MYHA’LA HERROLD IS EMERGING AS A COMPELLING FORCE IN HOLLYWOOD. FROM HER BREAKOUT PART IN HBO’S INDUSTRY, TO HER MOST RECENT ROLE IN THE NETFLIX FILM LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND, SHE IS SHOWING THE WORLD HER UNDENIABLE TALENT IN BOTH TELEVISION AND FILM. ALONG THE WAY, MYHA’LA’S COMMITMENT TO PORTRAYING HUMANITY, IN ALL ITS CONTRADICTIONS AND COLOURS SHINES THROUGH. WITH HER WORK, SHE IS CHALLENGING STEREOTYPES OF WHAT IT IS TO BE A BLACK WOMAN, AS SHE BRINGS MULTIFACETED CHARACTERS TO LIFE. MYHA’LA TRANSFORMS HER CHARACTERS INTO MORE THAN JUST ROLES — THEY BECOME VESSELS FOR AUTHENTIC STORYTELLING AND CELEBRATIONS OF THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE AND ALL ITS COMPLEXITIES.
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Congratulations on the success of Leave the World Behind, which has been dominating Netflix towards the end of 2023. How are you feeling?
I'm super proud. When people like the work, that’s the best. I'm glad that people are enjoying it. I'm very proud of us.
What was it like working with industry giants like Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali and Ethan Hawke?
It was great. They are giants in their careers and legacies, and giants as human beings — in terms of their kindness, work ethic and respect. I was very much treated like a peer from day one. It never felt like anyone had the need to hold my hand through something, or wasn’t pushing me because they didn't know if I could keep up. I felt very well-respected from day one, which is a testament to them as human beings and as professionals. It was great.
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What was your first thought when you saw the script? How did it cross your path?
I got an audition. It came through the email. Before I read the script, I was given a description of the project; who's in it, and all of that. I saw the cast and that Sam Esmail was directing, and I was like, "Yeah, whatever it is, I'm down," just from that alone. Then I read the sides and the audition material and got an idea of who Ruth was, and I was into that. I was particularly excited for all the back-and-forths that Julia and I have. What an awesome opportunity to not only work alongside someone like her, but also get to snap at her. In what world do you get that opportunity to really go for it with someone who's going to give it back to you like that? Everything about it was an A+ for me.
Do you have a favourite memory or favourite part of the experience when you look back on this chapter of your career and what it was like shooting it or even promoting it?
I think there are so many takeaways from everything that you do. I feel like I'm always learning. I will always be learning. I hope I never get to a place in my life or work where I feel like I have nothing to learn. But one of the biggest takeaways is watching these people who have so much star power be so regular. They are just people. None of their star power has made them jaded or unkind. They're respectful, kind, hardworking human beings. They're inclusive. The way Julia commands a set as she leads with so much integrity and kindness. She knows everyone's name. She looks everyone in the eye. It was really great. It felt like a community.
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Right Full look Marc Jacobs, tights Wolford
You initially planned for a career as a theatre actress with Broadway aspirations. When did you decide to take that shift into TV and film? What prompted that for you?
It wasn't really intentional if I'm honest. I graduated college and I started working with my manager, who’s out of LA and is mostly TV and film geared. So 80% of the auditions I was getting were for TV and film, and that's literally just because there's more work in TV and film. There's plenty of work, but not a lot of work on Broadway or off-Broadway. The community is just a lot smaller. So I was auditioning more there, and after my first couple of gigs — my first bit of TV or my first indie — I felt like these roles that I was auditioning for, or the projects in which I was getting a lot of positive feedback and making a lot of friends in casting, were stories of people who I could relate to or see a bit of myself in. Stories that I felt particularly passionate about telling. I'm not sure that I ever felt like, "Oh, I want to tell this story,” in theatre or in musical theatre. I was like, "I want to sing. I just want to go be a storyteller," and I wasn't really specific about what kinds of stories I was passionate about telling. I really discovered that through my relationship with TV and film.
You’ve portrayed a variety of dynamic and complex characters that are so different. From Harper in Industry, to Jordan in Bodies, Bodies, Bodies. How important is it for you to be intentional about your roles?
I think a lot of people feel like — and I think this is true to a degree — when you're just starting out, you have to say yes to opportunities. The more you say yes, the more you find out when and how to say no. But it's been pretty easy for me to say no. I feel like I've been incredibly intentional from day one about the things that I want to do. I don't want to do work that I'm not passionate about. If I feel like I'm not the right person for the job, then I can't do it with integrity or authenticity. If I don't like it, then I'm not going to be committed. So I feel like the intention is yes, to a degree, what messaging am I putting out into the world? And the other one is I want to be happy when I do my work.
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To that point, through your work, you've also been able to challenge conventional narratives of Black womanhood on screen. Is that something that you connect with personally — existing beyond conventional narratives?
Yes. I think when it comes to all of my characters, I'm attracted to them because I relate to them - they don't fit into a box or stereotype of what we believe or what our media is telling us Black people or Black women are. Just by the nature of me portraying them, I hope I’m expanding the representation of Blackness on screen. There's a lot of debate in the comment sections about whether or not Harper is a good person, and that's not the point to me. I think I said this recently, that "I like these people that I portray, and people call them complex because they are more than one thing." I find one-sided characters to be quite boring and also just not very real. I'm many things. I hold a lot of contradictions and duality. I think that's important, not just to check a box and say, "Look at the colours of the rainbow that we have on screen." To let them be human, all of them, in the many contradictory things that they happen to be. It's not necessarily about putting idealism on screen or telling you, "All Black people are like this," or "All Black women are like that." Representation should mean putting humanity up there in all the shades and colours.
You mentioned your breakout role in Industry. Do you remember how you felt when it first came out? From there to now, where are you as an artist?
When the show came out, it was November of 2020, deep COVID, and I was alone. I was very alone. I wasn't even home for the holidays because I couldn't travel. There was no premiere. There was no getting together and doing a screening. There was none of that. So it felt quite surreal. It was one of those things where I was like, "Did it even actually happen?" So I was excited, but still quite unsure when it came out, because I didn't really know how people were going to respond to it. As the show has evolved, the audience has grown. When season two came out, we garnered a larger audience. Then, I felt a little more secure, especially as a person and as an actor. Because it was my first time leading a show, my first time being a season regular, and my first time living outside the country for X amount of time. We have some really amazing actors who are joining us in the third season because they respect the show, and that feels really good. I feel really proud of how far all of us have come because we have all essentially grown up with the show as well. It changes every two years. When it comes out, we are all different. We are all older. So yeah, it's a nice place to arrive.
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How do you see your career evolving over the next few years? Are there any other genres that you want to explore?
I'm really quite down for any and most things. Although horror, I still have a really hard time with. Just because I'm really easily frightened, and doing scary movies is one of the most exhausting things. because you're pretending to be scared, but your body doesn't know that it's not real. So you go home absolutely wrecked every day. I'd like to dip my toes in all genres. I hope that I continue to do work that moves me, that I'm passionate about. I'm lucky enough that I get to make a living off the thing I was doing for fun as a child. If I can continue to live that dream, it will be a blessing.
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Discover the full story in our upcoming SS24 CRAZY LOVE Issue - mid March release.
Interview by Jameelah Nasheed
Photography by Daniel King
Fashion by Aryeh Lappin
EIC Michael Marson
Casting by Imagemachine Cs
Production by Luke Perron & Fiona Lennon at HomeAgency
Hair by Courtney Ainey
Make-Up by Shyanna Beaujour
Stylist’s assistant Ella Christensen
