On “Greenleaf,” she said, “Well, it was my first series regular role. At first I felt a little out of my realm since I would be working with such prestigious award-winning actors. Here I was with only a few projects under my belt, and I’m working with Emmy winners. But the more I worked with everybody (cast and crew) the more they became like a second family, and the set became a second home. The executive producer/director Clement Virgo was incredible and you will see a lot of his work on several episodes. I learned so much working on this show especially from Merle, who plays my mom. She helped me to loosen up so I felt more comfortable. We did a lot of ad-libbing and joked around just to keep things fun. I think this playfulness shows up in our relationship on screen. But you will have to see for yourself.”
She continued, “I love that it is centered around our family. It shows real people with real problems. Our creator and executive producer Craig Wright was very driven to show things that are really happening–real world issues that people deal with in life. So, I like that this show explores with very human themes.”
On working with Oprah, she said, “Oprah plays my great aunt on the show. Never in a million years would I have thought I would be saying that. I have always looked up to her, so when my agents called and told me Oprah loved my audition, my jaw dropped. Just knowing she knew my name was mind-blowing. When I first met Oprah, I saw her from around a corner and did a double take. Then I started nervously babbling to my mom about how Oprah was in the room behind us. When we finally introduced ourselves, I started shaking and didn’t know whether to hug her or give her a firm handshake. So I chose the handshake and pulled out my hand. She grabbed it and pulled me in for a hug.”
Regarding her plans for 2016, she said, “Right now, I am working on promoting ‘Greenleaf’ because it is going to be an amazing show. And I am in eleventh grade, so I need to finish school. After summer we are going to start filming the second season of ‘Greenleaf.’ I’m basically counting down the days.”
For her fans, she concluded, “I would like the fans to know that effort and persistence get the job done. It took me over 156 auditions to get my first role, and I put my best effort into each one of those pieces. Sometimes I spent entire weekends making sure I always gave my absolute best performance. I still have a long way to go, this is just my start, so if anybody would like to take this journey with me you can follow me on Facebook at [url=http://www.facebook.com/OfficialDesireeRoss]www.facebook.com/OfficialDesireeRoss, my Instagram is: desireeross_ and my Twitter is thedesireeross.”
