Jessica Sutton Reflects on Motherland: Fort Salem: “Tally Craven Changed My Life” (Exclusive)

In this interview, we catch up with Jessica Sutton, who reflects on her time playing Tally Craven in Motherland: Fort Salem, as well as her career so far, and what lies ahead. 

Jessica Sutton is a renowned actress known for her roles in the television series Motherland: Fort Salem and the film Rogue. Both these stories tackled intense issues and profound themes, captivating audiences. Jess grew up in South Africa before moving to Canada to continue her acting aspirations.

Her incredibly warm and tenacious personality shows through how much she cares for these stories she tells, making it impossible to not hang onto her every word. Today we chat to Jess, exploring her experiences in the realm of acting, immigration, and the captivating chemistry she embodies.

Check out our interview below:

Motherland was one of your first major roles—how did that change the trajectory of your life?

Landing the role of Tally Craven was quite literally life-changing. I went from being a 25 year old, brunette South African actor in South Africa to playing a red-headed, American teenager warrior fighting witch filming in Canada.

Did you expect Tally to be as loved as she was?

I knew I loved her and I poured so much care into playing her. The entire show was created by an army of artists who weaved such attention to detail, skill & love into making it. There is something truly special that can happen when great collaboration meets a powerful story. I think we all hoped that the story would rock audiences as much as it had rocked us.

Tally is quite naive at the start—always hopeful and fairly quick to brush things off—but she gets very wise, almost through her anxiety for trust, towards the end of the series. What can you say about how her character changed, how it changed your own persona, and how much input you had on that?

It’s the ultimate coming of age story. We watch Tally grow into her power.  From the ignorant to the sage, she matures and learns to balance both integrity and innocence. For me, Tally’s true power was her capacity for trust, in self and others.

Personally, self trust was something I really battled with in my life and through playing Tally I  found I evolved with her, through her. My input was to honour the story, come prepared and show up on time!

What did the relationship of Talder show you about chemistry in acting?

Talder evolved through the audience’s love for Tally and Alder’s intense yet intimate relationship. Especially, as the relationship grew in ambiguity…subtlety… and sexyness! Chemistry is one of those elusive yet undeniable things. You know when two actors have it …and also when they don’t.

Lyne and I are both intense people and as artists share a similar work ethic. We dial into each other in a way that is electric.

To state the obvious, you’re an amazing actor with a wonderful personality to match! You moved to Canada at the start of filming Motherland—how’s the move going with all the obstacles you’ve encountered?

Firstly, thank you for supporting the show and my career thus far – it’s because of audiences that I even have a job in this industry and that our show existed for three seasons and four years.

As for my immigration journey, it took me by surprise! I never saw myself ever living anywhere else but South Africa. However, life had other plans and when I faced the peculiar situation of having my job based out of Canada and world in a global pandemic  –  the act of immigrating was by necessity.

The consequence of that choice meant not seeing my family in South Africa for two and half years…which was by far the hardest part of the whole process. The process looked like many things over the years…scary and exciting, stressful and boring, expensive and worth it.

After five years, now a resident in Canada, I can say that the strange has slowly become familiar… community has been found…it’s taken time, trust & tenacity to land the leap.

Your movie Rogue tackled some really heavy topics—how did those stories resonate with you?

Rogue tackles sex trafficking and trophy killing as harsh realities of our world, but for me the power of storytelling is to educate and elicit change.

When I signed up for Rogue, I had just finished filming the first season of Motherland in Vancouver and was looking forward to some time back in South Africa. What sealed the deal for me was the opportunity to work with friends on a story that holds weight and do it on home turf.

You’ve also done a fair amount of smaller roles in movies and shows—what’s been your favorite so far, and which has been the most fun?

Most Fun/Favorite was Lizzy Tilly from Saints and Strangers. She was my first role as part of an international ensemble and every day was a classroom, every person an encouraging teacher. It was a seminal experience for me.

How did you first get into acting?

I never went to film school but my foundation for film came from acting in as many student films as possible. It’s so important when you are starting out to not only have a community but also a safe space to try to create things.

It allows new artists to create badly, to make all the mistakes, when stakes are low and everyone is just in it to learn and get better. That was where my love for this industry was born, where I began to accumulate experience as a young actor and it gave me material I could show agents.

Are you working on anything new, and can you tell us anything?

I’m finally writing & creating some of my own ideas! It’s too soon to share but when I do, you’ll know!

Are there any subjects you haven’t been able to tackle in your prior work that you’d be interested in exploring?

So many subjects, genres, people, places, time periods…I’m a storyteller at heart, an explorer of the human condition!  I get homesick for places I have never been, people I have yet to meet and ideas that are just out of reach…welcome to the creative life!

We thank Jessica Sutton for her time, and we can’t wait to see what’s next in her career!