Digital Cover: Pepi Sonuga
Photographer: Sarah Krick
Stylist: Jordan Gross
Make-up: Kendal Fedail
Hair: Sabrina Porsche
Words: Hannah Nguyen
EIC: Anthony Vu Cao
Development: Chrissy Wang
Special Thanks: Slate PR
Pepi Sonuga is a Nigerian American actress and singer. Born in Laos, Nigeria, she moved to Los Angeles, CA, at the age of 10, where she began her career in the entertainment business. After Pepi was crowned Miss Teen Los Angeles in a local Pagent, Pepi started modeling for Forever 21, Sketchers, Hot Topic, and more. In high school, Pepi found her love for the theatre arts and scriptwriting for drama class.
Pepi got her first start starring as Michelle in the 2013 drama, The Life Of A King. Pepi then starred as Lacey Emery in the Starz horror-comedy series Ash vs. Evil Dead (2016) and Tangey Turner in the Freeform drama series Famous in Love (2017–2018). Her most recent and highly anticipated role is as Melaine, Pamela Anderson’s best friend in the new Hulu series Pam & Tommy (2022), now streaming.
Pepi enjoys reading and traveling in her free time, gaining life experience to enrich her life further. She hopes she can one day have a platform where she can create and participate in projects she cares deeply about. And in doing so can inspire other young artists to achieve their dreams as well. She wishes to give others a voice and believe in themselves.
How are you? Where are you these days?
I’m wonderful. I just wrapped Queens and I’m still in Atlanta enjoying the city as a local. All I’ve seen over the last few months are our stages and some locations. But now it’s nice getting to just enjoy it at all leisurely. It snowed here…twice. That was exciting.
You play Pam’s best friend in the series. What did you enjoy most about being a part of the show?
I loved getting to play the character that sort of grounds Pamela. Melanie represents where Pam is from, her morals, her values, her history. We all need a friend like that. No matter how successful we get, we need someone who sees us as we used to be. A friend who can grow with us, but who also reminds us of how far we’ve come and where we intended to go in the first place. I love bringing that person to life.
Are there any scenes in particular that you filmed that stand out to you as a big memory from set?
The big party sequence. Such fun to shoot, it felt like a real party and we became real friends. We kept talking about how it truly feels like we’ve just spent days partying and bonding in Mexico. And of course we reminisced about being able to party because none of us had stepped foot in a dark room with loud music for years because of this pandemic. My character Melanie is meant to be grounded and a little judgmental of the whole party scene, so it was difficult for me to pretend to hate it all when I actually wanted to have a good time.
If we think about femininity and women’s ability to speak out then versus now, things have definitely gotten a lot better, but women are still placed under a certain degree of judgement. How would you say things change progressed since then?
When the Pam and Tommy tape leaked, people were vocal about their judgment about who she was, and til today some people still are. But the show does a great job at revealing the truth about what actually happens to a woman when an event like that occurs. I can’t imagine that anything can prepare you for it. The ultimate violation. And the world sits back and gets to have an opinion on it. Things are a little better today with the internet and an emerging generation that places a lot of importance on mental health and wellbeing, I can see that there’s a new shift in the way we relate to public figures. At least I hope so.
What do you think viewers will take away from the show?
I think viewers will get a glimpse into the other side of the lives of celebrities…the ugly, sad, and dark parts. The show is a lot of fun and it’s an easy watch because of how entertaining it is…but it’s still very grounded. Lily does an amazing job at taking us into the inner world of Pam and how she must have felt. I hope it enlightens us to the way we interact with the media and social media.
In the series, Queens, you play Lil Muffin, an emerging rapper. What did you enjoy most about playing her?
I love everything about playing Muffin. I love getting to be flamboyant, animated, and extravagant. But I also love when the series dives deeper into Muffin, she starts to evolve into Lauren, and we get to peel back the layers and see that there is an entire world behind her mask. I’ve enjoyed playing this character, she challenges me every day. Whether it’s pushing myself out of my comfort zone and learning how to build my rap girl swagger, or saying and doing things that are so out of bounds...every day is an adventure with her.
What type of message do you think the show is trying to make as it pertains to women in the music industry?
Particularly with Lil Muffin, I think there’s something to be said about how different our world is now. The music industry has clearly changed from the days when people starred in music videos wearing just jeans and a t-shirt. A whole character-persona- is needed to make it these days, it seems. And I can’t say for a fact that people are pretending to be someone other than what they are, but I do think the series plays on the idea that there are a lot of personas floating around.. lots of people who aren’t getting to be who they truly are, say what they truly mean, or do what they truly believe in. The show makes a statement about how easy it is for women to fall prey to the controls of the higher powers… and how we can take that power back.
Both Pam & Tommy and Queens touch upon the dark side of celebrity. As an actor, how accurate are these portrayals?
I don’t know much about celebrity because I’m definitely the type of actor to “do my work and go home,” but yes they are very accurate portrayals. There are a lot of perks that come along with celebrity, but a lot of downfalls too. The public loves building people up just to watch them fall, and we’ve seen this throughout history. It becomes harder to know true from false, and you can lose touch with reality. You become a target and people are willing to use you and your pain to get what they want out of life. It’s tragic, but that’s how it is and I think both of these series do a great job at lifting the veil and showing that they are human beings behind the “celebrity.” We’re seeing that more often now, the public getting a peek behind the curtain and realizing that it’s not always as glamorous as it seems. Money and fame doesn’t solve all problems.
Did you think there are any similarities between Lil Muffin’s career and your experiences as an actor?
Muffin is a rapper at the top of her game, but when we find her in the show, she starts to fall from grace because of her drug overdose. I can definitely relate to the pressure one can be put under when you feel like you have to excel or perform in a substantial way. Muffin and I are different because I always had a strong support system in my family, I knew who I was, and more importantly, who I wanted to be and what I wanted to stand for. But the acting industry is much different from music. There’s a lot of pressure being a musician and trying to capture the hearts of an audience. As an actress, I get to let my characters do the work. Whether you love me or hate me in a performance, I get to blame it all on a character.
How would you describe your process? Do you take inspiration from stories around you or from within to get into character?
I find inspiration everywhere. I love to read and when I do, I get to travel to places I’ve never been and deal with people who lived many years before me. With music, films, and books, I’m able to build a rich library of experiences for myself. Everything and everyone I’ve ever known lives inside of me in some capacity, and that makes for a strong imagination. When I first dive into a role, depending on how far or near the character is to/from me, my preparation differs. If the character is already in my arsenal then I don’t have to work too hard at finding her. I build a diary for her, her backstory, her likes and dislikes, I write down every single opinion she might have about any and everything. I go from there. If she is someone far away from me, someone I can’t put my finger on right away...then I work overtime using my imagination and creating who she is. After building a diary, I spend more time on her speech, her walk, her physicality. I pinpoint our differences then use them to find my way back to our similarities. I find myself in her, and I find her in me.
Aside from acting, are there any passions or interests you haven’t yet explored and want to try? Speaking of the future, what’s on your bucket list both professionally and on a personal level?
I don’t want to give away all my professional hopes and dreams (laughs) I’m a little superstitious about that. But I have mountains I want to climb and self-imposed finish lines. Actors and directors I’d love to work with, types of projects I’d love to star in, and perhaps projects I’d like to create myself someday. The end goal is to have a platform where I’m able to create content I believe in, produce the movies I see in my head that have me up at night thinking “if only this kind of role landed in my inbox.” I want to give younger artists a voice and help push their dreams forward…all over the world. In my personal life, I just want to live a life that’s full of joy. I want a family, a stable family that makes me full of pride and adoration. I want to be a present mother and wife, and balance my devotion at home with my devotion to my art. If by the end of all this, I can say I made people happier, I made good art, and I raised children who are good human beings...I will be more than content. GR8T