Ariana DeBose is grateful for her ‘moment in the sun’ in 2022, for which she won an Oscar, among other things Westside story. But her life-changing year brought a new set of challenges — and “no handbook.”
In the new horror thriller House of pamperingDeBose plays an ambitious chef who must overcome crushing insecurities – and a haunting mind – to open her dream restaurant on a remote New York estate. The actress said she relates to her character in that she too has had to battle self-doubt to make her dream come true. (Minus the menacing ghost.)
“There have been many times where I have felt unseen. I would say that would have applied before my moment in the sun which I am very grateful for,” DeBose told Yahoo Entertainment. “But post all that and try to be seen for more than just the girl who won awards Westside story. That had its own challenges.”
DeBose won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 2022 for her role in Steven Spielberg’s film adaptation of the musical. She actually won awards season that year, taking home a Golden Globe and a SAG Award in the same category.
“Sometimes I have moments of self-doubt where I think, ‘God, can I act without these other two elements? Do I have value?’ And I think sometimes the industry is really good at asking you questions [that] for a variety of reasons,” she continued. “But at the end of the day… this is still what makes me happy. It’s what I feel like I do best in all its facets and forms. And I will continue to do that, as long as it makes me happy and gives me pleasure. The day that ends is the day I won’t do it anymore.”
DeBose said it took her two and a half years to feel comfortable with everything her big win entailed.
‘I am very grateful. That’s me really grateful. But let’s not confuse gratitude with hard work either,” she said. “That moment didn’t come without hard work. And while I think that was kind of my introduction, especially critically to the entertainment industry in film, I had worked in another facet of the entertainment industry for ten years. So to have that moment, I remain very grateful for it. But I can also recognize that there was no handbook on how to deal with it or process it.”
DeBose continued, “Some people say, ‘You must be a really good actress because you seem very confident and completely fine.’ My job is to still go out into the world and promote the projects that I am very grateful to have been a part of, but that doesn’t mean it’s always easy. Let’s face it, it’s not always easy.’
DeBose, like pop star Chappell Roan, believes it’s important to prioritize self-care amid the pressures of fame.
“Again, I love what I do and I work very hard to keep doing it. And that means you have to take care of yourself and sometimes you have to sit down and rest or not leave your house. Sometimes you have to say no” , she said. “So my focus now is how can I move forward with purpose and do what I love, my way.”
Right now, DeBose chooses projects that make her happy, such as House of pamperingeven though she’s “not a horror fan.”
“This wasn’t what I was looking for. It wasn’t necessarily a bucket list genre, but man, I’m really glad I did it. I learned a lot from this experience,” she explained. “There’s a real technique to building tension and anticipation and it takes some thought. To be quite honest, I hadn’t really put two and two together. So I had a real learning curve making this film on more ways than one.”
House of pampering premieres on Prime Video on October 3
