In I Love LA, actor True Whitaker holds her own next to Odessa A’zion, Jordan Firstman, Josh Hutcherson and writer Rachel Sennott. The show’s wild – but it’s True we can’t take our eyes off. Her on-screen idol, Sheryl Lee Ralph, gets the story.
Like Girls on a martini bender for the Gen Z set, Rachel Sennott’s unapologetically ‘cunty’ (sorry, but there’s really no better word – and it’s practically canon in the show) comedy I Love LA, has 27-year-old True Whitaker – and daughter of Hollywood icon Forest Whitaker – finding her own light. The delirious HBO Max fever-dream naturally has people talking, memeing, pausing, and rewinding. True has become its unexpected fixation.
The series plays like a Gen Z group chat come to life. Five LA twenty-somethings drift through A-list parties, matcha-stained pavements and nights blurred by too much of everything. They’re living the life many fantasise about but few could actually stomach. Together, Rachel, Jordan, Odessa, Josh and True are a holy mix of mess, brilliance and delusion.
True plays Alani – last name unknown – a gloriously impulsive, self-indulgent It girl and “VP of Creative Projects” at her father’s production company. She drifts into a meeting she’s very clearly not been invited to, idly applying Rhode’s peptide lip treatment mid-interruption, before hijacking the conversation with a story about the much-older boyfriend she had in Year 8 that goes on for far too long. Tossing off lines like, “Am I boring you guys?”, with magnetic insolence. Within the show’s glittering dysfunction, Alani is its heartbeat – the gravitational centre of this LA microcosm. Her house is home base, her edible stash the group’s lifeline, her tears the show’s emotional currency. She’s equal parts chilling and charming: the girl devastated by her father’s potential affair, only to learn she’s been manipulated by his violent stalker; the friend who nearly falls into a threesome with a Lord of The Rings alum. She’s the understated nepo baby with the oversized wallet. And then there’s the mirroring – the real-life daughter of an icon playing the fictional daughter of someone (potentially) even more famous. It could’ve been too on the nose if True weren’t so good. But damn, she’s good. Her performance is beguiling, off-kilter and utterly hilarious.
Hollywood may be a city built on projections, but True is reshaping hers. From a brief appearance in Godfather of Harlem alongside her father to her breakout as Alani, and her upcoming role in Spring Breakers 2: Salvation Mountain alongside Bella Thorne, she’s in evolution: stepping out of lineage and into authorship. And if there was ever any doubt she belongs here, consider this: Dreamgirls legend Sheryl Lee Ralph calls her one to watch. Maybe we’re not just witnessing a breakout star, but a dreamgirl in the making. They chat manifestation, momentum, and making good choices.
Sheryl Lee Ralph: Well, True – Sheryl Lee Ralph here, and I am so excited that I get to have this conversation with you. How have you been since the last time I saw you as a very tiny human being?
True Whitaker: Aww, it’s been a while! I’m 27 now, so it’s been a lot. Yeah, my life has changed drastically.
SLR: Come on, tell me why. How has your life changed drastically?
TW: Just in the past couple of years, things have just completely switched. I feel like my dreams are coming true right now, and everything is coming to fruition. A lot of my hard work is coming to a head, and I’m really happy to be at this moment. Two years ago, I was working in a gallery, not making much money, and I had just lost my mom too. It was a really hard time for me, so it’s crazy. I remember manifesting this job with my girls. We made manifestation boards, crystals, and I put a little picture of Rachel [Sennott], because I loved her writing, and I had a Deadline cut-out of the publication, because I really wanted to book work, and the fact that a year later, it all came to me in that exact way, with hard work, I feel great right now.
SLR: Tell me from the beginning to now, I know you love the arts, why choose showbiz?
TW: I would say, acting specifically, I’ve grown up seeing it to such a deep extent. The way that my dad approaches acting is very intense and serious, and so I see the art in all its layers. As for myself, and I’m a Cancer as well, I’ve always had a lot of passion for wanting to tell stories and to bring a voice to someone. I want to expose people, and other parts of the world, to someone they might never meet, and allow them to open their hearts to the different types of people around them. I want to help facilitate that, to be part of stories that can change someone’s perspective or bring joy to them. That’s important. I think movies and TV can really change people’s lives.
SLR: So what drew you to I Love LA?
TW: Oh, the character! My friend was auditioning for a different character, so I was reading as Alani behind the camera while doing a self-tape for her. I was like, ‘Damn, this girl sounds like me. I feel her, I feel her cadence.’ I also relate to her; obviously, we have some parallels in our own lives. Her energy is very positive and optimistic, and I felt like I could really humanise her. I felt really connected to her. I worked really hard on that audition, and I’m really blessed to have gotten it, because I do feel so close to her. It’s definitely one of my favourite roles I’ve ever had the chance to step into.
SLR: When you think of a role that you’d like to play in the future, what comes to mind?
TW: This is a project that’s not necessarily being made, but I think about this all the time. I would love to play Donna Summer, if they ever do.
SLR: Oh, me too.
TW: I would love to, like, that is my dream. I think about it all the time, and people randomly say to me, ‘You kind of give me Donna Summer,’ and I’m like, don’t. Don’t. I’m already preparing.
SLR: What’s your favourite Donna Summer song?
TW: Oh, maybe “Last Dance.”
SLR: Let me hear you sing it. Come on, let me hear!
TW: No way, I’m so raspy today.
SLR: Oh, come on!
TW: I’m not doing this in front of a Dreamgirl. I need a warm-up. Absolutely not. You’re setting me up. Nope.
SLR: Ah, no! I’m only setting you up for success. For success, True! So, what’s next as you’re doing this show? How many episodes this season?
TW: There are eight episodes in the season, which I feel is too short. They’re 30-minute episodes, but I do feel like what we got in there is very funny, and I’m excited. Hopefully, we come back for season two, because I feel strongly about these characters, and they’re really fun to play with. The stories that Rachel and the rest of the writing team keep coming up with are hilarious. It’s one of the most fun sets I’ve ever been on. The energy and the collaboration.
SLR: I love the fact that you’re into the whole manifesting of it all. Manifesting that stuff matters.
TW: Yeah, there have been a few times in my life when I’ll manifest something, and then it happens so clearly that I’m like, okay, I might as well try again and keep doing that, because if it’s working, don’t stop.
SLR: Yeah! The other day, I was thinking about something, and I said, ‘This is what I would like to have happen.’ True, I am telling you the truth. I got a phone call, and the person said exactly what it was that I wanted to have happen. So I said, ‘Yes, I’m going to keep manifesting that.’
TW: I love speaking it into existence.
SLR: So now that we’re both into that, I need you to manifest. What is the project that you would manifest for you and me to do together? Come on.
TW: I mean, I would be down to do any project with you, oh my gosh. Actually, years ago, I auditioned to be your daughter on Abbott Elementary. Obviously, I didn’t get it, but I’d love to work with you because you’re incredible. I would love to do any project that would come, because I feel like anything that you would tie yourself to would be something worthwhile.
SLR: You know something? I really appreciate you saying that, because my whole career for me has been about making good choices. For a young actress like you to come around and say what you just said, that you think anything I would be attached to would be worth doing, I mean, that just means that everything I have done is truly worthwhile, just for you saying that. And I appreciate that, because I’ve manifested that. Yes, I did. So now, where do you love working the most? Do you love working across the pond, or do you love working here in the States?
TW: I’ve never shot outside of the States before. It sounds like fun, but also, just the idea of going on a little vacation, or going to a different location and getting paid, I’m like, yeah, why not? I’d love to travel the world. That sounds awesome. I’m going to Brazil in a couple days for work, which is cool. I’ve never been, but I’m going to Rio, which I’m so excited for.
SLR: Okay, are you brushing up on your Portuguese?
TW: I should, I’m like, ‘obrigado’. I should try.
SLR: Exactly. Although I’ve learned that anytime you travel, as long as you can say ‘thank you’, ‘you’re welcome’, ‘hello’, and ‘goodbye’, it’s just amazing. Okay, now, are you practicing your accents? You know, I once had a mentor, and my mentor said, ‘learn all the accents you possibly can and learn how to sing in three languages.’ So how many accents do you have?
TW: My gosh, I’m not gonna lie, my accents aren’t great, which is annoying. I need to work on it. I can sing in two languages, I can sing in Spanish…I think. But I need to learn to speak more languages, because of course, I want to be able to speak to everyone in the world, but also it’s such a skill. And accent-wise, it’s really important for acting. I think that if I were to get a role that required an accent, I’d be so down to lock in, but maybe I should just do a full masterclass and start locking in all the different basics of each accent. But it’s hard. It’s hard not to feel offensive sometimes, you know?
SLR: Trust me, it’s very hard, but it’s so worth it. And you know, one of the things that has been great for me is to read and to travel. A well-read artist or a well-travelled artist just has so much more to give to the characters they play. The way they bring such understanding to more people than just themselves or their own experience.
TW: Yeah. It’s not necessarily reading, but I went to school for writing. I graduated from New York University for creative writing.
SLR: Oh, you’re an NYU-er. You all just stick together. There’s something about hearing NYU. It’s like, S, U, C, C, E, S, S – they’re going to be successful. There’s something about that NYU, that arts programme.
TW: I hope so, because even me and Rachel, tonight, we have a screening at NYU, and we’re both alumni, and we’re showing the show to students and stuff, which is so cute. I feel like I’m gonna be emotional when I’m there. I’m like, ‘Oh, I remember being here not that long ago, like five years ago.’
SLR: I love that. So now, after this show, we spoke about manifesting, and I’m glad to hear that you write, because it’s so important that we keep creating for ourselves as artists. I think now, when young artists are able to do so much, even with just a phone, it’s important to always have something next that you can roll out, something next that you want to do. What’s next now?
TW: I’ve started to think about getting back into my writing. Going to school for writing has already been really good for my acting. It makes me aware of the importance of each word on a page. If you’re a good writer, then every decision is intentional. As an actor, if my character has to say something that makes me wonder, ‘Why?’ instead of judging it, I try to figure out why they would say that. Once you find that reason, if you truly believe it’s intentional, you understand how that character speaks or thinks. It’s really important to approach things without judgment and to understand that what’s written was intentional – so you have to understand why.
SLR: Absolutely. What do you love most about this industry that we’re in?
TW: I would say the community, when you’re on set. It’s really cool to just watch all the crew members and the cast, everyone at work, the artists at work, trying their hardest in every field of it, whether it’s lighting or the camera operator. It’s the way that everyone’s moving and collaborating. I love that energy.
SLR: I love that too. I’ve especially loved having this time to talk with you. I mean, True, when I heard that you asked to be in conversation with me, I was so moved. I said to myself, ‘Wow, this is so interesting to me that I can see her as a little person, I can see her as a young child,’ and now here you are in this industry with me, on the rise, doing your thing as an artist. I get to talk with you and say, True, I am truly proud of you.
TW: Thank you. You’re going to make me cry.
SLR: Remember, this life, this industry, is all about the choices that you make. When it comes to the script that is your career, you are the star of that script, and you have to take care of that star. When you take care of the number one in your script, they will take care of everything else. And I’m just happy to know that you are in this position, right here, right now, doing this.
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Photography by Flora Jane Jensen
Styling by Olivia Joslin
Words by Aswan Magumee
Hair by Nai’Vasha at The Wall Group
Make-up by Karoline Karakeosian at The Wall Group
Photography Assistant Pablo González
Fashion Assistant Saige Black, Megan Miller
Videography by Mylo Butler