Uzo Aduba Couldn’t Get Into SAG-AFTRA Until She Booked ‘Orange Is the New Black’

With her two-time Emmy-winning turn as Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren on Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black,” Uzo Aduba became one of the most recognizable television actors of the last decade—which makes it all the more shocking that she wasn’t even SAG-eligible when she booked the gig. Here’s how the “In Treatment” star landed the role of a lifetime before joining the union, and how Kanye West and George W. Bush both factored into her wildest audition ever.

What is one performance every actor should see and why?
I’m gonna give you two. One [is] theater, because they did record it! The recording of “Passing Strange”—any performance in that. I remember sitting in that theater, and the authenticity of it, I had never seen anything like it. I had never seen anything like it from people of color; I had never seen that story, my story, parts of my story, told in such a way, and so honestly and so brilliantly. That show was genius, from format to music, it was an original. And you can see how many shows that came after it structurally borrowed from it. It’s a genius piece of work. A television show, I was gonna say Glenn Close, “Damages,” because I just thought that was the first time I’d ever seen a woman with balls on TV. 

Do you have an audition horror story you could share with us? 
Absolutely. I don’t remember what it was for, but all I know is I was singing “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “I Don’t Know How to Love Him.” The music has the opening piano chords, I think it’s four measures of music. And the first time I started, I couldn’t remember the words. Even though the words were the title of the song! And I was like, “I’m sorry, my brain just turned off for a second.” And everyone was like, “Haha, no problem!” They started again, and I was like, “I don’t…” And I couldn’t remember it again! I was like, “I’m sorry, I have to start it again.” Start it again, and I couldn’t remember, and the director was like, “...how to love him.” It’s the title of the song! Could not remember! I obviously did not get that job.

What is the wildest thing you ever did to get a job?
I remember that initial audition for “Godspell,” we had to create something. And I can’t remember all the way what it was, but I remember I commingled Kanye West and George Bush. It was a rap of Kanye’s [and I] inserted George Bush. I was playing the two men simultaneously in the audition. And it was like, whatever parable that you had to reinvent for it. Then there was just bleeds of whatever Kanye lyrics into it: “No one man should have all this power,” you know, into whatever I was saying about George Bush. 

I think I know the answer to this, but just to clarify, how did you get your SAG-AFTRA card?
“Orange Is the New Black.” 

That is wild! You weren’t even SAG when you booked the role that got you two Emmys. 
No, I wasn’t. I wasn’t a member of SAG! I remember I had to—Season 1, and this is where it’s terrible, because I can’t say what the rules of becoming SAG are, because it was such a specific experience. I remember Season 1, I got to a place where it was a must-join, whatever that number of hours or episodes that requires it is. But I remember, I was supposed to do two, possibly three episodes. I got to do the third episode, which I thought was going to be the end, and then they had me on longer. They said I was gonna be on the show for more episodes after that. And I think it was when I came back from Christmas for that fourth episode, if I’m remembering correctly, [that] I  had to join SAG. I think that either by the end of that season or the start of the next season, Season 2, I paid off my initiation fee.

Last one: What advice would you give to your younger self?
I’ll say two. One: I’ll still stick with the best life advice that’s ever been given to me. It was given to me by my mom, when I was first moving to New York. She dropped me off to go down to the city, the train. And she turned off the car, and she was like, “Uzo, I need you to work hard.” And I was like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” And she was like, “No, no. I want you to work hard. I’ve never heard of nothing coming from hard work. I don’t know what will come, I don’t know when it will come, but something will come.” That was a guiding principle for me, and has been. And then I would just say, for my younger self: Hold on to what you have to offer, because that is all you have to offer. Trying to offer something else is never going to be as interesting, honest, or satisfying as what you and only you can offer. So hold on to what you and you alone have. Do you.