REAL
Clifton ’ sSofiaBlack-D ’ Elia goes through ariotousrecovery in Single DrunkFemale
WRITTEN BY CINDY SCHWEICH HANDLER
STRETCHING HER ACTING MUSCLES Clifton native Sofia Black-D ’ Elia has been performing since she was achild , and took acommercial acting workshop at Broadway Bound in Lyndhurst .
including Ally Sheedy as Sam ’ s selfabsorbed mother . Black-D ’ Elia says Sheedy has become a friend and mentor .
“ Jenni and Leslye are both incredibly funny , intelligent , quick and thoughtful creators ,” says Black- D ’ Elia , 30 . “ Often , it ’ s the people I work with and relationships I build that are most impactful on me as a
performer . I feel very lucky to count them as collaborators and friends , and their guidance definitely helped shape the tone of the series , and also the character of Sam , and how I play her .”
Black-D ’ Elia ’ s rendering of Sam ’ s journey — which begins with her as a workplace drunk , assaulting her digital media boss with a phone receiver — has helped Season 1 of the series win a 100 % Critics ’ Rating on Rottentomatoes . com . In a recent review of the show in The New Yorker , the critic calls her “ wonderful ,” and praises her portrayal of an alcoholic as “ neither a maverick nor a demon but simply a regular person .”
“ Sam is finding she doesn ’ t know herself as well as she thought she did , and that despite being closer to 30 than 20 , she has agreat deal of growing up left to do ,” says Black-D ’ Elia . “ I think that discovery is incredibly universal , whether you are an addict or not .”
NORTH JERSEY ROOTS
Maybe growing up in Clifton as a “ regular person ” herself has helped Black-D ’ Elia portray down-to-earth , relatable characters . Her parents still live in Clifton , and her father , Anthony D ’ Elia , is a state superior court judge in Hudson County .
Acting wasn ’ t something Black- D ’ Elia thought of as a career , “ or even as a worthwhile hobby ,” when she took a commercial acting workshop at Broadway Bound , which she describes as her “ dance school .”
“ The instructor was a children ’ s agent , and was the first person to tell me — and more importantly , my mother — that I might be able to do this for a living ,” she says .
She was asenior at Clifton High School when she was cast as Bailey Wells in the soap opera All My Children . Soon after , she won the role of Tea Marvelli , a conflicted lesbian cheerleader , in MTV ’ s Skins , forcing her to choose between attending Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers or accepting the job . She chose to play Tea .
Roles in the last season of Gossip Girl , the CW series The Messengers , and the Michael Bay-produced science fiction film Project Almanac followed . When that movie premiered in 2015 , Black-D ’ Elia ’ s grandparents told Kelly-Jane Cotter of the Asbury Park Press that they were traveling from Lakewood to North Jersey to see the movie for the first time .
@ waynemagazine WAYNE MAGAZINE MAY 2022
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