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Rutina Wesley

Birthday: Born in 1978-12-21 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Deathday: Alive

Rutina Wesley (born February 1, 1979) is an American film, stage, and television actress best known for her role as Tara Thornton on the HBO series True Blood and Nova Bordelon on OWN’s Queen Sugar. Wesley was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her father, Ivery Wheeler, is a professional tap dancer, and her mother, Cassandra Wesley, was a showgirl. She attended high school at the Las Vegas Academy of International Studies, Performing and Visual Arts. She studied dance at Simba Studios and the West Las Vegas Arts Center. While at the Las Vegas Academy, Wesley missed some auditions for college training programs. She finally decided to attend the University of Evansville in Indiana. After Wesley earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Performance in 2001, her grandmother suggested that she do a nursing course to have a practical fallback job, but Wesley insisted on pursuing her artistic education. She enrolled at the Juilliard School in 2001 and graduated in May 2005 (Group 34). Her studies included a summer spent at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. In December 2006, Wesley was featured in David Hare's Broadway play The Vertical Hour. In 2007, Wesley also appeared in The Public Theater production of In Darfur by playwright Winter Miller, co-starring Heather Raffo and Aaron Lohr, among others. Wesley had a minor role in the 2005 film Hitch, which was edited out in the final cut. In 2007, she made her on-screen debut as the main character in the film How She Move, from British director Ian Iqbal Rashid. The character Raya Green, who enters a step-dancing competition to secure funds for her education, was inspired by Tony Manero, portrayed by John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. Prior to the shooting of the film, Wesley underwent a five-week dance rehearsal period. Portraying a woman of Jamaican descent, she also took dialect coaching for the role. Wesley auditioned for the role Tara Thornton in the HBO series True Blood in 2007 and secured the part after creator Alan Ball chose her because "[she] was the first person who showed [Tara's] vulnerable side" In January 2015, it was announced that Wesley had been cast in a recurring role on the NBC drama series Hannibal. She portrayed Reba McClane, "a blind woman who enters into a relationship with Francis Dolarhyde (Richard Armitage), and helps soothe his murderous urges—at least at first." Wesley appeared as Liza Warner in the fourth season of Arrow. In 2016, Wesley was cast as the lead character Nova Bordelon in the Oprah Winfrey Network drama series Queen Sugar, produced by Ava DuVernay and Oprah Winfrey. In 2023, Wesley portrayed Maria in the HBO series The Last of Us.

TV Credits

True Blood

Character: Tara Thornton

Thanks to a Japanese scientist's invention of synthetic blood, vampires have progressed overnight from legendary monsters to fellow citizens. And while humans have been safely removed from the menu, many remain apprehensive about these creatures "coming out of the coffin." Religious leaders, government officials, and vampire fundamentalists around the world have chosen their sides. But in the small Louisiana town of Bon Temps, the jury is still out....

The Cleveland Show

Character:

The bizarre adventures of Cleveland Brown and his family....

Arrow

Character: Liza Warner

Spoiled billionaire playboy Oliver Queen is missing and presumed dead when his yacht is lost at sea. He returns five years later a changed man, determined to clean up the city as a hooded vigilante armed with a bow....

Hannibal

Character: Reba McClane

Both a gift and a curse, Graham has the extraordinary ability to think like his prey—he sees what they see, feels what they feel. But while Graham is pursuing an especially troubling, cannibalistic murderer, Special Agent Jack Crawford teams him with a highly respected psychiatrist – a man with a taste for the criminal minded – Dr. Hannibal Lecter....

Queen Sugar

Character: Nova Bordelon

Two sisters, Nova Bordelon and Charley Bordelon, with her teenage son Micah moves to the heart of Louisiana to claim an inheritance from her recently departed father - an 800-acre sugarcane farm....

Halloween Wars

Character: Self - Guest Judge

Cake decorators, sugar artists and pumpkin carving experts battle it out as they create Halloween-themed edible displays. The last team to scare off the competition will take home a $50,000 grand prize....

The Walking Dead

Character: Jocelyn

Sheriff's deputy Rick Grimes awakens from a coma to find a post-apocalyptic world dominated by flesh-eating zombies. He sets out to find his family and encounters many other survivors along the way....

The Last of Us

Character: Maria

Twenty years after modern civilization has been destroyed, Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse the United States and depend on each other for survival....

Monster High

Character: Venus McFlytrap (voice)

Based on the Monster High franchise, Clawdeen Wolf arrives at Monster High with a dark secret. With the help of her friends Draculaura and Frankie Stein, she is able to embrace her true monster heart and save the school from total destruction....


Movie Credits

How She Move

Character: Raya Green

After the death of Raya Green's sister, she gets out from her classes at school, and sees a stomp crew practicing. She meets Bishop which is the dance crew leader. She then meets Michelle and does a stomp battle with her. They become enemies then friends later on. Her uptight mom pushes her to pass the test to get into Medical school, but she thinks she failed.......

California Winter

Character: Marcy Sanchez

Young real estate agent Clara Morales encouraged risky loans to her clients during the housing boom. She must now rescue her father’s home from foreclosure - a consequence of the loan she advised him to take....

Last Looks

Character: Sister

An aesthetician does her brother's makeup for his final showcase....

13 Sins

Character: Shelby

Drowning in debt as he's about to get married, a bright but meek salesman receives a mysterious phone call informing him that he's on a hidden-camera game show where he must execute 13 tasks to receive a multi-million dollar cash prize....

The Perfect Guy

Character: Alicia

With a fulfilling career and a loving relationship, lobbyist Leah Vaughn seems to have it all. Things come crashing down when Dave, her long-term boyfriend, disagrees with her future plans for marriage and a family. The resulting painful breakup leaves Leah heartbroken, until she meets the charming and handsome Carter Duncan. Soon, the budding romance turns dangerous as Carter reveals his volatile nature, forcing Leah to break up with the man she thought was Mr. Right. She soon realizes that Car...

Last Weekend

Character: Nora Finley-Perkins

When an affluent matriarch gathers her dysfunctional family for a holiday at their Northern California lake house, her carefully constructed weekend begins to come apart at the seams, leading her to question her own role in the family....

Getting the Old Scent Again: Reimagining Red Dragon

Character: Self

An in depth feature length piece on the creative efforts to approach the Hannibal television series' third season "reboot" of the Red Dragon arc....

Stucco

Character: Officer

An agoraphobic woman notices a strange hole growing in a wall of her home as she fights off a growing illness....

True Blood. A Farewell to Bon Temps

Character: Self

A documentary about the creation of one of HBO's most successful series....

Outsiders

Character: Ramila

When a young black man’s girlfriend mysteriously disappears, he’s forced to go on the run, staying one step ahead of suspicious police to clear his name and to find out if otherworldly forces are to blame....


Made by Yusuf Kıtlık