She/Her/Hers/Princess

If you’re familiar with the work of Shaunette Renée Wilson, you most likely recognize the actress from her role in 2018’s box-office-busting cultural sensation, Black Panther, or as the brilliant surgeon, Dr. Mina Okafor, in the FOX series, The Resident. Her bold, confident personality sparkles on the screen and brings a captivating fusion of grit and lovability to each of her roles. But if you only know Wilson for her acting chops, you’re just seeing a fraction of the incredible artistry, creativity, and vision she has to offer. Born in Guyana, the actress, photographer, director, and visionary is a burgeoning talent, a multi-disciplinary artist, and a force to be reckoned with – and she’s only just begun to make her mark.

Wilson took her first dive into the world of acting, almost by chance, in high school. “I was like, ‘Let me just try out acting,’” she says of her choice to enroll in a theater course, which was “very wacky and random” for her at the time. “I took class with a woman who eventually became a great mentor of mine,” she recalls. “She cast me in my first play, she coached my audition pieces, and I ultimately got into Yale from that. So it was just kind of luck of the draw that I took her class and she championed me along the way.”

Luck and chance brought her to the stage, but the complexity, nuance, and depth of experience inherent to acting are what sparked her ongoing interest in the art form. “For me, acting has revealed itself to be an intimate practice,” says Wilson. “It’s like this holistic art to me, everything about your personal being is engaged and is required. I feel like I’ve been inching closer and closer to having this whole enjoyment of a life, because of all these different experiences I’m tackling.”

But for Wilson, a career in the spotlight isn’t about her own personal fame, successes, or triumphs; representation, diversity, and inclusion are of paramount importance to her. “The Black experience isn’t a monolith, so I’m advocating for Black women and Black bodies to be complex and odd, and to be the love interest or the ingénue,” she explains. “I’m interested in the roles that haven’t been monopolized yet in our media and our thought. I constantly think about things I haven’t seen before, things that people haven’t really imagined.”

In fact, Wilson isn’t waiting for permission to show the world what she’s got. In 2019, she wrote, produced, and directed a short film, Foxx n Wolfe, and in the summer of 2020, she explored her passion and eye for film photography while poignantly documenting the New York protests and marches following the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. “I like looking at or tackling pieces from a larger perspective,” she adds. “You get to focus on and sink your teeth into so many aspects – the design, the tone, the imagery, the sound. And the photography is something so therapeutic. It requires a lot of stillness, a lot of patience. It requires you to really look at things and see them for what they are.”

The budding star is dreaming big, but also staying grounded. “I’ve really learned to cherish – cherishing my family, my chosen family, my life, my breath, holding on tightly to the things that matter to me,” Wilson affirms. “Anything can happen at any time, and the world can just be a complete insane mess, so cherishing the things that you hold dear is important.”

Writer: Summer Myatt

Photographer: Katie Coon

Editor: Eiko Watanabe

Special thanks to EPK Media (@myepk & @epkmedia - epkmedia.com)