Her Life Is Material for I Love LA

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True Whitaker felt a surprising connection to Rachel Sennott’s HBO comedy, I Love LA, even before the show was officially announced. A year before she auditioned, Whitaker had created a vision board that included Sennott’s image alongside the logo for Deadline, a website that reports on casting news – a testament to her admiration for Sennott’s bold and awkward humor in films like Shiva Baby and Bottoms. As it turned out, Sennott was developing a series, initially called Untitled Rachel Sennott Project, about a group of friends navigating the lower levels of the Los Angeles entertainment industry. The show, which blends the styles of Girls and Broad City with a touch of the early-2000s Entourage, centers on Maia (Sennott), an aspiring talent manager, and her complex relationship with her popular friend, Tallulah (Odessa A’zion). Whitaker learned about the pilot through a friend auditioning for the role of Tallulah, immediately connected with the script, and asked her agent about other available parts. She soon discovered there were. Rounding out the show’s main cast are Maia’s gay best friend, Charlie (Jordan Firstman), and Alani, a sweet and somewhat spacey college friend who happens to be the daughter of an Oscar-winning director.

The audition piece was perfect for Whitaker. It involved a scene—later removed from the show—where Alani and Maia’s boyfriend, Dylan (Josh Hutcherson), disagreed about which bakery to order Maia’s birthday cake from. “He wanted Milk Bar, and I was all about Sweet Lady Jane,” Whitaker explained. “It instantly felt so authentically L.A. because my mom actually used a Sweet Lady Jane cake for my baby shower. I’d choose it over Milk Bar any day.”

As her name suggests, actress True Whitaker is the daughter of acclaimed actor Forest Whitaker and actress Keisha Nash. Like the character she plays, True grew up with a privileged life in Southern California. While there are differences between True and her character—for example, the character’s father isn’t a famous actor, and True attended Oakwood school while her character went to Crossroads—True, 27, says she’s happy to draw on their many similarities. After getting the role, True met with the writers of I Love LA, who were eager to develop the character further and encouraged her to share details about her life and experiences, including what she describes as personal traumas.

Alani’s experiences heavily influenced a scene in the second episode of I Love LA. The scene depicts her visiting her father’s production company – where she holds the honorary title of “VP of creative projects” – to collect a package. She unexpectedly finds herself in a meeting where the team is brainstorming a new TV adaptation of Clueless, and they ask her for ideas and insights. Interestingly, Clueless was specifically suggested as a reference point by Sennott to Whitaker. Whitaker recalls initially being eager to share and “oversharing” details. Seeing this conversation recreated in the script gave her a feeling similar to the characters in Euphoria when they discover a friend has written a play based on their lives. She simply wanted to be open and honest, and embraced the idea of turning her experiences into art.

Let me tell you, interviewing Tatum Whitaker was a delight. She was quick to set the record straight – unlike her character, Alani, she definitely didn’t have a questionable eighth-grade date with a much older guy at Katsuya. But what really struck me was how open and genuinely charming she is, both on stage and off. We met at Cafe Mogador in the East Village, where she lives, and she was rocking a really cool sweatshirt. Honestly, she has this effortless quality, a bit like her character in I Love LA, where things just seem to…work out for her. I walked up to her table and she’d just managed to snag an order of shakshuka before the kitchen closed – the waitress politely informed me I was too late! It was a perfect little moment that really captured her vibe.

Throughout the show, Alani consistently shows respect and admiration for her father, who is portrayed as a prominent and influential figure, much like director Spike Lee. Whitaker shares this same deep respect for her father’s achievements. She recalls calling him as a child in 2006, while he was filming The Last King of Scotland, and being surprised that he couldn’t shake the Ugandan accent he’d developed for the role. “My dad is a true master of his craft and has always been incredibly inspiring,” Whitaker explains, adding that she doesn’t feel negatively about benefiting from her family name. Later in the series, a character tries to hide her famous family connection by using a different last name (“Rikers”). Whitaker says she never considered doing the same. “Given our history of slavery in America, I’m proud of everything my father has accomplished and the name he’s made for himself,” she states.

Growing up in the San Fernando Valley, Whitaker always loved performing for her family – she was a natural show-off as the youngest of four children. However, she didn’t start acting professionally until later in life. Her father encouraged her to develop her skills before pursuing it as a career. In high school, she played basketball, mostly as a way to cope with typical teenage emotions, rather than participating in theater. When she went to NYU in 2017 to study creative writing, her passion for acting grew. She trained in Method acting at the Stella Adler Studio, but also recalls going above and beyond during a remote musical theater class while in COVID lockdown. She vividly remembers performing a fully choreographed version of ‘Just You Wait’ from My Fair Lady, while her classmates simply sang their songs. She laughs, saying she always gave it her all.

Comedian Whitney Whitaker is quickly becoming a fan favorite on the show I Love LA. While her first TV role was a dramatic part as a drug addict on Godfather of Harlem (a show starring her father), I Love LA lets her showcase her comedic timing and physical humor. Her character, Alani, isn’t career-focused like some of the others, but she’s fiercely dedicated to keeping her friend group from falling apart. Whitaker plays Alani with a genuinely warm, though sometimes energetic, desire for harmony—think Phoebe from Friends, Toni from Girlfriends, and Shoshanna from Girls all rolled into one. She often adds her own improvisational touches, like in a scene where she spontaneously started doing yoga during an argument to try and diffuse the tension. In a memorable episode of I Love LA, the characters attend a party at Elijah Wood’s house, revealing Alani’s longtime crush on the actor. Whitaker, who hadn’t seen the Lord of the Rings movies in years, binge-watched them before filming to recapture the feeling of excitement, and even improvised a line shouting “I’ll always love you!” in Elvish, with a little help from ChatGPT.

Whitaker seems thrilled about the attention I Love LA is bringing her, and she’s clearly enjoying the experience. The past two years have been difficult as she’s grieved the loss of her mother, and she wears her mother’s jewelry as a way to remember her—she was even wearing a graduation ring her mom gave her when we spoke. Her family hasn’t had a chance to see the show yet, and she’s excited for them to watch the season finale, which features Alani’s father. Interestingly, the role isn’t played by her biological father, but by a friend of his—a well-known actor. True arranged a call between them and then facilitated a FaceTime conversation so they could connect.

Whitaker joins a cast full of actors with dedicated fans, and the director, Sennott, was thrilled to share fan-made videos of her character, Alani, from the show’s trailer. She hasn’t asked her colleagues for advice on potentially becoming a popular new face for Gen Z—she jokes it would sound conceited—but she seems prepared for whatever comes her way, having grown up around the entertainment industry. She’s already comfortable clarifying how she’s been portrayed in the media. In a recent Variety article, Sennott mentioned Whitaker charming everyone by saying she used to sleep with her dad’s Emmy award (from the 2003 TV movie Door to Door) under her pillow for good luck. Whitaker corrects that story, explaining, “It’s actually worse! I took the Emmy outside with crystals during a full moon and would stop to ‘manifest’ next to it. You can think what you want about that, but it definitely wouldn’t fit under my pillow!”

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2025-11-17 15:55