, a determined and ambitious antiheroine whose path in the high-stakes world of finance goes anything but according to plan. In real life, the 26-year-old is chill, relaxed. She arrives at theoffices wearing her most comfortable clothes: yoga pants, a cozy knit blazer over a sweater, Uggs in tow. She is a calm person, she later explains, who prioritizes her well-being amid her rising stardom.
The path she's on, however, is not necessarily where Herrold saw her career going years ago. As a teenager in San Jose, California, she envisioned herself performing eight shows a week on Broadway. She majored in musical theater and had, growing up, channeled as much of her energy into singing as acting. She used the stage space to thrive — and to express what it meant to exist on the borderlines of convention in her predominantly white hometown.
Unintimidated by the perception of her difference, Herrold knew who she was, and that she was talented. Standing out wasn’t a burden; it was a choice. Her skill in the performance arts served as an unconscious shield, enabling her to be seen and celebrated for something that was distinctly her own. “It wasn't like an escapist thing,” Herrold tells. “It was like, ‘I love this and I'm going to make sure I'm going to be the best at it.’ And I was.
This level of confidence made it possible for Herrold to exist comfortably in her community. Her talent superseded her otherness and gave her the ability to focus on the skills that made her who she was. She was a product of contradictions, simultaneously outside the fold but well-adjusted socially.different,” she says, reflecting on her time as a token Black girl. Nevertheless, she felt aligned with her peers in their common interests and hobbies.
Herrold, in turn, knew she had to construct her own visage of Blackness, one she needed to define for herself. Despite those many shared interests, she and her peers did not have the same life experiences. She developed a sense of self that was as well-rounded as it was rebellious and prodigious. In this way, Herrold is very much like her character Harper Stern: a young Black woman building a life beyond others’ preconceptions.
'I don't think I fall under anybody's typical Black girl umbrella. I don't live there.” NewHollywood cover star mmyhala opens up feeling seen by her character Harper in HBO's Industry: