Rutina Wesley

Rutina Wesley is an American actress. She can most recently be seen starring as ‘Maria’ in the HBO hit series “The Last of Us”. She can also recently be seen starring as “Nova” in Ava DuVernay¹s critically acclaimed series "Queen Sugar”. Prior to “Queen Sugar,” Rutina was starring in another critically acclaimed series “Hannibal” from the mind of Bryan Fuller. Rutina also starred as the co-series lead in the ABC pilot "The Broad Squad" from Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage’s Fake Empire. Theatre credits include the role of “Viola” in Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” at The Old Globe, “The Submission” Off-Broadway with director Walter Bobbie, as well as on Broadway opposite Julianne Moore in David Hare’s “The Vertical Hour” from acclaimed director Sam Mendes. She has starred across all genres in the feature world such as “13 Sins” from Radius/TWC, “The Perfect Guy” from Screen Gems, “Last Weekend” from Sundance Selects and the lead role in the Sundance Film Festival favorite, “How She Move”, which was bought and distributed by MTV Films. She is also known for immortalizing the role of “Tara" on Alan Ball's HBO hit series "True Blood." In 1997, Rutina attended Las Vegas Academy studying Theater and Dance. She earned her BFA in Theater Performance from the University of Evansville in 2001. Shortly after, she enrolled in the Juilliard School in 2001 and graduated in May 2005 (Group 34). Rutina also studied in the Summer Shakespeare Intensive program at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where she played the role of ‘Juliet’ in “Romeo and Juliet”.