Natasha Rothwell

In a world where you graduate with a theater degree from college, you gotta find your bread job. You gotta find that job to pay the bills.

Improv is such a huge part of my background, and a huge part of character discovery is really being inside the character and trying to think through them without the limitations of the script.

Teaching theater, I felt very lucky. In a world where there's few options for someone who graduates with a theater degree, trying to figure out how to make rent and pay the bills, I always gravitated towards teaching jobs and things like that. I wanted to stay close to my passion as well.

I have chosen to never take myself out of the running for roles. I will continue to throw myself into projects that I am passionate about and will continue to create opportunities for myself.

Luckily, with 'Insecure,' we have really great writers who get it and work hard to give Kelli layers for me to explore as an artist.

My bread and butter is rom-com, and if I had to go back and tell my 15-year-old self watching 'When Harry Met Sally' that one day I would be writing a film in the same genre, I would have freaked out.

Being authentic is important to me, and I am not going to present this fluff, fake, sanitized version of myself that doesn't reflect who I am or what my passions and interests are.

I definitely was inspired by drama teachers in high school named Mr. Walsh and Ms. O'Neil, and both of them were very formative in helping me sort of understand theater. But I think my biggest inspiration is that I was a high school drama teacher in real life for four years in the Bronx.

When I moved to New York, I really wanted to find my bread job as close to my passion as possible. There's nobility in waiting tables. But I really wanted to find a job in the arts, and so I started teaching.

I feel like theater in high school seems to be sort of like the safe haven for the outsiders and people who don't necessarily fit in. And it was a come-as-you-are sort of class, and it's a come-as-you-are after-school activity.

HBO has been incredible and a huge champion of my work, my passions, and has been a great home for my talent, I feel.

When I was a teacher, I definitely noticed bullying happening, and I noticed people choosing to be quiet when they should speak up. And so for me, as a teacher, it wasn't just about advocating for students who were being picked on but trying to teach the bystanders how to speak up and not be afraid.

My social media is riddled with me speaking out on stuff that matters because silence is a petri dish for hate. For me, it's important to speak out.

I would just take dolls around the house - there's old VHS footage from my dad, who was an early adapter and had this RCA camera - and it's me taking a Michael Jackson Barbie doll and putting on a show with that.

I was constantly trying to make my family laugh and my parents laugh. It's just something that always felt natural to me. And then I learned how to use my powers for good in high school.

I'm a military brat, so I moved around a ton. When you're making friends and you're funny, it makes that easier.

For me, humor was always my passport into new communities.

I was sort of always the class clown, but I think that was confusing for my teachers because I had the grades to back it up. I would be finished with assignments and goof off, because I'm done. And so, it would be like, 'Oh, she has like a 4.2 GPA, but she's also just like walking around the halls with the hall pass and bothering other students.'

I think it's important to make art for a myriad of reasons. The least of which is that I think laughter is medicinal, and I think there is an escapism aspect - an act of self-care.

As a writer, I use improv to write. Exploring characters and stories through improv and sitting at the computer and thinking about what this character would say or do helps me creatively.

I'm drawn to subversive material and material that speaks to communities and people who tend to be marginalized, and telling those stories in ways that subvert expectations. That's always been fun for me to play and always been fun for me to write.

I don't know if there is an expiration date on diversity.

'Love, Simon' is incredibly dope, but that's one specific experience, and I would love to see more versions of that story being told or other stories that we haven't even seen yet from the LGBTQIA community.

I was obsessed with Carol Burnett, Lily Tomlin; I watched 'Mama's Family' religiously.

I loved women who weren't afraid to get ugly in their comedy.

I'm the biggest nerd.

I remember writing monologues and one-act plays and stuff in high school. I had a project in English that was just a short book of limericks. It was so weird. I enjoyed the challenge and rhyme of it. I was always putting on plays and stuff.

I'm interested in stories being told by marginalized voices and, specifically, people of color.

Rom-coms are my jam.

It was really important to me to explore how disparate people are connected.

I've always performed. From the time that I was little, I was pretty precocious and always gravitated toward performing arts. But I was scared at first, deciding to do it for a living. So, initially, I majored in journalism, and I was pretty miserable.

I knew I always wanted to major in theater.

I think it's so important for us to make art and to be loud and to resist with our art.

One of the things I pride myself on is that my fan base is progressive, but I don't shy away from people who think differently from me. I welcome productive conversations, but it's important for me to not hide where I stand.

When someone on screen portrays a character that behaves in a way you don't expect, you're subverting ideas. So if there's a Venn diagram between why people are drawn to the characters I play, it may be that. But I'd like to think that the craft of acting and the choices I make as an actor are drawing people on their own merits.

I'm not going to run or be silent for fear of keeping a fan base.

Black women have earned the right to be basic.

When you're a writer, there is a selflessness that has to happen; you have to have equity with how you treat each of the characters and the information you bring into the room.

As far as the adjectives that I lead with, I think a writer and a comedienne are first. I have never qualified my experience or gender or my race, although I know that's a huge component on how that is used. But I think in order for me to do my job effectively, I have to really be the best at what it is I'm doing.

As far as being a plus-size woman, I play a plus-size character by default, and for me, the visibility - that, I think, is key.

I've always been kind of precocious, but my journey sort of solidified when I was in college and majored in theater. That's how I knew I wanted to spend my life writing, telling, and performing stories.

One of the biggest things I learned was not to tell myself 'no' before someone else. As someone who's creative, I know the inner critic can be really loud. Early on in my career, I would just listen to it and tell myself 'no.'

I hope movies like 'Love, Simon' encourage people to be their authentic selves.

What I loved about playing Ms. Albright in 'Love, Simon' is that, so often, when we speak of allies in the queer community, we don't really get to see what it means be an active ally. I love that she can step into this world with these kids and be a truth teller.

I think a caricature is different than a character.

I have always gravitated toward levity and my parents; I'm sure they have a VHS tape of me when I'm making jokes and trying to make faces when the family was taking a picture.

I grew up in a funny household, and I love making people laugh. It brings me so much joy.

The thing about improv that I really love in scripted television is that it really makes a moment authentic.

I'm a body positive, fat-loving feminist. That's who I am off-screen.

I think once I began to trust myself as a writer, I began to be seen as a writer.