She went from teenage MTV star to self-styled genderqueer celebrity and now Australian presenter and model Ruby Rose is joining the cast of the new series of Orange is the New Black.
Redefining the model/actress/whatever moniker, Rose is set to play Stella Carlin, a new inmate at Litchfield federal correctional institution, the fictional women’s prison where the critically-acclaimed Netflix show is set.
Stella will be a love interest for the central characters of Piper and Alex, producers confirmed, “whose sarcastic sense of humour and captivating looks quickly draw the attention of some of Litchfield’s inmates”. Orange is the New Black welcomed Rose officially to the fold via its Twitter feed.
Let's welcome @RubyRose to the Orange Family and the cast of Orange Is The New Black! #OITNB http://t.co/wJycrzby7h
— Orange Is the New... (@OITNB) January 6, 2015
Rose revealed the role in an interview with US Elle magazine, having previously dropped some heavy hints on social media using the hashtag #stellaishere. Posting to her Facebook fanpage as the news began to trend worldwide, Rose said she was “exploding with joy over here!!”
Born in Australia to a single mother, Rose grew up mainly in Melbourne and found fame first as a child model and later as an MTV VJ while still in her teens.
Openly gay from an early age, Rose more recently revealed her lifelong oscillation between male and female gender identities, which she labels “reincarnations”. In a Guardian interview she said she started binding her chest as young as six and that, if she had to choose her gender, “it would be a boy, a guy”.
“I think at this stage I will stay a woman but … who knows,” she said. “I’m so comfortable right now I feel wonderful about it, but I also fluctuate a lot.”
Now based in Los Angeles, Rose released a short film, Break Free, exploring this gender fluidity in July 2014.
The video, which she intended “to be therapeutic for myself”, has since been viewed by more than two million people on YouTube. “I spent five years getting my 100,000 fans, and then in two days, I’ve got 300,000,” she said days after its release. “It’s like: ‘What?! What just happened?’”
In the same interview, she revealed the catalyst for making the film was being cast in an American film, only for the director to say: “Nah, she can’t play the sexy girl. She looks like Justin Bieber.”
The makers of Orange is the New Black, a show known for its explorations of gender and sexuality, appear not to have shared this outlook. In 2014, cast member Laverne Cox, who plays Sophia Burset on the show, became the first opening transgender person to be nominated for an acting Emmy.
The third series of Orange is the New Black is currently filming in the US to air later in 2015. While Netflix Australia launches in March 2015, Foxtel will retain the rights to screen the show in Australia, Fairfax reports.
Rose isn’t the first Australian to appear in Orange is the New Black. She joins Sydney-born actor Yael Stone, who plays inmate Lorna Morello.
