Merle Dandridge didn’t dream of becoming an actress. The woman we know as Station 19 Chief Ross was born in Okinawa, Japan, and grew up as the daughter of a US Air Force officer. But when she was in high school in Nebraska, a friend suggested drama classes as an easier option. It was there that Dandridge found her tribe, as she says.
“I wasn’t really that social and was raised as an only child because my half-siblings are so much older than me,” says Dandridge. The Station 19 character was recently made a series regular. “[In acting] I found a community, something that brought out my individuality and made me feel free to express myself. Growing up in a very structured environment on military bases in Nebraska, being a person of color Being a mixed-race person alone, [I] was overwhelmed. You’re often in survival mode in such a white, homogenous environment. It was like my life had turned to technicolor in the theater department. I felt like a railroad God laid the tracks, and I just got on them and rode.”
Dandridge got the full ride attending the Theater Conservatory at Chicago’s Roosevelt University and honed her craft, stayed disciplined, and allowed herself to open up spiritually, creatively, and dynamically through that work ethic. She went on to star on Broadway in the now-canonical productions of Aida in Aida, Joan in Rent, and as an ensemble cast member of Mike Nichols’s Spamalot. In 2003, she left New York City for Los Angeles and began taking small TV roles and voicing video game characters. In fact, it’s her 2004 voice-acting role as Alix Vance in the video game Half-Life 2 that she’s got to thank for her current role as Marlene in The Last of Us, the wildly popular HBO series based on the video game. have to give. Dandridge voiced the same character: Neil Druckmann, the game’s creator and co-creator of the show, was a fan of Alix.
Over the past two decades, Dandridge has captured the attention of audiences, whether it’s in a minor role as Rita Roosevelt on FX’s Sons of Anarchy or a lead role as Grace Greenleaf on OWN’s Greenleaf. And now, as Station 19’s mid-season February 23 premiere brings us back to the Seattle Fire Department, we see Chief Natasha Ross standing her ground and confronting both herself and her police counterparts in a tense and triggering a sequence of events. Find while protecting.
“I love being on a show that puts women in positions like Seattle’s first fire chief and shines a light not only on the female experience but the Black female experience and what its stresses are and also what its triumphs are.,” says Dandridge, who also co-stars with Octavia Spencer in Apple TV+’s groundbreaking series Black and Brown Missing Girls, Truth Be Told. “To be able to work with a studio so thoughtful and caring about women and the dynamic, amazing, delicious, powerful goddess energy that we exclusively have is what makes working on a Shondaland show so incredible.”
Seeing how great Dandridge is currently in her career, Shondaland did a video call with the actress to talk about the emotional Station 19 premiere episode, her process as an actress, and getting Marlene in The Last There is much more to see. We. No spoilers, of course!