POWER PLAY

For actor-singer-dancer a groundbreaking Now the 31-year-old is working to carve out a life that's truly her own-by setting boundaries, maintaining a harmonious mindset, and moving her body in ways that bring joy. Soak up her honest take on fresh starts to get inspired. ( Ariana DeBose, Oscar win was just the beginning.

Ariana

DeBose never expected to feel stressed after winning an Oscar. But in the days and weeks following her Best Supporting Actress win for her powerful and heartbreaking turn as Anita in Steven Spielberg's West Side Story, that's exactly what happened. The achievement was understandably huge for her. Not only because she'd beautifully reimagined an iconic character and been recognized as a Broadway star turned movie star, but because she'd become the first openly queer actor of color to win for acting.

"The moment was important to me and became very important to many communities, and I'm grateful for everything that has transpired, but it was a pressure cooker," she says from Budapest, where she's shooting the thriller House of Spoils. "I felt that every day, and now even in the aftermath, I still feel it. There have been times this year that I have been more lonely than ever."

Sure, earning an Oscar was a dream realized for a girl from North Carolina. But it left her feeling unsettled. "My greatest fear was that I've become a poster child for all the big things that I represent, and that people would be like, 'Okay, great, you have this Oscar. Can you please go away now? Let's move on. This is a blip," she says. "I show up every day for work to prove them wrong."

And it turns out, her win was just the beginning. Hitting the set of her first superhero movie, Marvel's Kraven the Hunter, last spring, felt "empowering and affirming," says the 31-year-old, who plays voodoo priestess Calypso. (The movie is slated to be released later this year.) "I had a heavy amount of confidence in my skill set at the time." And she still does. "I don't believe it was a blip." But now that almost a year has passed since her Oscar triumph, she’s found herself at a crossroads.