Oladejo: A Last Chance Audition Led To Owosekun
2 min read
Oyin Oladejo had been just about ready to give up acting for good, but then decided to do “one last audition.” Several days later, her agent called and said ‘They want you – and by the way it’s Star Trek.‘ I was in Vancouver, cleaning houses and landscaping, and I got the call saying, ‘You got it. You need to fly back in two weeks.'”
Oladejo decided to do some research on the show, but it was impractical to watch all seven hundred plus episodes. “I didn’t know how to do this [what to watch],” she said, “but then somebody directed me to go to The Next Generation. So, I watched a few of those and I realized that there was more than just a science fiction aspect to it. I was pulled in. I was sold, like, ‘This is what I want to do.'”
Before landing her role on Star Trek: Discovery, Oladejo knew very little about Star Trek. “I actually did not know much about Star Trek,” she said. “I had heard of it in the same vein as Star Wars or Lord of The Rings, as things that you should see. But also, I did not know it was Star Trek before getting the job. It was after I got the job that I realized it was Star Trek. I was like, ‘This is going to be a Southern show or something.’ Then, the audition was very scientific. I’m like, ‘How… Southern show?’ Then I just decided to let it go.”
What does Oladejo think about her character Joann Owosekun? “Watching the way she is on screen right now, I feel like she’s very close to me,” she said. “I feel like she’s a very, very strong person and a fighter, but she’s very soft inside. She’s very sensitive and very spiritual, but she needs to appear very strong in order to deal with life and deal with the expectations of being Starfleet, and for people to take her seriously and want her to be in a position of responsibility.”
What can fans expect in Season Two? “The stories that are being told,” she said. “I’m being moved more than I’ve ever been moved. Every table read so far, I always leave with tears because the stories just hit you. It’s going really, really well.”
How does Oladejo feel about being on Discovery now that she has a season under her belt? “So, so good,” she said. “So good. I feel a bit more relaxed. I feel a bit more comfortable to take risks, make mistakes, and the crew, cast, everybody’s just as supportive as last year.”
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