Already a Broadway darling, earning praise for her run as Young Nala on Broadway, Imani Pullum leaves her mark on the small screens now, starring in Seth McFarland's hit Hulu show “The Orville: New Horizons.”
“It was a little daunting for me going from stage to film, definitely. I had to change up my acting style a bit because acting for the stage, it's just so much bigger, especially with a show like Lion King,” says Pullum. “I had to just kind of reel it in a bit. It was a nice transition, but very hard.”
Pullum plays Topa on the show and recently had an emotional episode everyone has been talking about, with McFarland and the crew saying how this episode was so important because there were no spaceships, just raw emotion.
“Topa finds a lot about how she identifies and she's just going through the journey of discovering herself,” says Pullum. “There's a lot of drama in this episode, it's a very emotional, very heavy, but beautiful story.”
Pullum shares how she prepared for this role and the emotional journey her character has to go through.
“I worked with my coach, my acting coach Shelley Boone on the side and we just talked a lot about intention and how Topa was feeling and all these different scenes,” says Pullum. “That helped a lot with that.”
She also shared how working with Seth McFarland has been, and the acting tips she has gotten from the star.
“He's so present and comfortable like when he's just on the side and just about to do a scene,” says Pullum. “I took some of that from him just trying to learn to be as comfortable and present as possible so I can do the best work I can.”
Pullum is also working on a separate project next year in the film Emancipation directed by the legendary Anton Fuqua and acting alongside Academy Award winner Will Smith.
“I am just over the moon,” says Pullum. “I had a crazy experience; I can't even wrap my mind around the fact that all of that happened. Just so grateful for that.”
