Yael Stone: ‘I had a bolt of inspiration after my court appearance’
The Orange is the New Black actor and activist tells how she ‘felt like a total hypocrite’ and decided to make a radical life change.
![Yael Stone: ‘I love the show [One Night] but it’s hard for me to watch because I don’t love identifying too closely with my character.’ Picture: Ben King](https://content.api.news/v3/images/bin/901612cdc348cef33f655fd132a60c3a?width=650)
Actor and activist Yael Stone, 38, chats to Bridget Cormack about being arrested, advocating for clean energy and playing a character who is uncomfortably close to home.
The one actor/director who changed my life was … (American actor) Natasha Lyonne, who was my main scene partner in Orange Is the New Black for seven years. She always looked at me like I was magical; she endowed me with all this love and possibility, and it lifted me every time. In the years since, I can see clearly that Lorna, who I played in the series, was born of Natasha’s effect on my work. This is the case with most of the people I’ve worked with; we’re nothing without our teammates.
Being an inmate in an all-female prison would be … way harder than any fictional television depiction! I spent a lot of time visiting Rikers Island, home to New York City’s largest jail, and while there were good people trying to do their best, on either side of the fence, it was a very desperate and volatile place.
The time I was arrested in 2021 for painting a mural of the earth at the local pool to raise awareness about climate change made me think … the protest movement certainly has its place. But I had a bolt of inspiration after my court appearance that I really didn’t want to be putting my energy into furthering the divide on climate change – I really wanted to be about bringing people together.
If I find $50 in the street I’m most likely to … try to find the owner. Not because I’m a good person but because guilt is my kryptonite.
The thing about being Jewish is … the aforementioned guilt. And making peace with the fact that I am a very bad Jew and somehow still deeply Jewish.
My latest television series, One Night, is a lesson in … memory being like water; precious, slipping through our fingers, belonging to no one and to everyone. The show’s creator, Emily Ballou, asks “who has the right to tell a story?”
Filming that series around my home in the Illawarra, a coastal region just south of Sydney, was … equal parts surreal and convenient. I love the show but it’s hard for me to watch because I don’t love identifying too closely with my character, Hat, in the series. She’s an overworked, underslept, anxious mum who lives in the same town as me and looks exactly like me.
I made the decision to give up my United States Green Card because … I felt like a total hypocrite demanding leadership on climate action while I continued to fly back and forth between two countries to pursue a career on two continents. It really became a symbol of how I wanted to commit my life to action on climate change. I’m proud to say I am still making good on that promise with my work as founding director of Hi Neighbour, an organisation helping my region transition to renewable energy. Every day I am working on and proud of our very practical approach, and pleased that we have had some big wins.
One Night is streaming on Paramount+.
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Read related topics:Climate Change