Jessica Szohr

Jessica Szohr
Role	Talla Keyali
Date of birth	March 31, 1985
Place of birth	Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin
External Links
Wikipedia

It’s been a really incredible journey so far.— Jessica Szohr, on The Orville

Jessica Szohr is an American actress who plays Talla Keyali in the second and third season of The Orville.

Background

Jessica Szohr was born in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, a place she described as a "family-oriented small town." She began modelling at a young age, and moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue acting at age 18.

Szohr began her acting career in 2003 in the television show My Wife & Kids. After a series of minor roles, she landed the recurring character of Laura for the television dramedy What About Brian in 2007. That same year she had her breakout role as Vanessa Abrams in Gossip Girl, the role she is now best known for.

Szohr also featured in the 2015 film Ted 2, created by Seth MacFarlane.

The Orville

Creator Seth MacFarlane approached Szohr with the role of Talla in January 2018 and described his plans for the character. She was excited to play the role of a tough yet petite character "with a big heart." She added:

The social issues that he touches on with this show are so amazing and genius, and it’s so fun because we get to play with it, in space. We’re using all this space jargon but when you watch the episode you see that we’re really trying to make a point. I love that part of the show, that had a lot to do with me wanting to do it.

Jessica Szohr was announced as a new series regular on February 12, 2018. Details of her character were kept closely wrapped, though a series of small leaks allowed fans to deduce that the name would be "Talla Keyali" or "Talla Kexali."

As Talla Keyali, Szohr replaced Halston Sage (Alara Kitan) as Chief of Security on the USS Orville, first appearing in the fifth episode All the World is Birthday Cake. "I just love playing her, so I was so excited to be working with the whole cast and everything," she later said in an interview. "Joining the ship and coming on as the new chief of security [has been] super fun. ...I get to do really amazing stunts, and all this crazy stuff that you would never think she'd be able to do."

In Season 3, Szohr bonded with Anne Winters (Charly Burke), the newest member of the cast. "I was the newbie on set last season," she told Burke. "And I am here, and let’s be friends." Szohr was pregnant during filming and missed nearly a month of shooting.

Trivia

• One of her favorite episodes is Lasting Impressions in which she shares the screen with her Gossip Girl co-star Leighton Meester (Laura Huggins).
  • Ironically, Talla and Laura only appear together in one scene, in which they do not converse.
• Co-star Peter Macon was so frequently in his Bortus costume during production that Szohr did not see him out of costume for the first two-and-a-half months of shooting. Szohr recalls:

Our trailers are right next to each other, so one day I’m leaving work and I went to say ‘bye’ and ... introduce myself, and he said “It’s Peter, I’m Bortus”, and I was like, “Wait, what? What do you mean?” I thought he was messing with me.

• Szohr has a habit of falling asleep mid-sentence.
• During filming Season 2, Szohr once slept through her alarm. After, Scott Grimes (Gordon Malloy) sent Szohr a video each morning shouting "Jessica! Wake up!" On one occasion, he convinced Adrianne Palicki (Kelly Grayson) to put her phone playing the video next to Szohr's ear as she slept.
• MacFarlane enjoys teasing Szohr for her thick Wisconsin accent.

Interviews

• January 2019: TV Insider, TVLine
• February 2019: Interview with Planetary Union Network
• March 2019: Brief Take