You might recognize her as fan favorite Molly from HBO’s Insecure,
which has earned a ton of buzz after just one season. But Yvonne Orji
is so much more than a beloved TV sidekick. The Nigerian-American
actress, 33, is also a beauty and body-positivity advocate, and is set
to star in a new ad that highlights the evolution of beauty in the Black
Hollywood.
On February 11, Orji will star in a commercial in collaboration with Proctor & Gamble’s ‘My Black Is Beautiful’ initiative, according to Madame Noire,
which celebrates black beauty in all its forms. The spot will air during the NAACP Image Awards, for which Orji has also been nominated.
In
the commercial, Orji will “share her perspective on the evolution of
Black beauty in Hollywood while embodying that very evolution herself
with her chocolate skin, textured ‘fro, full lips, and contagious
smile,” according to Madame Noire, which published behind-the-scenes photos of the shoot.
Orji told Elle that
she believes it’s crucial for marketers and anyone else who sets
standards for public image to represent people of all ethnicities and
races. “It’s so much better when people can see all of themselves in
products,” she said, noting that the presence of the Obama family in the
White House for eight years has put a fine point on the need for
diversity in the public sphere. “They hold the highest position in the
land, so it would be in our best interests to represent them in our
products, right?,” she posited to the magazine.
A vocal advocate for self-acceptance, Orji is very down to earth about her own image, and about standards of beauty She told Elle, for
instance, that she’s quick to remind people that social media
involves a significant amount of smoke and mirrors. “People say to me,
‘Oh my God. I just saw your Instagram. You’re slaying it!’ I’m like,
‘Thank you, but Instagram is not real,'” she told the publication.
She
revealed her own insecurities to the magazine, saying, “I’ve got scars
from old pimples, and I’m trying to get rid of them. My actual desire is
to be able to comfortably walk out of my house without any makeup on
and feel as beautiful as I do when my makeup artist beats my face …I’ll
probably always opt for makeup because I just like the way it feels. You
can play with it and create different looks and I think that’s fun. But
I also want the option to not need it. I think that’s what life is
about, just having the options to or not to do.”
She admitted Elle
that she’s struggled with feeling comfortable in her own skin, saying
that while she loves her arms and legs, she’s not thrilled with her abs.
“My comfortability with my body and what I wear is a work in progress,”
she told the publication, adding that she follows a fitness regime for Insecure, saying she was most fit when she was working on the show because she cut out carbs and used ClassPass to mix up her workout.
Orji was also a victim of bullying, as she told Vibe.
She has always had scholarly pursuits — earning a master’s degree in
public health — and for that she was picked on in middle school. But her
mother’s words helped build a resilience in 12-year-old Orji. “My mom
would say ‘Friends? Are you getting A’s? That’s all you need, they’re
just jealous of you,'” she told the publication. “‘One day, they’re
going to work for you.'”
She
was so serious about her education that when she attended George
Washington University at 17, she decided not to have sex. And, partly
due to her religion and spiritually, she’s stuck with that decision.
Today, she’s a proud 32-year-old virgin. She doesn’t try to hide it,
especially when she dates. “It comes out, I don’t hide it. The same way
people know they’ve had a one-night stand, you can say that so I can
this.”
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