Aja appeared in an editorial for The New York Times Style Magazine in February 2016!
Aja Naomi King
The 31-year-old Los Angeles native didn’t think her film, “The Birth of a Nation,” would even make it into Sundance, let alone become the toast of the festival. “You could feel the energy buzzing through everyone in the room,” King says of the film’s now almost-mythic premiere, which was followed — and preceded — by lengthy standing ovations. By purchasing the film for a Sundance record $17.5 million and giving it an October release date, Fox Searchlight has positioned “The Birth of a Nation” as an early favorite for a number of awards — including a possible best supporting actress nod for King, who plays the young wife of the slave rebellion leader Nat Turner, played by the film’s director, Nate Parker. It’s a stark departure from her role on the Shonda Rhimes-produced ABC series “How to Get Away with Murder,” on which she plays the ambitious law student Michaela Pratt. “Sadly, we don’t see my character in class very much,” jokes King, who earned her M.F.A. in drama from Yale. “I really hope she graduates before it ends.”