Tatiana Maslany Orphan Black – New Star Of BBC America Series
The idea of knowing there’s a clone of you certainly has a creepy intrigue factor about it and BBC America plays off that in its new sci-fi thriller series Orphan Black, debuting Saturday, March 30 at 9pm ET. The series follows a troubled woman named Sarah (Tatiana Maslany, The Vow) 
whose life takes a dramatic turn when she witnesses the suicide of a woman who looks exactly like her. Sarah quickly reacts to Beth’s suicide by grabbing her purse, then eventually assuming her identity, her boyfriend and her bank account. Originally believing this new identity would help solve her problems, in reality it thrusts her into the middle of a deadly conspiracy involving cloning where she’s racing to find the answers and save her life.
Maslany, who plays both Sarah and Beth, explains Sarah as an orphan who has lived a hard life, surviving primarily by hustling people. “When she sees this woman kill herself, who looks exactly like her, the first thing she thinks is: ‘I can take this woman’s money. I can take this woman’s life. I can squeeze it for all it’s worth and then I can get out,’” she explains. “But really it tangles her up in a larger story, which starts to teach her about responsibility, about morality, about being a mother, about being a good person. By getting to know Beth’s life she actually learns empathy — she learns all these things. It’s a story about her growth.”
But stepping into Beth’s life is not all that easy, especially when it comes to convincing her live-in boyfriend Paul (played by Dylan Bruce, As the World Turns). “Her coming in and trying to assume this person’s personality — it’s definitely apparent to Paul but he can’t really put his finger on it,” Bruce explains. “He definitely likes it and he actually enjoys it because his relationship with Beth was actually tumultuous, so it’s something that he’s starting to really feel for and like this girl. And, of course, the roller coaster ride ensues after that.”
