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TagsBY BOB HOLT
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
A "Jersey kid through and through," 19-year old Sofia Black-D'Elia does not come from a show business tradition. "My dad's a lawyer. ... My mom's in printing and my brother's a personal trainer, so I was kind of the odd one out," she says.
The young Clifton native plays Tea, a teenage lesbian, in "Skins," an adaptation of a British series of the same name.
Black D'Elia told zap2it.com, "I wasn't really concerned with the sexuality part," she says. "To me, the more daunting part of her was how confident she is. I wasn't really uncomfortable with it at all. I was actually more nervous, because she's a cheerleader on the show and being able to pull that off. That was scary."
"Skins" has generated controversy. NorthJersey.com reports that on Thursday, Taco Bell reportedly pulled its ads from the show. That was several days after episodes of "Skins," which has several cast members under age 18, were getting edits on orders from MTV executives, who feared violating child pornography statutes.
According to the New York Times, they are particularly concerned about the third episode of the series, which is to be broadcast Jan. 31. In an early version, a naked 17-year-old actor is shown from behind as he runs down a street. The actor, Jesse Carere, plays Chris, a high school student whose erection — assisted by erectile dysfunction pills — is a punch line throughout the episode.
The planned changes indicate that MTV, which has been pushing the envelope for decades, may be concerned that it pushed too far this time.
Black-D'Elia is just one of a cast full of kids with very little or no acting experience — just as co-creator Bryan Elsley did with the original British version.
At age 5, she began taking dancing and singing classes at Broadway Bound Theatrical & Dance Center in Lyndhurst, and by 17, she was auditioning for TV and film roles. Her first job was a recurring role as Bailey Wells, a birth mother in search of her adopted son, on "All My Children."
Black-D'Elia said, "People asked me, 'Were you nervous?' 'Is it scary?' And in my opinion, it's actually kind of an honor, because if you look at television now, the gay and lesbian characters are the ones that usually stand out and that usually make an impact on teenagers, because they have something that [the kids] can relate to. ... as extremely realistic characters. So, I feel very lucky."
"Skins" airs Mondays at 10:00 p.m. on MTV.
