Celeste O'Connor Wants to Play Dress-Up All the Time

Celeste O'Connor was born with it. No, we're not referencing a certain beauty tagline—though, that's not untrue in this case. Rather, it's the natural star power the actor possesses. O'Connor, who uses they/them pronouns, has had an affinity for entertaining for as long as they can remember. What started out innocently enough as fashion shows and dances for their family at home got a bit more serious when they were a preteen studying singing and violin at Baltimore's premier performing arts school, Peabody Preparatory. And it didn't stop there. After begging their parents to allow them to participate in a local talent showcase, O'Connor proceeded to catch the attention of casting directors and later the agents that they are still signed with today. The original dream was to be a singer, but the emerging star's screen power was undeniable.

Watching O'Connor perform feels like being in the presence of greatness. From their breakout role in the critically acclaimed indie film Selah and the Spades to their recent turn as Lucky in the new Ghostbusters film franchise, the 25-year-old is magnetic.    

When I ask if their parents were supportive of the whole "acting as a career" idea, O'Connor says it was half and half. Dad, a white-collar boomer, was more resistant, while mom, an immigrant from Kenya, was all for it. "I was 14. I really needed someone to believe in that, in this dream, with me," O'Connor tells me over Zoom from a local coffee shop. Having lived the 9-to-5 corporate life, O'Connor's mother envisioned a brighter future for her child. "She was like, 'I've worked in cubicles. I've worked in offices. I've done this stuff, and it's not fun, so I think you should just follow your dreams and do what you want to do because I think you can do it well,'" they explain.   

But dad's influence wasn't completely lost on O'Connor either. Their sights may have been set on Hollywood, but school was still a priority. After graduating high school, O'Connor attended Johns Hopkins University, studying pre-med as an undergrad. If the acting thing didn't work out, their "very aggressive" backup plan was a career in neurology fueled by their interest in psychology and the science and health of the brain. "From [my dad's] perspective, he really wanted me to have a highly specialized career so that I would be more set in stone to be quote, unquote successful," they say. "I also just really love learning, and I'm a curious person, so I think those two things went hand in hand."

Backup plan not necessary. The summer between freshman and sophomore year, O'Connor filmed what would become their breakout role in the indie film Selah and the Spades, which premiered to rave reviews at the Sundance Film Festival the following January. The coming-of-age story written and directed by Tayarisha Poe about five factions who rule the underground world of a prestigious East Coast boarding school was an extremely transformative experience for O'Connor, who played Spades protégé-turned-threat Paloma Davis, setting the stage for their acting career. 

"That was genuinely the first time I was in a community with other Black artists. That changed everything for me," O'Connor shares. "I grew up in an all-white neighborhood. I went to white schools, so I had a lot of internalized racism that I didn't know was there, that I didn't know how to navigate. Being on Selah and the Spades and being in community with Black women who were pursuing their creativity [and] who were confident in who they are really showed me my own path forward. … Working with Tayarisha Poe, who I still love and am still friends with today, [and] seeing her in a position of power as a director made me realize that the dream I had for myself wasn't as crazy and wild as I thought it was, that other people who look like me also have a similar dream. And I was meeting them! It wasn't an abstract, imaginary thing. … It brought my dream closer to reality for me and just gave me so much more confidence in myself and my ability to connect with people with my creativity and my Blackness."

From this desire to create a community around creativity, O'Connor's production company Pedestal was born. Founded in partnership with friend and fellow Johns Hopkins student Mecca McDonald, Pedestal's ethos is a dedication to telling joyful stories of racialized people. "What I see for Pedestal is really us making movies in our vibrant, colorful, young, joyful style," O'Connor says. Last year, O'Connor and McDonald released their first big project under the Pedestal banner, the short film Liminality about a young couple, one a painter and the other a coder, who don't know how to communicate with each other until one of them gets sucked into a video game and must confront hidden parts of their identity. 

"It's where I get to play as a producer and play as a creative leader, which feels really good and exciting to me," O'Connor says of Pedestal. 

While O'Connor and McDonald are hoping to turn the Liminality original screenplay into a feature, another goal of Pedestal is to produce fashion campaigns. "That's always been a dream of ours, to take what our vision is on a small scale—where we were shooting on our iPhones and shooting just around our neighborhood with our friends—and scale it to what it [would] look like if we're producing photos for Robert Wun or a designer who we admire and look up to so much," they say.

One thing's for sure. O'Connor knows how to craft a noteworthy fashion moment. When it comes to carpets or press days for a project, they and stylist Jason Rembert put meticulous thought into the story they want to tell through clothes. With this duo, the devil is in the details. Take, for example, O'Connor's recent Madame Web junket and premiere looks. They started things off with a bright-red fluffy coat and skirt by Selezza, a nod to the bold and rebellious energy of their character Mattie Franklin. The second day, they opted for a diaphanous powder-blue look by Act N°1, referencing the other color in Maddie's supersuit. For the final premiere look, they chose a sultry beaded number by Gert-Johan Coetzee, going back to the red from the beginning.

"We wanted it to feel like Celeste through the press junket and to the premiere is coming into that superhero feeling or that feeling of empowerment that the character goes through throughout the story," O'Connor says. "I wanted to do a really dramatic red piece for the carpet because, to me, this process… The carpet is my climax of the movie. It's my finale of the movie where I get to wear my supersuit." O'Connor loves staying in character or playing with a theme on the carpet and lives by a "go big or go home" attitude. "I play pretend for a living, so why should it stop when I'm off set?" they ask with a laugh. 

When I ask if we can expect a similar approach to their Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire press looks, O'Connor responds enthusiastically: "We are totally going to do some Lucky-inspired stuff." They go on to tell me they and Rembert have some icy moments up their sleeves.

Returning to the character of Lucky in the latest film from the Ghostbusters franchise has been a real joy for O'Connor. It was an opportunity to reteam with their castmates from the first film ("I was excited to see Finn [Wolfhard] again, honestly. He's the sweetest friend."), and they got to work with director Gil Kenan and really build on the character this time around. It was O'Connor's first time working with Kenan, and the two became fast friends. 

As for what to expect from this next chapter, O'Connor hints at cool new ghosts, themes around chosen family and community, and great funny elements thanks to new additions Kumail Nanjiani and comedian James Acaster. "I'm also excited about the horror elements of it as well because, as we were working on this together, [Kenan] made it very clear that he wanted this movie to also be genuinely scary," O'Connor adds. 

Between Ghostbusters and Madame Web, O'Connor has spent quite a bit of time in magical, fantastical worlds. They're not complaining, but they are definitely looking forward to switching things up. Ideally, they would love to do another independent film, something that is challenging and grounded. "I'm drawn to stories of people finding their freedom and finding their sense of empowerment because I think that's what a lot of women experience in our lives or what we want to experience," they say. 

But first, vacation. O'Connor is an adventurer at heart and makes it a point to travel at least twice a year, and Italy and Japan are next on their list. After a nearly three-month-long press run, O'Connor is certainly deserving of some much-needed R&R.

Catch O'Connor in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire in theaters on March 22.