“I obtained actually good recommendation as soon as from a buddy and agent,” the actress Olivia Washington tells W on a current afternoon. “When deciding if a undertaking is best for you, ask, ‘Will my household and buddies be happy with it?’” I’m a Virgo, the brand new Boots Riley sequence on Prime Video wherein she stars, passes that take a look at—for essentially the most half. “I’m extraordinarily proud to indicate [Virgo] to all of my family and friends,” which incorporates her father, Denzel Washington; her brother, John David Washington, and her mom, Pauletta Washington. However, she provides after taking a fast pause: “I’m positively nervous for some episodes.”

The episodes she’s referring to incorporate “Stability Beam,” which options one of the vital logistically fascinating intercourse scenes in current tv historical past, as a 13-foot-tall virgin encounters Washington’s super-speedy quick meals worker, Flora. It might sound out of bounds, however thus is the world Riley creates in I’m a Virgo—one the place whole neighborhoods of individuals shrink right down to Lilliputian dimension, cartoons can put viewers in a comatose state, and bikes float within the air lengthy sufficient to seize a number of good selfies. It’s a coming-of-age story centered round a 19-year-old big, Cootie, portrayed by Jharrel Jerome; after spending his entire life trapped indoors, he lastly escapes—and rapidly learns the surface world isn’t as clear-cut because the one portrayed within the comics and actuality exhibits he devoured rising up. Virgo is an unabashed cultural assertion wrapped in goofy, typically cartoonish packaging—however with big coronary heart offered largely by Flora, Cootie, and his trio of buddies, all of whom are simply attempting to outlive younger maturity in Oakland.

However again to that intercourse scene—which, in some ways, depicts a typical first time, replete with all of the fumbling, awkwardness, and fast finishes. A extra skilled Flora is studying proper alongside Cootie, as she climbs round his body, searching for pleasure for the each of them. Riley uncared for CGI and different visible results for a extra DIY strategy when creating Virgo, enlisting scale fashions and compelled perspective to depict the dimensions variations between the characters; nowhere is it extra enjoyable to expertise his approach than on this scene. Flora and Cootie are not often within the body collectively, as an alternative buying and selling close-ups and utilizing Riley’s methods to finish the act.

“It was a tough course of,” Washington admits. “I by no means checked out Jharrel within the eye. I at all times both checked out a bit of tape on a wall, a stick, or the occasional iPad with Jharrel’s face. And even that obtained glitchy.” Washington needed to study to behave with a person who wasn’t there, to fall in love with an impassive, 13-foot doll. “I actually have a fantastic affinity towards that factor now,” she says of the prop. “I spent quite a lot of time with it.”

What happens between Flora and Cootie (or their stand-in fashions) is a lot greater than a intercourse scene, however an inventive exploration, one thing that may be mentioned about a lot of Virgo. And due to that, Washington actually shouldn’t be afraid for when her household watches “Stability Beam.” In addition to, her older brother, John David, sat by it on the SXSW premiere simply advantageous. He probably didn’t get caught up within the photographs of his little sister engaged within the act, however extra so the otherworldly nature of Virgo. That, together with the complicated characters, is what drew Olivia Washington to the undertaking initially.

“On paper, Flora’s the love curiosity, she’s there to propel the protagonist’s story,” she says. “Nonetheless, on the planet Boots creates, she’s propelling her personal story and Cootie helps her work out her place, too.” Flora doesn’t say a lot, particularly within the first half of the season, talking extra along with her eyes, expressive smile, and tilts of her head. She’s not as boisterous as the opposite new additions to Cootie’s life, however the pair is drawn to one another due to their variations. “She discovered her alien in one other individual and so they push one another, they develop with one another, they problem one another,” Washington says.

Like Flora, there’s a quiet energy to Washington. Her love for her household is simply as clear as her love for her craft. She breaks into anecdotes about her siblings or shocking her mother, Pauletta Washington, for her birthday a number of years again. Some might ring the nepo alarms after they see Olivia’s identify on Virgo’s marquee, however one dialog along with her and it’s clear she’s no “sit in your butt and let issues come to you” scion.

After graduating from the Tisch College of the Arts at New York College, Washington obtained her begin in regional theater. “I used to be auditioning for something and all the pieces,” she recollects. Utilizing networks like Columbia Casting and Backstage, Washington was capable of join with different creators—lots of whom have been college students within the Columbia MFA program—to create quick movies whereas nannying on the facet to assist herself.

“It’s not like I graduated as a star,” she says. “Yearly, I did a bit extra. It was a gradual development and it helped me slowly construct my confidence as an artist.” Washington embraced her day participant standing, touchdown small roles in massive tasks like Empire, 2019’s She’s Gotta Have It, and her father’s movie, The Little Issues. When John David was between seasons of Max’s Ballers, the siblings lived collectively in NYC, serving to one another with their self-tapes and respective trainings. In truth, John David learn strains with Olivia for her Virgo self-tape, recording it when she headed west for her mother’s birthday. It was a full circle second, then, when John David accompanied his sister to the present’s premiere at SXSW in March. “He was my emotional-support massive brother,” she says with amusing. “He was sending pictures again to the household group chat. It felt like my commencement.”

A commencement is apt, as in any case this work, it does really feel like Washington is on the precipice of one thing massive. In fact, she hopes to comply with up Virgo with one other season, however she is aware of to not anticipate something so sometimes linear from Riley. “We don’t know the place it may go,” she says of the storyline. “It may not even choose up the place it left off, however I’d like to proceed to discover this universe.” After that, she has a number of different dream collaborators in thoughts, together with Barry Jenkins and Jordan Peele. “The whole lot they make is so wealthy, and exhibits Black folks in such a good looking method,” she says. Normally, although, she’ll “work with anyone”—so long as she will be able to tackle multidimensional roles like Flora.

It’s clear the character occupies a particular place in Washington’s coronary heart. She speaks of Flora and Virgo with heavy superlatives, calling a particular episode “the good one ever written,” her costars the “the funniest, smartest, most proficient” folks she is aware of—and the expertise, “once-in-a-lifetime.” “I’ve by no means been a part of something like this earlier than,” she says.

Hair by Lurissa Ingrid; Make-up by Shaina Ehrlich. Photograph assistant: Nuvany David. Styling assistant: Fern Cerezo.