Stella Baker.Photo: Nino Muñoz/The CW
Stella Baker is opening up about taking on her first lead acting role.
Three years after graduating from the Yale School of Drama, the daughter ofMentalistalumSimon Bakerand actressRebecca Riggstars in The CW’s new dramaThe Republic of Sarah,which premiered on June 14.
Baker, 27, plays Sarah Cooper, a passionate high school history teacher who sets out to save her small New Hampshire town from becoming a mining site for a big tech company. To achieve this, Sarah finds a loophole that allows her to designate the town as its own sovereign nation, only to be unexpectedly thrust into the role of running it.
“The premise is really great and really exciting and it’s a new concept — there’s an opportunity there to create our own tone and our own little world for the show,” Baker tells PEOPLE of the series.
The Republic of Sarah.Panagiotis Pantazidis/The CW
“Sarah is just so complex and written with so many layers and so many interesting qualities. She is so steadfast in her beliefs and so strong willed,” she adds. “There’s a lot to do as an actor with that role.”
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As for playing a lead character for the first time, Baker says there were definitely some nerves going into it.
“I thought, ‘Am I doing this right?'” she says with a laugh. “But you don’t really know if you’re able to do a thing until you just sort of are doing it.”
“I think it’s a pretty inspiring story about a group of people standing up for something that they care about,” she says. “And that’s the most powerful thing in the world, is when a group of people just fight for something. It’s the only way change happens.”
The Republic of Sarahairs Mondays (9 p.m. ET) on The CW.
source: people.com
