Alecsys Proctor-Turner was in a very deep sleep when she received several phone calls from her agent letting her know she booked Netflix's Survival of the Thickest. Proctor-Turner, 26, is a Miami-born, New York City-based actor whose first acting credit will be on a show with a very powerful message.
Survival of the Thickest first premiered in July 2023, and season two is here to give us even more. The Netflix series follows Mavis Beaumont (played by Michelle Buteau). Mavis is Black, plus-size, and looking for love while simultaneously loving herself and navigating the fashion industry as a stylist. She’s determined to not only survive but thrive with the support of her chosen family and body-positive attitude. The scripted comedy series is inspired by Buteau’s book of essays. In addition to starring, Buteau co-created and executive produced the show alongside co-creator, showrunner, and executive producer Danielle Sanchez-Witzel and showrunner and executive producer Amy Aniobi.
Proctor-Turner’s character is Nala, Beaumont’s vibrant assistant and fashion school student. At a time when the representation of plus-size bodies is dwindling, Proctor-Turner is excited to have her budding acting career start on a show as dynamic and inclusive as Netflix's Survival of the Thickest. Here, we caught up with her to talk about her first job post-college, how this role has shaped her own style, and what dream roles she’d love to play as a young, curvy Black woman.
Alecsys Proctor-Turner: I feel like at four years old, my mom was, "She's a performer." I always had a microphone and a purse. So, in second grade, I did my first audition for a drama class, and I've been in theater or musical theater since then until May of 2024.
AP-T: I was doing musical theater for a long time. A lot of my focus [in school] was about singing and telling the story through song. And then the pandemic happened and sent me back home, which I think was bittersweet because I got to really understand more about myself. Then I was like, "Oh, let me get better at my craft." The acting portion wasn't really hitting like my voice was. So I went to Columbia for acting, and that changed my life.
AP-T: It was belittling in a way, realizing how much control you don't have. It was humbling. And then I started getting my friends together, and we did these Zoom practices learning songs and putting them on Instagram just to bring people's spirits up. And then the pandemic put me in a space where I didn't want to sing anymore because it just felt like a chore. It wasn't feeling like an outlet. So I stopped singing for a few years and then found my voice again, maybe a year and a half ago. The pandemic tore me apart, but it also put me together in other ways.
AP-T: I am a Capricorn, so I went into my third year of grad school like, "Okay, how am I transitioning into the industry?" I was thinking that way forward, got my managers and everything. I made sure I had a to-do list, and I would check it off. Then we got to showcase time, and going from school to industry, you're around a lot of people right next to you. And then that showcase to graduation, and we started moving away from being next to each other. It was an interesting thing to experience.
AP-T: We went from sharing every single thing, like classes, everything, to not even being able to talk about meetings with each other because you're now about your own business. We went from cohort (we're still good cohorts in ensemble), but we went from deep, tight-knit to, "Oh, I'm the CEO of my own brand."
Survival kind of came right away, which was beautiful because I graduated in May of 2024 and started filming a month later. Because of the timing, it felt so ordered for me. I started feeling the, How am I adjusting to the industry? right after I finished filming. I got to slow down and sit with myself and be like, Who am I? What am I doing? What kind of work do I want to do?
AP-T: I've been pushing against the box. I don't want to be the funny, fat friend. I'm hilarious, though, so keep me as the main character in a rom-com. But I don't want to be the funny, fat friend because that's all I was told when I was younger. And I think, especially being a brown-skinned, big girl, it is a whole different ball game. Sometimes they want to over sexualize brown-skinned, big girls. They want to throw trauma on them. And I believe that our bodies should be romanticized. We should be in romantic moments, and we should live life every day, day to day, on TV and in film.
AP-T: I was taking the best nap of my life. When I say I was in a deep nap, I was missing calls. My manager's one of the only people who can come through my DND, and she came through, and I answered, and she's like, "So, you booked it!" I'm in my sleep, like, "Huh, what's happening?" It was the craziest, Whoa, pinch-me moment. "Pinch me, pinch me, pinch me!" Because the chem read felt so like, "Oh, this feels good. I want this."
AP-T: I did it with Tasha [Smith] and Michelle and some of our executive producers and Erica Hart, who did casting. She was in the room with her associate, and it felt so intimate. I walked in and left wanting to be with Tasha and Michelle again. So part of my, "Oh, I want this job," is I want to work with those two women again because they're so strong and so beautiful. So that's the first thing I thought of. I was like, Oh my gosh, I get to work with Tasha Smith, who's a staple in my household. And then Michelle, because I am a comedy actress, and what she's doing is something I can look up to for a long time, from the beginning of her career to tomorrow.
AP-T: I'm very fortunate to be able to experience this. It was, for me, on-and-off days for four months. There'll be three consecutive days, or a day, a break, and then another day. And it’ll be the longest hours but the most fulfilling hours. I didn't feel exhausted until physically my body would be like, What's happening? I learned to ask for slippers. I'm wearing these heels in this show. Michelle was like, "Girl, your feet hurt?" And I'm over there stepping side to side saying, "Yeah, my feet hurt." She's like, "Get her some slippers."
So I learned a lot from Michelle, like asking for things or how to walk into the trailers. Tasha and I did a lot of our hair and makeup in the same trailer. And the way she walked in with, "Good morning!" showed me, Oh, you're supposed to be happy. You're supposed to be loving. So it was a loving experience every day, morning to night.
AP-T: It was amazing. I was wearing things I would never wear, so I was, "Oh, this look is cute." I got to learn what actually looks good on me because we have a wardrobe and costumers who know how to fit bodies of all sizes. The fittings were great, and they worked with me. I love butterflies. Butterflies represent my great-grandma, Mama Lan. And once they realized that, they incorporated it with Nala, everything. It's a whole look. We have butterflies in my hair and on my ring. It was one of the last days I shot, and it was a surprise from the whole creative team.
AP-T: And there's a lot of statements. Like you'll see in there, "Say Their Name," on the side of my hair, because Nala is still a Black girl in her early 20s, in school, and there's a lot that as Black women we're going through socially. You see it in her outfits, and you see it in her hair.
AP-T: Nala, she's that girl, period. She's for the girls who grew up watching That's So Raven and Hannah Montana, and wanting to be seen in their 20s. That's really who she is. She's a fashion student and stylist and designer who is Mavis's intern assistant. And Nala brings up conversations about boundaries when it comes to mental health. She's over social media. She brings a touch of our generation to this space that's not necessarily our generation. And it's kind of like, I think she's filled with light.
AP-T: Nala taught me how, if something throws me off, to get right back on the axis. She’s taught me a lot about self-confidence because you could get into this business and be able to tell other people how to love themselves. And then you get in the mirror like, "Mmm?" No, Nala was like, "Get in the mirror and say, 'Yeah, you're that b*tch! Like, hey, girl.'" And I got that from Nala.
And fashion-wise, I don't really wear that much color. Nala is wearing all the colors in the world. Now I'm like, “Maybe I should try a little orange and blue. I'm always wearing pinks, black, and browns. That's my color.” And being bigger, and 5'5", which is not that tall, but with hips, I didn't want to take up space. And Nala takes up so much space. I'm like, Give me all the heels in the world. Give me the puffy dresses and the big hair. I want to take up space.
AP-T: It means the world to me. I feel like in my smaller spaces, I was kind of doing that. I was always crop-topped out, being from Miami, where we barely wear clothes. And I got to New York, and people were confused and like, "Oh my gosh, you're so confident." And I didn't understand what that meant. I'm like, "I just wear what I wear." And being around more people, I'm like, "Oh, y'all don't have other bigger bodies who feel comfortable enough to do this." And I think that comes from the lack of representation where it's not about us. And this show gives that opportunity to wear whatever you want. You could go be sexy, you could live life. You could also go through hell and be big while it's happening and it not be because you're big. It feels amazing to be a part of this.
AP-T: Because I'm a reader, I really think that in the Fourth Wing series, or any other fantasy, we should see bigger bodies because it's like warriors need to survive in all these dystopian places. And they aren't all small. So, like, my dream role is Imogen; give me some pink hair. Put me in Fourth Wing.
I am reading this book called A Love Song for Ricki Wilde. And there's this beautiful lead character who I feel truly attached to and how she's eclectic and not understood. And then finds someone who understands her, in a way. And I also just want to be in a rom-com. I want to be in love, and I want it to be funny and wacky, and I want a rain kiss. Pick me up.
AP-T: Get me the bachelorette pick-up. That's what I want.
AP-T: I'm Miami deep, Dade County, Richmond Heights. And it means the world to me for people to know that people who look like us also come from Miami because we're not really represented out there. And especially South Miami because North is talked about a lot, but it means the world to me, especially coming from the University of Miami and having that deep in me…orange and green all day.
AP-T: Ignore every single person who said you couldn't do it or that you were too big.
Credits
Talent: Alecsys Proctor-Turner
Photographer/Stylist: Aiyana Ishmael
Design Director: Emily Zirimis
Designer/Production: Liz Coulbourn
Associate Visuals Editor: Bea Oyster
Hairstylist: Troy Turner
Hair Provided by: Home of True Hair
Makeup: Ciara Glionna
Editorial Credits
Style Director: Alyssa Hardy
Fashion Editor At Large: Sara Delgado
Associate Fashion & Beauty Editor: Donya Momenian
Editorial Assistant: Skyli Alvarez
