Naomi Ackie On Leveling Up, Style On Screen And Stepping Into Whitney’s Shoes

It’s been just three years since Naomi Ackie was hosting corporate awaydays – her last “jobbing-job”, as she refers to it – yet, as she sits in her home, looking beatifically happy in a green-patterned dress and purple head wrap, it’s easy to imagine that it feels longer.

So much has happened, and in such quick succession: there’s the 28-year-old’s first-ever, award-winning movie role, alongside Florence Pugh, in the British indie film Lady Macbeth; the Bafta-winning, vengeful oddball Bonnie in cult dark comedy series The End of the F***ing World; playing a kindly Caribbean savior of cast-aside kids in Small Axe (Steve McQueen’s anthology opus of Black Britain); and, not forgetting the ultimate pop-culture honor, a place in the Star Wars firmament. It’s a lot, she agrees, but then, “I feel like that’s what this job is sometimes: stop-start, and then suddenly, vrrrooom!!”

In a career that’s seemingly full of back-to-back breakthroughs, it may well be the deceptively understated Master of None that turns out to be a game-changer. Despite joining the show for its third season, Ackie essentially co-stars as Alicia, the wife of Denise (played by Queen & Slim screenwriter Lena Waithe). Aziz Ansari, the show’s co-creator and co-writer, was the protagonist of the previous two seasons, playing Dev, a habitually lovelorn, jobbing actor in New York and Italy. Dev does appear in season three, but in a supporting role, the main purpose of which is to deepen our understanding of Denise and Alicia’s story.

Ackie was already a Master of None fan, but it wasn’t until shooting began that she grasped the radicalism of this new approach: “On set, we were both aware that it was not normal to see two queer Black women in a marriage, just living their lives. But, at the same time, it felt really natural, you know?” It’s particularly thrilling to see the show’s signature, quietly observant, wryly humorous, 1970s-cinema-referencing style applied to characters that are very much not the Woody Allen types. But, crucially, says Ackie, “It doesn’t feel like it's a comment. It’s a project that is so authentic that that is the comment itself.”

“I felt like decisions were being made that Aziz really brought me into,” Ackie goes on to explain. “I was so happy about it – like, ‘Wow, I’m really ready to do this myself one day.’” Indeed, she’s been writing for a while and used lockdown to complete a TV script “about gentrification”, which she’s hoping to get off the ground in the coming months.

As Alicia, Ackie turns in a performance of exceptional warmth and emotional nuance – using her native north London accent to particularly great effect in the argument scenes – but her contribution also shows up on screen in her collaboration with costume designer Dana Covarrubias. This is the kind of show you’ll watch with one eye on your NET-A-PORTER Wish List, adding items as inspiration strikes. “Yeah, mate!” says Ackie, when I pay her this compliment. “I just love clothes. It was just, like, ‘Oh, this is a style! This is a look! She’s eclectic! She’s a little bit Afrocentric! She loves vintage!’” Somewhat inevitably, most of Alicia’s clothes have now ended up in Naomi’s wardrobe. “If I can put in a fashion moment on screen, I will, but that’s not always a choice. Like The End of the F***ing World – so many ugly sweaters!” she laughs.