Myha’la was once a theater kid who dreamed of playing Elle Woods in Legally Blonde one day. But fate has something else in store for her. At least for now…
Born and raised in San Jose, California, the actor plays Harper Stern, the antiheroine of a generation on Industry, the critically acclaimed London-set HBO drama about fresh-faced college grads trying to survive working in finance. It has all the trimmings of a well-executed thriller: adrenaline-boosting deception, high-stakes negotiations, toxic workplaces, cheating, dubious alliances, and shocking late-night scenes. Harper has nothing to lose and will do anything to win, and she’s the reason people watch Industry season after season. She’s incredibly intelligent, sometimes morally ambiguous, and unrelenting in her pursuit of success. Myha’la plays her with a finesse that feels like she was born for the role.
JACKET Givenchy / EARRINGS Hugo Kreit
“Somebody asked me yesterday, ‘How do you feel about playing characters who make morally questionable decisions?’ I’m not in the business of judging people in general, and, particularly not the people I’m meant to embody because if I come at it from a judgmental place, then I’m not understanding them and won’t be able to embody them authentically,” Myha’la says. “Understanding the why helps you examine actions and do it with grace. Harper is not a mean person. She’s not like, Ooh, I can’t wait to double cross… She’s not thinking about that. She’s thinking, How do I get this business done?”
The actor recorded her audition for Industry before heading out for a night with friends. But perhaps more interestingly, before scoring the breakout role, she had hit a point, after enough rejections, where she was questioning herself and why it wasn’t happening for her.
HAT Esenshel / DRESS Loewe / RINGS Lara Sonmez
“I had always wanted to go professionally by just Myha’la.”
“I had just gotten so close to something. The director told me it was mine. Less than 24 hours later, they called and were like, ‘Sorry, it’s going to someone else,’ ” she says. “But the thing that felt like rock bottom for me—because it’s so contrary to who I am and how I’ve moved through the world—I started to see the people they were casting and wonder, What is it that they have that I don’t have? I was bald and quite androgynous then. I thought, Whatdo I need to do to position myself in a way that’s digestible to the suits?”
Then, Industry came calling, changing the course of her career. “The lesson there was to trust in divine timing. God is always looking out for you,” she says. “There was a reason I was not supposed to get that job. Had I got that job and missed out on Industry? Girl.”
It’s not just the show that magnetizes people to her. Despite being a millennial—though on the cusp, as she was born in 1996—she’s chronically online, closer to someone Gen Z. Myha’la is a self-proclaimed and “honest to god Black girl alt baddie who was very much on Tumblr,” she says. Her TikTok is a mix of dances with her costars or cats in frame, silly voiceovers, and Valentino front-row vlogs. Her inactive YouTube channel, created in 2011, is still searchable. Comments? She reads them and, depending on what you write, might just reply.
EARRINGS Isabel Marant / DRESS Fforme / SHOES Versace
“I always really wanted a tramp stamp, but I wanted to do my own version.”
Before Industry, Myha’la’s on-screen career consisted of one feature film (Premature) and a TV guest appearance (on Modern Love). Since Industry’s late 2020 debut, her credits have exploded into a series of major moments on-screen, like Bodies Bodies Bodies and, more recently, They Will Kill You. The actor, who turned 30 this year, is getting ready to film the fifth and final season of Industry this summer. But before that, she’s headed to the Scottish Highlands to hunt traitors (or, perhaps, be one) alongside Michael Sheen, Richard E. Grant, and James Blunt on the second season of The Celebrity Traitors.
Ahead, Myha’la talks about the early days of her acting journey, the next tattoo artists she wants to work with, and her fantasy-filled entry into the world of fashion.
DRESS Givenchy / EARRINGS Versace
ANDREA BOSSI: I want to start by asking about your decision to go mononymous.
MYHA’LA: My last name is Herrold, which is like the whitest fucking name in the world. My whole life, people would say, “Oh, what’s your name?” I’d say Myha’la, and they’d be like, “Wow! What’s your last name?” I’d say Herrold. And they go, “Oh.” Some people have a name where it’s like Robert Pattinson or Julia Roberts, and it really rings. My husband is that way, Armando Rivera. Myha’la Herrold is like… well. I have a super small family, and we’re not very traditional, so there’s not a whole lot of hardcore family-legacy-type ties to the name itself. I had always wanted to go professionally by just Myha’la. I have a middle name and a hyphenated last name. Having four names…half my documents were Myha’la Herrold, some were Myha’la Jael Herrold-Morgan. It was just getting complicated and annoying to remember which name was being used in which arena. To go by Myha’la professionally was just gonna be easier for me and felt true to who I am.
AB: It takes such a “I know I’m that girl” moment, too. When y’all figured it out and made the change, did it show up elsewhere in your life or work?
M: Honestly, no, because I was always gonna do it. People were like, Wow, she thinks she’s Cher. And I was like, Oop. First of all, no, I don’t. I read this crazy comment where someone was like, “She’s not earned the right to name herself!” I thought, Oh my God. Please get a grip. Like everybody does it. Was Madonna always Madonna, or was she Madonna Smith or whatever at some point? Do you know what I mean? I didn’t change because it was always the intention.
HAT Esenshel / DRESS Laura Andraschko / SHOES Aknvas
AB: There’s a misconception with artists, or anyone really in the public eye, that they just explode overnight. But you have been performing since you were tiny.
M: A wee lad!
AB: A wee lad! You were on stage at six in California. What was the journey like then? What role did your mom play in supporting you?
M: I was a dramatic kid. My mom tells the story all the time that she was like, “I was holding out as long as I could before I put her in some sort of dance class or theater thing because the second I put her in, I was gonna lose her forever.” And she was right. She put me in one class at six in a community theater, and I stayed at that theater and did every class and every show that I was eligible for. That was my life, and also then her life. We didn’t do anything else. We never traveled, no family vacations, none of that.
AB: And your first trip out of the country was for Industry.
M: I conveniently got a passport six months before then. Divine timing! The last passport I had I was maybe 18 months old.
AB: What did community theater in San Jose teach you that helped you move through Carnegie Mellon? And what did Carnegie Mellon teach that prepared you for life after graduating?
M: My community theater experience in my hometown taught me that I was a star. They really bigged me up. Being a crunchy granola Rasta Black girl in a predominantly white suburban town, you stand out anyway. I was totally fearless. Thank God for my mom’s confidence. I had the same doubts and insecurities that most children do, especially ones who feel like they’re different from the rest of the kids around them. But she was always like, “One day, baby, when you’re older, you’re gonna see you’re so beautiful, and you’re so special. You have to stay strong. Never let them see you sweat.” Being a white single mom, being able to build that kind of confidence in a young Black American woman, it is a gift beyond anything I could have hoped for. Then college told me, No, you’re not. College is one of the most humbling times in life. College taught me how to advocate for myself, taught me resilience. There were people at my school, and other schools I knew of, who left in shambles. It’s really, really hard to engage in this craft as a young person. It feels like either this goes well and you get your dreams, or it doesn’t, and you’re not worth shit. So I learned how to protect myself. It’s a constant practice.
HAT Esenshel / JACKET & SKIRT LaQuan Smith
“The gift of television is that you get to experience a person over time.”
AB: How do you approach and build your characters when they’re new compared to a character you’re coming back to?
M: The gift of television is that you get to experience a person over time. I love having so much time that I can genuinely be like, This is a full person. I know who they are in every cell in their body. Let’s find out how they move and change. I’m obsessed with human nature. I love to psychoanalyze myself. I feel like my approach to character, in general, is the same. I can do Harper at the drop of a hat. I don’t need no time. She lives in me all the time. With a new script, a new character, it takes a little more time. Often, I’m making discoveries about who they are in real time. You’re constantly asking questions, searching for answers. You don’t even have to find the answer to learn something about a character.
AB: Harper is a complex character whom you’ve so deeply explored. Do you ever feel her spilling into your day-to-day?
M: I could use her help more often than I call on her. I feel like I take a lot more shit than she does. I can take a page out of her book and be more no-nonsense. I’m also quite trusting. I feel like she’s guarded and doesn’t trust people because she’s been burned. I do not have trust issues, which actually… maybe that’s an issue. Sometimes it gets me in trouble because I could believe somebody when they tell me who they are the first time. But I’m always like, Benefit of the doubt! I am inspired by Harper’s commitment to letting people know exactly who she is and that she doesn’t play from the get.
JACKET Givenchy / EARRINGS Hugo Kreit
AB: Let’s talk about your tattoos! Did you grow up wanting them and always know you were going to get a bunch?
M: I just knew. My mom has tattoos. I was surrounded by people in her salon who had tattoos. My first one was a rib tattoo. My mom is an avid gardener, and when I moved to college, she created a little inside garden for me and grew a bunch of basil because it was one of my favorite things to cook with. The rib one is about her, me, and plants. I did the first one and immediately became addicted. I got like 90 percent of the 27-ish tattoos I have now in the first six months.
AB: There’s that viral video of you going to Courrèges doing that mean walk! To me, the tattoos added so much to that.
M: I always really wanted a tramp stamp, but I wanted to do my own version. I have a couple on my back, but I can’t see them, so I can’t enjoy them. I decided to put them on my front and did these two little panthers. I put them on my V-line, and they protect my womb. The idea of having fierce protection of my womb was so exciting to me. It was the longest tattoo session I’ve ever done in my life. It was hardcore. I’d never been in so much pain. I asked the artist to use Lidocaine spray at hour four. It was the first time I’d ever used numbing spray.
EARRINGS Isabel Marant / DRESS Fforme
“...I’m really in my Mother Earth, Gaia, water, fairy, whimsy, sexy era.”
AB: When you’re on the road, are you thinking about getting tattoos? Are there any artists you’re following that you are waiting until you can be in their chair?
M: There are a couple. There’s one artist that I have been following since college—Slowerblack, or Jenna Bouma. There’s an artist in Cardiff I found when we were filming Season 4 named Zak, at Still Hands... I’m obsessed with cats. I have panthers tattooed. I’ve always had cats. I want more cats. I want more animal tattoos. An ex wrote a song about me, and I had the title tattooed. But that relationship went really south. It would be one thing if we just ended amicably… Nah. It went so left it almost went right. So I had the tattoo covered with the word “mine” because I felt like this person no longer deserved to hold space on my skin or in my body or to be represented. That was a huge lesson. Don’t get no tattoo associated with somebody you cannot guarantee you stay on side with.
AB: You’re making a mark on fashion, whether it’s front row at Valentino or starring in a Miu Miu campaign. What have been some of the wildest moments when getting ready for a show?
M: When I’m getting ready for a show, I’m just filled with anxiety and excitement and nerves. Somehow you never have enough time, so it feels like a race to get out the door. Most recently, the biggest pinch-me moment was meeting Alessandro Michele at the Valentino show in Rome. I have been a fan of his for such a long time. I genuinely think he’s one of the last dissenting voices in fashion. I have so much respect for the way he uses his voice complementary to whatever house he’s designing for. He still has whimsy. He’s selling us a fantasy, which I feel like the girls need.
AB: How are you thinking about your style today in terms of what you’re experimenting with and what’s drawing you in?
M: I’m 30. I’m married. I feel like I’m really in my girly era. I feel like I’m really in my Mother Earth, Gaia, water, fairy, whimsy, sexy era. I really feel like a woman. I feel like I see myself as a woman, and other people are seeing me as a woman. I’m treated as a woman. I’m being loved like a woman, not a girl. So my fashion is being influenced by that. It’s still playful, still youthful, but a little more grown and sexy.
AB: Before we go, what are some creative things you’re looking forward to right now?
M: Broadway will always be my dream, however it looks, because I know it’s not going to be the way I thought when I was 12. I’m in the process of producing and developing my own work, stuff that has come out of my brain. I want to be the boss. I’m interested in producing my own work, starring in my own stuff, telling my own stories, having more authority and creative control from the inception. And, I’m starting my loc journey! ❤
HAT Esenshel / JACKET & SKIRT LaQuan Smith / SHOES Saint Laurent
STORY CREDITS
PHOTOGRAPHY Takahiro Ogawa at Factory Downtown / STYLIST Britt McCamey / HAIR Dre Demry-Sanders / MAKEUP Keita Moore at The Only Agency / VIDEOGRAPHER Anthony Kadel / PRODUCER Jessica Hodgson / PHOTO ASSISTANT Pedro Torres / STYLING ASSISTANTS Arianna Sandoval, Olivia Reid, Paris Michael & Savannah Avant / STUDIO Studios by SK
HERO IMAGE CREDITS
HAT Willy Chavarria / EARRINGS Versace / PANTS Acne Studios
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