Celia Rose Gooding didn’t at all times know that she desired to follow in her mother’s footsteps and change into an actress. But in 2006, when she watched her mother, Broadway actress LaChanze, win a Tony for her portrayal of Celie within the 2005 theater production of The Color Purple, she knew she desired to do something that provided the identical joy she saw on her mother’s face the night she accepted her award. 

Gooding was six years old when she witnessed that moment. By the point she was 17, she was forged within the reading for what would change into the Broadway musical Jagged Little Pill, written by Diablo Cody and based on the music of Alanis Morissette. When the show finally made it to Broadway in 2019, Gooding played considered one of 4 leads, Frankie Healy: a 17-year-old Black, bisexual activist who was adopted into an affluent white family in Connecticut. 

Gooding received several accolades for her performance, including a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical. LaChanze was also working in theater on the time and the 2 made history as the primary Black mother and daughter pair to star on Broadway concurrently. But in 2020, things shifted. 

The world, including Broadway, shut down. And Gooding, unable to perform, found herself contemplating several things, including her presentation on this planet. 

“I used to be just really falling further and further into myself,” Gooding explains. “I used to be just so uninterested in feeling like I needed to look a certain technique to be worthy of a platform and to be worthy of an area so I just took my sister’s shears and I just went to town. I don’t wish to must slap on a wig to feel presentable and cozy. I just wanted to point out up as myself. It was the summer, it was hot. I used to be uninterested in wearing these wigs. My scalp itches. I would like freedom. I would like my scalp to breathe. So I shaved my head and I feel it was the perfect decision I could have possibly made.”

The haircut paid off for Gooding in additional ways than one. She auditioned for a job in Star Trek: Strange Recent Worlds with the brand new look. It was a choice Gooding believes made all of the difference. 

“The production team loved it. I can say with great confidence that if I auditioned for this role with a wig on, I don’t think I’d have booked it,” Gooding says.

On the time of her audition, Gooding didn’t know that she was vying to play a young Nyota Uhura within the prequel series. The historic character was made famous by actress Nichelle Nichols after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. himself encouraged her to take the part. 

Gooding is grateful that the Star Trek team decided to maintain her character’s identity under wraps so her audition could simply be in regards to the work and never the burden of this character. 

Now that the part is hers, Gooding can’t “put the consideration into words,” she says. She loves that Uhura’s character is greater than just eye candy. 

“She’s not an auxiliary character. It’s about her brain and the consideration people feel having her on her team. It really means rather a lot to me to be a component of the representation I would like to see on this planet.”

Not to say Star Trek: Strange Recent Worlds, which premiered on May 5 on Paramount+ and has already been renewed for a second season, seems like a house to Gooding. 

It’s not something she’s been capable of say about every project. In 2021, Gooding released an announcement announcing her departure from the production of Jagged Little Pill. Gooding acknowledged that the choice was partly due to her role as Uhura but additionally because she could now not ignore “…the harm Jagged has done to the trans and non-binary community, including forged members on stage, off stage, and behind the scenes within the production making process…” 

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While many in her position can be afraid to take such a stance in any such competitive industry, Gooding doesn’t consider she’s asking for an excessive amount of. 

“Some folks don’t wish to ruffle feathers but closed mouths don’t get fed. If you happen to don’t ask for change, you won’t get it.”

Ultimately, Gooding says her critiques come from a spot of affection and a desire to see the entertainment industry be higher. 

“To ensure that [the industry] to have a spot in the long run, it must be a protected space,” Gooding says. 

She concludes her statement saying: “I feel it would be in my best personal interest to focus more on work that I can align myself with emotionally and morally…”

Thankfully Gooding found that space in Star Trek. 

“I actually feel supported here and that’s why I’m committed to it. I’m like a flower. I’ll grow wherever I even have great water, great light. That’s really all I would like. I don’t need an excessive amount of.”