Vegas native Rutina Wesley finally ready for her Oprah moment with ‘Queen Sugar’
Rutina Wesley’s career has come full circle, with that circle represented by an “O.”
As in Oprah.
The Las Vegas native and “True Blood” alum’s first job out of Juilliard was participating in the workshop for the Winfrey-produced musical “The Color Purple,” but she didn’t transition with the show to Broadway.
“I was very shy. I was very green, that’s the word I’ll use,” Wesley says. “I always say, you know, I don’t think I was ready for Oprah then. But I’m ready for her now.”
“Now” is “Queen Sugar” (10 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, OWN), the new drama from Winfrey and “Selma” director Ava DuVernay that focuses on an estranged Louisiana family that’s brought together by a family emergency.
“It’s quite wonderful to be a part of sharing with the world a very, I think, wonderful, engaging story of a family and what that family life is about,” the 37-year-old Wesley says. “It’s very universal. So I’m hoping that a lot of different types of families — whether you’re black, white, no matter where you’re from — will be able to tap into it.”
Charley (Dawn-Lyen Gardner, with whom Wesley has been friends since their Juilliard days), is embroiled in a sex scandal involving her pro basketball player husband. Ralph Angel (Kofi Siriboe) is fresh out of prison and already robbing convenience stores to provide for the young son he’s trying to keep away from the boy’s recovering addict mother.
Wesley, meanwhile, stars as Nova, a journalist, activist and part-time voodoo healer. After playing Tara Thornton for seven seasons on HBO’s supernatural drama “True Blood,” she’s back in another small Louisiana town with just a touch of hoodoo. Between those roles came an arc on the NBC serial-killer drama “Hannibal.” Needless to say, Nova is her most normal role in years.
“It’s completely refreshing,” Wesley says of that normalcy, “because it’s just such a slice of real life. Just a little perspective of this life and what life is. I like that.”
So when she heard Winfrey and DuVernay were involved in the project, did she even need a script? Or did she just run straight for it?
“No, you go running. You go running. What you do is, you run as fast as you can,” Wesley says, laughing. “No, no, no. You don’t need a script. You run to that. That’s a guaranteed, surefire way to get yourself inspired — and quick, you hear me? Like, I have never been so inspired in my life. I have never felt so beautiful, loved, supported.”
And, as for her second time working with Winfrey, Wesley gushes, “It’s been a true blessing to get to be in Oprah’s presence.”
Following “True Blood” and the horror movie “13 Sins,” “Queen Sugar” is the third project the Las Vegas Academy grad has filmed in New Orleans. She now considers it her favorite city in America — aside from her hometown.
“I’m always, when I’m down there, like, ‘How am I gonna get over this food?’ ” she says. “Because, two weeks in, it’s like, ‘Yeah, Rutina, we’re gonna have to go get you some (bigger) jeans.’ ”
Aside from the wonders of the food, the city also helped her get into character — especially the voodoo side.
“I loved being there, because I could actually feel things in the air,” Wesley reveals. “It’s very mystical in New Orleans. There’s a mystique about it that I love. So all of that just sort of fed my character work and all of my research and background and homework.”
The Big Easy can’t hold a candle to her hometown, though.
“All my family is there,” she says of Las Vegas. “So I do go back a lot.”
And she can’t wait to visit the Peppermill the next time she’s home.
“My favorite part is always coming over that hill and seeing the city when you come around the bend there,” Wesley says. “That’s my home, and I love it.
“I’m a Vegas girl at heart. I mean, my mom was a showgirl, my dad’s a tap dancer. I mean, how much more Vegas can you get?”
Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@reviewjournal.com. On Twitter: @life_onthecouch