Mia Healey

*on the significance of portraying a queer character and what she ultimately hopes for Shelby’s future*

Covering our summer 2022 features (and our first ever digital cover) is Mia Healey, fan favorite from Amazon Prime’s “The Wilds.” I sat down with Mia for an open conversation about her character Shelby. We talked about feeling empowered by one’s own queer experience and how that translates to portraying a queer character within a story, which Mia does beautifully. The thing I love most about Shelby, that we delve into below, is how much love and respect she finds for herself on this island. Her relationship with Erana James’ character Toni has resonated so deeply with fans; it’s been powerful to witness. The photography in this feature is by Davy Kesey, someone we love collaborating with at l’Odet. His values and creative vision are very similar to ours; his goal is to take a humbler approach to photoshoots, as editorial shoots can often be hurried and impersonal. These photos are the culmination of a one-on-one portrait session at the Hollywood Reservoir, where Davy and Mia just walked around and got to know each other. There was no hair and makeup or styling team for this shoot. All these elements came together to create very sincere photographs and they pair perfectly with our conversation with Mia. Thank you to Mia’s team for their coordination on this, and most importantly, thank you to Mia for your candor and openness. ◇ 2022

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I think the queer community sees your portrayal of Shelby in “The Wilds” as such a beautiful example and really connects with that. And also Shelby’s relationship with Toni. Maybe you can expand a little bit on your experience with that?

Mia Healey: Well, it's just been such an amazing experience being able to touch people's lives through the work that I do and through my passion. Acting is something that I've always been and will always be so deeply passionate about. I never thought before I did "The Wilds" that I was going to be able to connect with so many people and also make people feel seen and heard and honored. That was definitely a brand new experience for me that I hold very close to my heart because it's changed my life. Being able to hear other people's stories through the way they talk about their relation to these characters and how these characters make them feel and the sort of the risks that they've taken towards being their authentic self has been — it's the greatest honor. And it's a wig out, it's still ‘pinch me’ moments.

Cariann Bradley: Is it also kind of hard in a way? I feel like I've always been very open about certain things, especially why I created Midnight Woman and l'Odet. When you put yourself out there like that, I feel it invites so many people to want to connect with you and be like, this happened to me. We are the same, we connect. And holding space for those people is sometimes really difficult. I would imagine it's kind of hard to hold space for so many people's stories.

Mia Healey: I guess for me, it almost aids with the research of the character as well because I get to hear these stories about people. I may relate to Shelby in some ways, but I didn't grow up religious. I didn't grow up with parents that were not supportive. My parents are very supportive, so it's interesting to hear these stories from women who have actually gone through really similar — very similar things to Shelby. That's really made me be able to empathize with these real people and also bring that in the next time I'm playing Shelby. But I totally understand what you mean, for sure.

Cariann Bradley: I did want to ask you about the religious bit of your character. I have experience with religion. Living in the south, you grow up religious, even if that's not really what you want. It's something that is so hard for so many people. The funny thing about my assault is that it happened at a Christian college and that's what made it so tough — that they didn't believe me when I came forward and said what had happened to me. That happens to so many women across college campuses, across churches, in the south everywhere, everywhere. It's just a universal experience.

Mia Healey: It's interesting because the church and religion, they preach acceptance and community and hope and that sort of unconditional kindness and safety. When that proves itself to be wrong to certain people, it can really break down your world. Especially if the world that you know has religion at the center. Then if your religion ends up kind of cheating you, you feel, in turn, really cheated. I imagine it would be so hard to recover from and build a new support system.
Cariann Bradley: 1000%. That is what happened to me in college. The outcome, for me at least, was that I turned away from Christianity. I still consider myself to be spiritual, but to have the religion that I so desperately clung onto as a lifeline be turned *against* me as a weapon…
Mia Healey: Yeah. Wow.
Cariann Bradley: It was just so isolating and, like you said, I just had to kind of start from scratch. I had to flatten everything and be like, *okay, I'm all I have right now so how do I want to move forward? What is my moral compass? What is my community? What is it that I believe happened that got us all here?* It was so scary. I honestly don't know how I did it. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other.
Mia Healey: Well, I'm so proud of you. You really made something so beautiful out of this. Religion can be crazy. And it makes you think when really bad things happen, that really makes you question ‘how can there be a God?’ I know that's really controversial, but when terrible things happen in the world, it really makes you question those things.

Cariann Bradley: Oh yeah. I think the most faithful people have doubts, too. It's a question that I think everyone has asked. Like you said, this thing is supposed to be unlimited kindness, love, and community. You think it's what it represents and I actually still think it does, in its true form. I think one of the things I’m most proud of is that I never rejected religion and spirituality as a concept after what happened to me. I know so many good Christian people who have such beautiful relationships with their higher power and I respect that so much. Everyone has to get up in the morning and how they do that is not for me to say.

I feel like so many young southern Christian women can relate to the character of Shelby. It's a common thread, but it's so complex at the same time. I just think it's a beautiful character. What struck you about Shelby when you first read the script? How did you relate to her?

Mia Healey: Well, at first, I didn’t know she was grappling with her sexual identity — when I got the audition, it said that the character was this God-fearing pageant princess who is hiding a lot of grit and secrets. Immediately that got my attention because on paper this is someone who is very multifaceted, as we all are, and had a secret. I think as an actor, as a performer, it's really important to sometimes imagine that your character has a secret, even if it's not in the script, just to bring that sort of authenticity to the character. So, that was something that I was really excited about because I love working on that sort of inner monologue, those secrets that they're holding.

As the show developed and we were getting scripts and seeing her spirals, I saw the way she changes and the way that she also isn't really changing, she's kind of just leaning more towards her truth. It's powerful and it makes me feel powerful playing someone like that, because you just get to step into someone who's really making an effort to be a better person. That's what she's trying to do. Always. She's always trying to be the better person. And now she's trying to be herself that makes her feel like the better person. It's just such an inspiring character to play, to see, and to feel.

Cariann Bradley: That's beautiful. Something that you said made me think — of course how the girls got on the island was very fucked up and sad — but I feel like distilling an experience down to, like, just being alone on an island with nothing that you know, you only have yourself… you do just have to lean into who you are and what makes you happy in the day to day because you're not really thinking about what everyone else thinks. That is really beautiful, but in a lot of ways, I think that Shelby's character is quite kind to herself in letting herself just kind of come into who she is.

Mia Healey: Yeah. I think the island was the best thing that could have happened to [Shelby]. I know that sounds crazy because it's obviously a very traumatic experience and is just very fucked up from all angles, but I do see Shelby ending up really enjoying it there. She finds her peace, I guess. Maybe not so much peace — but a kind of growth that she's always been holding back because she felt that it was sinful. I think she feels on this island, she's kind of got this freedom. In season one when Toni says, “But you're free here, Shelby.” I think that really hit her.

From then on, she's been moving and growing and leaning into herself while also still having so many demons inside. I feel like some inner demons, or most, you could have one thing that's happened to you or that someone's made you feel in your life and then you handle it or it goes away, but it can creep up and morph into different things in your life. I think that's what she's going through now. All I know of right now is it feels like, for Shelby, there's just always this voice in her head that's saying really bad things towards her, making her feel really bad, and scaring her.

Cariann Bradley: Yeah. That makes sense. It's like, well, we can never fully run away from our demons. Something's always going to be there, and if it's not one thing it's the other. Also, I've seen some of the screeners for season two, did you have any say in what happened to Shelby in season two? Or what was your impression of it?

Mia Healey: No, I didn't have any say and I wouldn't want to have any say. I completely trust and put all my faith into the creators. Sarah and Amy are so fantastic at what they do and no one could do it better. They do such an amazing job and I trust them very much and they hit the nail on the head every time.

Cariann Bradley: That's such a safe place to be. I love that.

Mia Healey: Yeah, totally.

Cariann Bradley: Especially when you're trying to create these multifaceted characters and people, that's so important. What was your favorite part of working on season two and your storyline?

Mia Healey: Oh, I just loved seeing Shelby the happiest we've ever seen her. She's falling into this relationship with Toni. She's really giving in to her impulses for the good and we see her be able to be queer and want to stay queer and want to be there. It was just such a nice, nice character to play. I felt so proud of her in that moment. It's such a weird thing, being an actress, because you're seeing it from so many different angles — this person, you feel it within yourself, you see it from the outside, you see it in the writing — it's just interesting. But my favorite part was definitely being able to lean into that relationship and having those kind of open conversations with my scene partner, Erana, who plays Toni, and being able to really flesh out that relationship and just make it gooey and gorgeous and safe and feel like home for both of them. It was really a pleasure.

Cariann Bradley: I feel like watching those scenes, I can tell that there was more that went into it than just reading the script. Talking about the conversations that you had with [Erana] — I just feel like that's one of those nuggets. That's the best part of getting to talk to someone about a project, that's what you don't see on the surface level, but there's so much nuance. There's so much beneath the surface of what you're portraying.

Mia Healey: Yeah and that's the most fun part. I feel like that research and those conversations are some of the best parts of being an actor. I love it so much.

Cariann Bradley: You're putting so much time and love and effort into crafting that and doing the best that you can to portray it and that's your art. It's really badass to me.

Season two is wild. I don't know what I was expecting, but it really just, they didn't lead into anything. It just… you went straight into it. I love the boys too. I feel like watching the first season, I almost feel heavy watching all of the character's backs stories and then you finally kind of feel like liberated when you start to see them let go of a lot of things on the island, but now it's starting over and I'm like, okay, now we have a whole new cast and have to figure out what happened to them. It's very interesting with such a big cast. Were you guys separated for most of it?

Mia Healey: In our personal lives, off set, we were not separated. We were spending a lot of time with each other, which was so fun meeting new people. But when on set, we were different. We were separated because they were on a different island than us so we had completely different shoot days. It was kind of week on, week off. We didn't get to work with them until the end. Which was so fun. And now I'm like, oh my gosh. If we do season three, fingers crossed, that's going to be crazy if it happens.

Cariann Bradley: When I got the screeners from your team, I watched the first couple episodes of season two and then I ran out of time. So I was like, okay, I'm just going to watch the last episode and then go back and I'll fill in the rest after the interview. I just want to see how we leave things to able to ask Mia. And I just fully was not expecting how it ended. [Laughs] Everyone kind of came together and it just wasn't what I was expecting. Was it what you were expecting?

Mia Healey: No. I always keep my imagination at bay when thinking about the future when I'm filming, because as hard as it is, it's so much fun to be with all the cast and be like, what do you think's going to happen? Making all the theories, but trying to live in the moment as much as possible. The ending was, yeah, I was not expecting that. But also, I'm really happy with the way it ended, because I feel like the room that it gives for a season three, if there's going to be a season three, could be very, very thrilling and entertaining and a whole new show basically. The way we ended, it's like, okay, now everything's different. Now everything's definitely going to have to change. This is really moving on to that sort of next step. But we don't know if we’re going to do a season three, so that might not happen, but I was excited about that.

Cariann Bradley: Well, I'm manifesting that. You're going to have season three. It has to happen because I just won't be able to survive if I don't know what happens to these people. [Laughs]

Mia Healey: No, I know. [Laughs] I'm going to need to know. If we don't get a season three, I just have to call Sarah up and be like, can you just tell me what would've happened?

Cariann Bradley: Like, just a little hint!

Mia Healey: Closure.

Cariann Bradley: For sure. I also wanted to ask you, you got to come back and work with these women again on season two and the whole premise of the show is that you guys kind of become a family. Is that how it felt? Or what was that even with just your scene partners?

Mia Healey: It definitely felt like home. I just will never forget that moment. We were all at the hotel and people started arriving and we were like, we need to be in some sort of common area so that we don't miss anyone coming in because we haven't seen each other for so long, since we couldn't do any press in person or anything like that because it was during the the peak of the pandemic. We all waited by the pool, me and Erana and Shannon, and then people would come in and it was this huge reunion. It was so nice having them there because it's always crazy. I mean, I love traveling for work, but everyone's away from home.

We really became each other's family and lean on each other and look to each other for different things. Each one of these women are so, so different. Everyone is so different. Every single one, because you know how on the show, every character is from this completely different backstory and they have completely different lives and completely different upbringings and completely different morals and values and beliefs and worldviews and everything like that. So that's exactly it — I mean they did a really good job casting because all of these girls are also so different in such a fabulous way and being able to learn about them and from them was really cool.

Cariann Bradley: Just the coolest sleep-away camp you could possibly imagine. Very jealous.

Mia Healey: How cool is it that they're all such amazing people? Because that's kind of the risk because these are not people that you would've ever really been able to meet otherwise because we come from all different parts of the world. With that comes the risk we get along. Not everyone will unless everyone's so kind and considerate, thoughtful and beautiful.

Cariann Bradley: That's so lovely. I feel like that's the sweet spot of having a project that comes together when things just fall together and the people mesh really well. That's another reason why I love doing interviews like this because you find out all of those things and find out the things behind the scenes that bring more nuance to the project. You know what I mean? I'm glad that you got to have that experience.

Mia Healey: Yeah, totally.

Cariann Bradley: Just makes it even more worth it. I know season three is not guaranteed, but I am wondering — what do you want for Shelby? What do you want to see for your character if you could even just abstract ideas after what's happened to her in two seasons.

Mia Healey: I'm not sure if this is what I would want for her in season three, but I know what I want for her by the end of this universe, when it ends, when this show eventually ends. I would hope to see her just out and proud and rocking the shaved head and just being kind to herself. I really want to see her be kind to herself. My dad always says, “The most important words you will ever say are the words that you say to yourself about yourself, when you're by yourself”. I think about that all the time. I think that Shelby, if I was to think about that quote in Shelby's world, it's like, oh, the words that Shelby says to herself about herself when she's by herself are shocking, I can imagine.

I would like to see her talk really kindly to herself and about herself and have this good relationship with her herself and her sexual identity — just be proud of who she is. That's what I want. In terms of season three, I don't know, because if you saw at the end of season two, there's this moment that's between her and Gretchen it’s like, who knows what's going to happen there for season three? There's a lot of room for hectic drama. So I don't know. We'll see. It's so exciting. I love that about Shelby because she's constantly changing. It's like I'm playing a hundred different characters. It's so much fun.

Cariann Bradley: Yeah. That's awesome. I hope there's a season three. I really do. You also mentioned earlier when we were talking that you were queer and you're out.

Mia Healey: Yeah.

Cariann Bradley: That's a beautiful thing to want for your character as well, I think.

Mia Healey: Yeah, for sure. I never really had to have a conversation with my parents or friends. It's one of those things that people were just cool with it, but the good thing about playing Shelby was being able to connect with fans in that way as well because I'd never really spoken about it publicly to an audience, I guess — if that's the right word. That was a really crazy experience because I'd never done that before.

It's interesting because I never really came out. It was something that I was kind of hiding during high school. I would have certain relationships with women in high school that I really didn't want anyone to know about because I was from this small kind of country town and that just wasn't really a vibe there. Even though my parents are very, very cool about it. After high school it just became something that everyone was aware of and that I never really had to talk about, which I really appreciated because I just got to live my life free of judgment.

It's been great with this role; it was the first time I'd ever really said it publicly that I was bisexual and it was cool. It was really cool, but it was very different. It's something I never talked about, literally never talked about. It was just something that was a part of my life that I just wasn't ashamed of and was proud of and just kind of lived with and it was easy and fun. Easy for the most part. Now, I get to talk about it and talk about the struggles that come with it and also the joy of it all and it's been a pleasure.

Cariann Bradley: That's beautiful. It's also like that's part of the comfort with yourself that you kind of bring to your character. The person you're portraying didn't have that and you had such a different experience and that's what's beautiful.

Mia Healey: Yeah. I was saying in an interview the other day that someone asked me, what would you give to your character or something like that. And I said I would give Shelby my self-esteem, for sure. For sure.

Cariann Bradley: Well, I don't want to take any more of your time. I really, really appreciate you talking to me. I love your work and I love this show and I think the character is so beautiful. The real nuance and love that you've brought to Shelby is apparent. I feel grateful to have watched it and talked to you about it.

Mia Healey: Thank you so much for having me. This was a really fabulous interview and you asked very amazing questions and that was lovely. Thank you for spending the time with me.

edited by Kass Ringo
design by Madeline Westfall

Mia Healey

Mia Healey

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My dad always says, “The most important words you will ever say are the words that you say to yourself about yourself, when you're by yourself”. I think about that all the time.

Winona Oak

Lola Tung