Marissa Bode is here to represent (and be your new favorite actor)

How a "copycat little sister" went from hanging out with her cats to starring in Wicked, this season's biggest blockbuster.

- KAYLEIGH ROBERTS

Marissa Bode knows what it’s like for life to change in an instant: When the 24-year-old was cast as Nessarose in the Wicked movies (the first installment of the smash hit book and musical is out Nov. 22), she went from mentoring middle schoolers and chilling with her cats to belting out Broadway hits and hanging with Ariana Grande. And she still can’t fully believe it’s all really happening.

“If you were to tell me a few years ago that I’d be filming one of my favorite productions and going to a Beyoncé concert with Ariana Grande, I would’ve called you out of your mind. I would think you were pranking me, and I would tell you, ‘Please stop making fun of me, I’m sensitive,’” she says of going to the Renaissance World Tour with her Wicked co-star. “But it was so cool…weird and surreal, but really cool.”

Even before being cast in Wicked, Marissa was no stranger to life-altering moments. When she was 11 years old, she and her mother were on their way to an audition when they got into a car accident. Marissa was ejected from the car, and her injuries left her unable to walk and needing a wheelchair—just like her character, Nessarose.

In many ways, Nessarose feels like the role Marissa was destined to play. But her casting is actually groundbreaking for the character, as Marissa is the first wheelchair user to portray her. (In the previous stage productions over the past 20 years, the character has been played by able-bodied actors.)