UN-SYBIL: Tatiana Maslany is all these characters — each with a different accent. (
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Maybe we should start calling her “Orphan Multicolor.” I’m talking about Tatiana Maslany, the break-out star of BBC America’s break-out series, “Orphan Black.”
Who? Tatiana Maslany, that’s who — and she might be the best actress you never heard of, but the one who is burning up TV by playing (so far) six different characters who don’t sound alike or dress alike. They also do not share the same hairstyles, lifestyles, personalities or foreign accents.
The women inside Maslany, in fact, have nothing in common — except identical DNA.
No — we’re not talking Sybil, we’re talking clones.
And even though there are six different characters, Maslany has hinted she might be playing up to 10 altogether — this season alone.
Sure we’ve seen this multiple character bit a bazillion times on TV, probably starting with the original “Superman” series. (And strangely enough, Clark Kent has been mostly getting away with the glasses trick for 900 years.)
In more modern times, the one actor/multiple character roles usually involve the cheesy identical twins thing, or making them into completely different characters with the use of gigantic prosthetics.
Here, though, Maslany does it all with great acting and a few wigs. The faces and bodies of all the characters are the same, but the four different accents (so far) — as well as the ways in which each comports herself, emotes and lives life — makes all the prosthetics unnecessary. Maslany’s acting is better than any fake nose and fat suit.
First off, there’s Brit punk rock mess Sarah, who was orphaned as a baby and is now a single mother who lost custody of her own child before assuming the identity of:
Beth, a damaged American cop who threw herself in front of an oncoming train in episode one. Troubled Beth had nothing in common with the identical:
Alison, a conservative, uptight control freak, suburban soccer mom with two adopted kids, a reliance on prescription drugs and a boring husband, who is totally the opposite of identical:
Dred-headed Cosima, a PhD student who happens to be studying experimental evolutionary biology (could come in very handy considering). If Cosima weren’t a clone, chances are incredibly good that she would never have run into identical:
Russian assassin/fundamentalist Helena, of the crazy blond curly mane, who thinks she’s the real deal and everyone else is a clone. Therefore, it’s up to her to kill off the rest, which is how she came to murder:
Poor Katja, the sickly German who was a nervous wreck before running into the freight train that is Helena.
What’s the real difference between them all? So far, only Sarah can procreate. Therefore, I’m betting Sarah’s the real deal.
Thing is when Maslany inhabits these women, they all seem so different you might just think they are wearing fake noses.
If God and the Emmys are fair, at least six Maslanys will be picking up statuettes this September.