netflix.
Asked if she did lots of auditions, she said: "Not a lot. I had been living in New York for about nine years and only auditioned for about four things in total.
That's a combination of not being thought of and not being called and not being daring."
When she did land 'Orange is the New Black', hardly anyone had heard of Netflix as a streaming service.
She said: "Yes. Yes. Girl, yes. Forget about even the audition. Even while I was shooting it, I was walking around telling people, 'Oh, I'm doing this thing for Netflix.' And they're like, 'What's that?' People only knew Netflix because it sent DVDs in the mail. So, I said that it was a web series and maybe it was going to come out on YouTube.
It helped that 'House of Cards' came out first because that was a reference point, but I still had to be like, 'There's something called a 'Smart TV'."