Rosabell Laurenti Sellers: “Let’s say no to stereotypes”

One of the worst experiences of his working life Rosabell Laurenti Sellers she lived it in Italy, when she was offered a role on the condition that she lose a certain number of kilos in a week: «They told me that I had to be the object of male desire. I said no and they fired me ”explains Rosabell over the phone from her home in Rome, surprised by how, even today, proposals for roles of submissive and subordinate women arrive.

“Being able to say no, in this sense, makes me feel powerful because it allows me not to compromise on something that is not worth pursuing, ”Rosabell insists before speaking of her“ super-strong feminist training ”. “If one goes to the bottom, one finds that there are problems in any structure and that, by now, a seed has been planted. This is why we must not stand still ».

Certainly staying still is something that Laurenti Sellers just doesn’t know how to do: born in Santa Monica to an American mother and an Italian father, she made her debut at the age of 8 at the theater in New York and then decided to take this path also in Italy. Take part in movies like The equilibrists, which earned her nominations for David di Donatello, and for successful fiction such as A big family: The most tempting occasion arrives, however, in 2015, when she plays the role of Tyene Sand, one of the Snakes of the Sands of Game of Thrones.

Two different cultures coexist in you, one Italian and the other American: do you feel that you have always reached a balance?
“Yes, even if I don’t think about it much. I don’t feel very American because I grew up in Italy, even if it was in London that I began to see things from another point of view ».

When does it arrive in London?
“6 years ago, I was accepted into a theater academy and then I stayed. With Covid, however, it made no sense to stay, so I went home. I had the great privilege of being able to leave when I was 18, but now that I’m back I’m fine ».

Start acting as a child: does the passion come by chance?
«Yes, a friend was doing a show, she was missing a girl and she called me. I was 8 years old, I liked it from there, then I arrived in Italy, my parents offered me to hire an agent. It all started like this ».

Ever had an alternative?
“I’ve always staked everything on this, even if lately I’ve realized that I would like to find a way to create things together with other people, maybe try writing, work pro-actively on what interests me”.

The curriculum helps in this regard.
“Yes, but this remains a job where it’s easy to feel inert if you don’t have a project in your hands.”

When not working, what do you do?
“I’m in a feminist collective, I organize, there is always a lot to do, especially after Covid”.

Some actors are waiting for the project that has always changed their life, she had that opportunity at 18 with Game of Thrones.
“It didn’t change my life. It certainly helps to have it on my resume, but it’s not like I’m being offered a thousand jobs now or people recognize me on the street. I feel quite normal ».

Disappointed for this?
«No, because in this way I continue to have my life. I would never want to leave the house and have people who recognize me. This allows me to dedicate myself to projects that really interest me, to have more space to make mistakes and to explore different paths without expectations, without anxieties ».

Points of reference between theater and cinema?
“Emma Dante, I really like your approach. Cinema is what I know best, but theater intrigues me because it is a new thing to discover ».

How do you feel when you perform?
“When it’s going well it’s an incredible situation, you feel alive and you share with the audience something that becomes reality and that happens in that moment. Even when I am a spectator and I look at something beautiful, I feel a strength and an energy in the air that is beautiful ».

What is your greatest talent?
“Empathy. Being an insecure person, I can sense how other people are and I try to make them feel comfortable. When I feel there are insecurities and anxieties similar to mine, I think it’s normal. “

What does it do to overcome insecurities?
“It’s all a bit tied to some structural wrong things, like having children at 30. They bombard us with loads of messages to tell us that we are not enough to feed a model based on nothing but which continues to stand for it. Models are important to me, visibility is important ».

Speaking of which, she hasn’t updated her Instagram profile in a while.
“I do it for my sanity. I like doing my job, but I don’t think about everything else. I don’t want to think that there are people who look at my Instagram profile just because I’m an actress. I don’t even have a smartphone and, therefore, I don’t have Whatsapp: it’s not a choice, it’s just that I wouldn’t be able to go on otherwise, I wouldn’t mind it “.

(Opening photo by Azzurra Primavera)

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