What you need to know
The real Ms. Whittaker’s father is cornered by her.
The I Love LA star, 27, met with PEOPLE on Friday, Oct. 31, at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival, where she detailed the advice she got from her father, Forest Whitaker.
In the new HBO comedy, True will play Alani, the daughter of famed producer Alani, a friend of Rachel Sennott’s character Maia. The role somewhat mirrored her real life with a famous father, and as she told PEOPLE, some of the advice Forrest instilled in her was extremely helpful.
“[My dad]taught me when to say no and to work hard and just be true to myself,” True says. She further added, “If you work hard to be authentic, you will reach your destination.”
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In addition to True, Forrest is also the father of children Ocean, Autumn, and Sonnet. He shares True with his late ex-wife Keisha Nash. Last September, Forrest attended the 2024 Face of Hope Gala with both True and Sonnet.
In an interview with Shadow and Act, True said she likes that her character “isn’t embarrassed or has any kind of feelings about nepotism.”
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“And for me, I feel exactly the same way. I’m proud of my black-ass dad who made something of himself and became a legend,” she said. “And to have it so close to me,[and]to be able to draw from it and be so inspired by it… I never feel embarrassed or weird to be associated with the greatness that he created, and I hope I can do that too.”
Odessa Azion, Jordan Firstman, Josh Hutcherson and Leighton Meester also round out the I Love LA cast, with the latter playing Maia’s boss Alyssa, the owner of a successful PR firm.
Meester, 39, told PEOPLE that the story “is all heightened in a very fun way.” He further added that he was lucky that he did not have any negative publicity experience for this character. “I think I was able to take some inspiration from my movie version of what that world is like, and I was very lucky to have that…I don’t know, publicist, I consider her a friend,” Meester said. “I don’t know if she feels the same way, but I really like her.”
“I totally saw it from a distance and witnessed some weird pranks,” she added. “And I think there are a lot of weird scenarios. I don’t know. It’s fun to hear about them, but it’s hard to live through them.”
New episodes of “I Love LA” premiere Sundays at 11pm ET on HBO and HBO Max.
