Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (‘Origin’) on tackling powerful ideas and personal loss: ‘Grief does not time itself to your convenience’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

“What was interesting to me beyond what I knew of Ms. Wilkerson being just this incredible writer was this idea of caste,” shares “Origin” actress Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, “and her reintroducing it to us as Americans as a new language for us to consider social divisions in this country. And that was exciting to me.” Watch our exclusive video interview with Ellis-Taylor above.

Written and directed by Ava DuVernay, “Origin” tells the story of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Isabel Wilkerson (played by Ellis-Taylor), who wrote the book “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents” about the ways in which social hierarchies and oppressions around the world are about more than racial prejudice. They’re really caste systems, from the traditional Indian caste system to the persecution of the Jews during the Holocaust to the subjugation of African-Americans in the US.

But while Wilkerson was working on “Caste,” she was also experiencing tremendous losses in her personal life, and the film chronicles that too. “Grief does not time itself to your convenience,” says Ellis-Taylor. “You can be in these moments of incredible inspiration, and moments of innovation, and it doesn’t care. It shows its face whether you are ready for it or not.”

As an actor, Ellis-Taylor was asked to convey that grief, which required “a great deal of emotional work,” and “sometimes I have to go to my own reservoir of pain to do it.” But she didn’t consider the role a challenge, per se, as much as it was an opportunity to reunite with “a director of consequence,” with whom Ellis-Taylor previously collaborated on the limited series “When They See Us.” And it was a chance to expose more people to the author’s work and ideas: “Isabel Wilkerson is one of the most brilliant minds in our discussion about who we are as citizens of the world. She’s a voice we need to listen to.”

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