Homecoming Queen

Alisha Boe knows a high school hallway like the back of her hand. Here, the star of Netflix's Do Revenge schools us on growing pains, cancel culture, biracial belonging and lessons learnt from her characters.

- Yvette King

You know that person who says ‘I miss high school so much? I don’t trust that person. You know the ones who say ‘those were the best years of my life’? Run away as fast as you can.” Aside from her relatable sentiments on the dangers of peaking as a teen, there’s something about Alisha Boe that makes you feel that she could be your best friend.

When we finally find a time in her busy schedule to connect—she has just touched down in London from dreary Scotland where she’s been filming her latest project, a period drama series by Apple TV+ inspired by Edith Wharton’s The Buccaneers—she’s barefaced, wavy hair free-flowing and her effortless Norwegian-Somali beauty is shining through. “Thanks for taking the time,” is one of the first things she says. Disarming and approachable seems to be her modus operandi, with a sense of big-picture perspective that would be expected from someone twice her age.

“Cancel culture is interesting because it creates this narrative that human beings aren’t allowed to make mistakes, learn from them and then grow from them. There’s obviously a fine line. If you’ve done something that is unforgivable then you should be in jail. But there are certain things that we are too quick to judge. We’re all imperfect.” The 25-year-old actress is starring in a new movie Do Revenge—streaming on Netflix from 16 September— which tackles themes like bullying, shunning, disinformation and trauma by using dark comedy.