Newsgasm: The story behind TV’s scariest woman

Industry

By Tabloid Baby | Friday, October 20, 2006 | 7:42 pm | 12 Comments

snoop.jpg

Viewers of HBO’s The Wire have certainly gotten shivers from the work of Felicia “Snoop” Pearson, who plays Snoop, the stone cold scary nailgun assassin. When we saw her in the first scene of the first episode of the season, we thought she was a teenage boy, and replayed her scene three times trying to understand what the hell she was saying before we gave up, sat back and marvelled at just how good she is. Stephen King, writing in Entertainment Weekly, called her “perhaps the most terrifying female villain to ever appear in a television series,” and he should know.

After that first show, we looked her up on the Internet and found that 26-year-old Felicia is new to the acting game, “discovered” on the streets of Baltimore, where the series is shot. But tomorrow’s New York Times reveals she’s had a lot of training for the role– and not from community theatre or acting classes.

Tough girl Michelle Rodriguez has got nothing on Felicia.“I was a crack baby,” Felicia tells The Times. “I was, like, three pounds, and I had to get fed with an eyedropper.”

Born to two drug addicted, incarcerated parents, raised in foster homes, “she added that she had so many drugs in her system when she was born that she was cross-eyed as a child. ‘Kids would tease me, saying that I’m cross-eyed and don’t have a real mother, and all those kids who said those mean things, I beat the hell out of them.’”

There’s more: selling drugs at 10, jailed at 14 for more than seven years after shooting a woman.

Felicia tells The Times her life turned around at 18, when a local drug dealer who looked out for her, nicknamed her “Snoop” and sent her money in prison, was shot and killed. Felicia earned her G.E.D. in prison, and was released in 2000. She got the Wire gig after meeting Michael K. Williams, who plays Omar the gay gangster.

The Times makes mention of Felicia’s often-unintelligible accent, and refers us to a fan who watches her scenes with closed-captioning.

Not a bad idea.

Finally, Felicia is taking acting classes, at the Baltimore School for the Arts. She should bstart memorizing anb acceptance speech or two. And apparently you don’t have to be afraid to meet her. “I did what I did when I was younger, but I am a changed person,” she tells The Times. “I hope and pray that someone reads my story, or hears me talk about my story and will be, like, ‘She did it, I will see what my chances are.’ “

Now you have a reason to check out The New York Times and The Wire.

–Tabloid Baby

12 Comments

  1. 1
    Ozone Dude
    Posted October 20, 2006 at 9:06 pm

    Right on Tabloid Baby. One of the best actresses on the best show on TV. Closed captioning will save me a lot of time referencing the Urban Dictionary.

  2. 2
    Yanaja
    Posted October 20, 2006 at 9:31 pm

    The Wire has definitely gotten off to a good start this season. I miss the hell out of Stringer Bell (Idris Elba is a sexy Brit) but those bad a$$ middle school kids and Snoop more than fill the void.

    On another note, I’d like to thank the TVGasm staff for keeping me in the loop. I am in the Dominican Republic for the next 3 months and this site is the only way I keep up with what’s going on with my favorite shows. My brother sends me recorded DVDR’s but I only get those like once every couple of weeks…thanks TVGasm!

  3. 3
    brilliantmistake
    Posted October 20, 2006 at 9:38 pm

    Her character is great, but the closed captioning definitely helps.

  4. 4
    joslyn
    Posted October 21, 2006 at 10:55 am

    It would be great if there were recaps on this show. I never used to watch this show but the kids and the mayoral election got me hooked!

  5. 5
    nate
    Posted October 21, 2006 at 1:56 pm

    This show is insanely great! I never watched an episode b4 the current season premiere, but I was instantly hooked.

  6. 6
    Aries
    Posted October 21, 2006 at 3:50 pm

    I swear I thought this person was a boy whose voice hadn’t changed yet. This is why I love this site. I can find all kinds of good-to-know-yet-useless info on here. And I’m with you Yanaja, I miss Stringer too. But those middle school kids don’t really make up for the loss. It’s still early in the season, but so far they have mostly gotten on my nerves. That could have a little something to do with the fact that I don’t like children, or it could be that they are all irritating mouthy little hoodlums. Although I do kind of feel sorry for the one who’s the hanger on and has to come to school in order to bathe and brush his teeth.

    The storyline that’s gripped me the most so far is the mayoral race. I can’t wait to see how long it takes Carcetti (sp?) to sink to the very bottom. Since he’s already halfway there, I’m guessing only another episode or two.

  7. 7
    PixieGal
    Posted October 22, 2006 at 3:12 pm

    I’m sorry to nit pick, but doesn’t “closed captioning” mean that the subtitles are off? Just saying…

  8. 8
    brilliantmistake
    Posted October 22, 2006 at 3:32 pm

    Pixiegal
    “I’m sorry to nit pick, but doesn’t “closed captioning” mean that the subtitles are off? Just saying…”

    Jeez, that is nit-picking. OK, it helps to have the captions opened. Better?

  9. 9
    jack
    Posted October 23, 2006 at 5:56 am

    snoop is not the only authentic veteran of the baltimore drug game on ‘the wire,’ nor is she the only one with an authentic ‘bawlmer’ accent. writer/producer david simon was a homicide/narcotics beat reporter for 20+ years at the baltimore sun (or ‘sun paper,’ in the parlance of ‘the wire’). his partner ed burns was a baltimore homicide detective at the same time, and was also a public middle school teacher for several years in west baltimore (where ‘the wire’ mostly takes place). the character of det. sgt. landsman (the fat guy who is always looking at porn in his office) is based on real-life det. sgt. jay landsman (ret.), who has a small cameo role as lt. mello, second in command to major bunny colvin last season, and now 2nd to major daniels, who replaced colvin as western district commander after the ‘hamsterdam’ experiment.

    on the other side, the deacon character who colvin often consults and who helped dennis ‘cutty’ wise get his boxing gym started, is played by the real-life west baltimore gangster who inspired the character of avon barksdale (the main drug lord in the first 3 seasons of ‘the wire,’ now in prison).

    with a former journalist and detective in charge, filmed on location in areas where real shootings often occur only a few hours after the fake ones have been filmed, and cast with a number of true-to-life hoods and cops, ‘the wire’ has more authority than any other program of its kind–plus it’s probably the best written show on TV, with a bullpen of highly regarded scribes including simon & burns, homegrown maryland/D.C. area detective novelists laura lippman (also a former ‘sun paper’ reporter) and george pelecanos, and highbrow crime novelists dennis lehane (mystic river) and richard price (clockers) (price also had a cameo in the 2nd season as the english teacher who introduces d’angelo barksdale to ‘the great gatsby’ in prison).

    on an unrelated trivia note: the kid who plays randy wagstaff (the candy merchant and snitch) first graced our TV screens alongside michael jordan and larry bird in the gatorade ‘i wanna be like mike’ ad campaign.

    50 years down the road, if we’re not all dead, hooked up to the matrix, or worshipping oprah winfrey in giant pastel temples designed by the ‘extreme home makeover’ crew, people will look back on ‘the wire’ as the show that turned TV into an art form.

  10. 10
    lovinit
    Posted October 23, 2006 at 12:35 pm

    I just learned something from reading the comments on a TVgasm post. WOW!! Seriously, Jack. I didn’t know that the man playing the deacon was the real life “avon barksdale.” I LOVE this show!!! I’ve been hooked since season 1, episode 1!! And, as much I both loved and desired Stringer Bell…the show is still VERY good without him. I still miss him though..in all his chocolate sexy mysteriousness!!!! Who knew drug dealers went to night school before Stringer Bell??

  11. 11
    America's Next Top Fan
    Posted October 26, 2006 at 1:21 pm

    For the newbies to The Wire, HBO has a great interactive website to get you caught up.

    http://www.hbo.com/thewire/cast/

  12. 12
    Dimen
    Posted October 28, 2006 at 6:47 am

    LOVE HER!!
    She’s definetely my fave character!!

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