5 things to know about Yvonne Orji before her visit to Syracuse
Courtesy of University Union
Yvonne Orji had a master’s degree in public health and no acting experience before she went into acting and comedy.
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Emmy-nominated actress and comedian Yvonne Orji will visit Syracuse University for a student-moderated Q&A presented by University Union this Saturday at 8 p.m.
The event will be held in Goldstein Auditorium and is limited to SU and SUNY-ESF students, faculty and staff. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased on the SU Student Box Office website. But before the “Insecure” star arrives in Syracuse, here are five things to know about Yvonne Orji:
1. She has a graduate degree in public health
Prior to ascending to stardom in comedy and television, Orji attended George Washington University for a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts and later a master’s in public health. She told The Ringer that her family wanted her to pursue a career in medicine, but she moved to New York in 2009 to explore comedy against their wishes.
“Now I’m 32 years old, unmarried, and they’re super happy that I’m not broke and starving in a basement apartment in New York anymore,” Orji said in a 2016 interview with The Ringer. “But at the same time, it’s like, ‘Where are my grandchildren?’ We fight one battle to live to fight another battle.”
2. She booked “Insecure” with no real acting experience
While working as an intern in a writers room in Los Angeles, Orji developed a show called “First Gen,” which was based on her own experiences growing up in a Nigerian household, The Ringer reported. Issa Rae, Orji’s co-star on “Insecure” and the show’s co-creator, helped line up an audition for Orji after watching the “First Gen” trailer. Orji ended up booking the job without an agent, manager or any prior acting jobs on her resume.
Orji told CNBC that the moment was part of a series of times she said “yes” to experiences that scared her but ultimately gave her the chance to pursue a career as a comedian.
“I think the choice is pretty simple: Keep letting fear sidetrack you, or take what you’ve been given, maybe even told from God above, and say ‘yes,’” she told CNBC.
3. She’s outspoken about her faith
Though Orji’s character on “Insecure” is “sexually free,” as she described on Fusion TV’s “Sex.Right.Now” series, Orji is a devout Christian who has stated in multiple interviews that she’s remaining abstinent until marriage. In her 2021 advice book “Bamboozled by Jesus,” Orji repeatedly references the Bible as she details her unorthodox journey in Hollywood. In 2017, the “Insecure” co-star did a TEDx talk, “The wait is sexy,” about her experience with abstinence, which has garnered over 2 million YouTube views.
4. She discovered her love for comedy while competing in a beauty pageant
Three years before her big move to New York, Orji was getting ready to compete in a Miss Nigeria beauty pageant when she realized she didn’t know what to do for the talent portion. She told the New York Times’ T Magazine that trying out stand-up comedy was an in-the-moment decision.
“I started discovering my funny from that moment on,” she told T. “I realized it wasn’t a fluke or a one-time thing. Then I was like, ‘How do you make a life out of this?’”
5. She spends her free time volunteering to help in the fight against AIDS
Orji still utilizes her public health expertise through her work with (RED), an organization that partners with companies to fund programs and initiatives that improve overall global health and fight crises like the AIDS and COVID-19 pandemics, according to its website.
As an ambassador, Orji has promoted (RED)-partnered brands like Beats by Dre that donate a portion of proceeds to The Global Fund. She has also visited South Africa to attend programs that (RED) helps fund, such as a youth-focused health center.
“Being able to go to South Africa and observe the communities of young women being helped, I could see the tangible sustainability and efforts first hand,” Orji told HBO. “A lot of the times, you think, ‘where is my money going?’ On the ground, it was refreshing to see a staff passionate about the communities they were helping.”
Published on October 27, 2021 at 10:00 pm
Contact Dakota: dcchambe@syr.edu
