Actor Simone Kessell Seeing Industry Change

Playing adult Lottie in the second season [of Yellowjackets] is a breakout moment for the New Zealand-born actor Simone Kessell – but like her accomplished co-stars, she’s been here all along, on shows like Our Flag Means Death, Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Kase Wickman writes for Vanity Fair.

“I really feel like I’ve come into my own as an actress after working for 30 years,” Kessell, 47, tells Vanity Fair. “You know, I’m not new here.”

Kessell says that she’s seeing the industry change, with more interesting and complicated roles being written for women and an acknowledgment that life continues after a woman turns 30.

“We’re talking about all the beats of our lives with no shame,” she says. “We’re a generation now that we’re like, This is who I am, take it or leave it, and I think that’s what it is in this cast, this group of women.” She called her castmates “unapologetic”: “I look at these women and I’m blown away by them.”

In Yellowjackets, Kessell stars alongside fellow New Zealander Melanie Lynskey, who plays adult Shauna.

Original article by Kase Wickman, Vanity Fair, March 21, 2023.

Photo by Kailey Schwerman.