‘With Love’: Isis King Previews Her Character’s ‘Sweet’ & ‘Necessary’ Relationships

Isis King as Sol Perez in With Love
Q&A
Kevin Estrada/Amazon Studios

One perk of the holiday season is snuggling up by the Christmas tree and nestling by the fire, but there’s nothing cozier than having your heart warmed by a binge of wholesome TV. This year, that’s With Love. (All five episodes drop on Friday, December 17 on Prime Video.)

Created and produced by Gloria Calderón Kellett, the romantic dramedy your next priority binge — follows the Diaz Siblings, Jorge Junior (Mark Indelicato) and Lily (Emeraude Toubia), and their close-knit family through different holidays as they face separate and interconnected obstacles all with one common thread: love. Isis King (When They See Us, America’s Next Top Model) plays the confident Sol Perez (Jorge and Lily’s cousin), who will undoubtedly be a fan-favorite.

Below, King reflects on her character, her cast and crew, and several of the show’s themes, such as queer relationships and gender identity.

Tell me a little bit about Sol Perez when we first meet them. They seem self-assured in themselves, but also hesitant when it comes to love

Isis King: Sol Perez is a gender nonconforming trans fem, who has an amazing career as an oncologist. And they’re a little bit intimidated by love because they just maybe don’t think that it’s for them, and they’re completely content with that. It’s so refreshing for me because we’re so used to trans characters being so sexualized, which is OK, but it’s a spectrum. So to be able to play a character that I personally right now relate to, I’ve never really seen it, and I’m just so excited that Sol has an amazing, booming career.

What can you tease about your character’s journey with romance and love this season?

Sol gets really cozy and flirty with a fellow doctor who is a plastic surgeon at the hospital, who spends a lot of time over in Sol’s Department, and it’s really sweet. I don’t think when you think of the trans storylines, you say “it’s sweet” — you know the finding love or discovering love. Sol really kind of turns from this really super covered-up conservative person to being a little bit more free and feeling a little bit more beautiful. And I just think that that in itself is a beautiful journey to self-discovery because that happens through all phases of our lives.

Isis King and Todd Grinnell in With Love

Kevin Estrada/Amazon Studios

What was it like working with Todd Grinnell, who plays Dr. Murphy? How would you describe the chemistry you guys have together?

So, Todd, I remember when he first came on. He said, “whatever you need, let me know, because anything, even if you’re afraid to speak up, I know it’s your first day as a regular. Like, if it’s something you want me to say.” He was so genuine and so kind and so willing to make sure I’m comfortable, which in itself, I wasn’t expecting. So I think off the bat, we kind of had a chemistry where he was looking out for me. And I think that made it very easy for us to work together. And he was literally the most refreshing, amazing, goofy scene partner.

Speaking of love, family relationships are a prevalent theme in this show, too. So how would you describe Sol’s relationship with their family?

Sol is really close with their cousins, Jorge Junior and Lily — who are the two leads of the show, and they are both so fun to work with — and also with just the family in general. I think that’s really important, too, because once again, with trans storylines, you don’t really get to see the loving family side, especially with statistics of real-life trans people of color, trans women of color, especially who a lot of times, they put out the house. So to see this grown, professional trans person and the family loving and supporting and surrounding them with all of this love, I think it’s very necessary.

isisking-withlove-solperez

Kevin Estrada/Amazon Studios

There are so many great actors on the show, like Constance Marie and Rome Flynn What was it like filming on set with such a talented and diverse cast?

Everyone was just so warm. I was just there, trying not to be intimidated, and they really welcomed me. It was refreshing. I think, like you said, you can see that through the show because we all did get along. And it was always so warm. I think that also is because Gloria really created an environment in front of and behind the scenes with such a diverse group of people who are just so sweet and so kind.

Why do you think holidays are the optimal backdrop for this particular story? How does it progress the narrative?

So I love that, although each episode is a different holiday, the show is really about family and really about love and just coming together, which is a universal message that never stops. And it goes beyond the holidays. But especially during the holiday season, it’s such a heightened time of people’s lives, so many people who celebrate it. This show focuses on the chaos that kind of happens in your life around that time, whether it’s love or chaos or sadness. A lot of times these holidays spark memories in us from the past and make us feel certain ways. So the show was amazing because you get to kind of tiptoe in and watch this family kind of go through the motions during these holidays.

Isis King as Sol, Ej johnson as Melo, and Kalen Allen (Cyn) in With Love

Kevin Estrada/Amazon Studios

The show is incredibly diverse with representing different cultures, gender identities… There’s a little bit of everything.

Naturally though! It’s natural because that’s reality. That’s what makes it so beautiful. And no matter who you are, no matter what your background is, you will find somebody that you identify with, whether it’s because they look like you or they have the same views as you. We have love stories in the 70s and 50s and 30s and 20s. There’s a love story for everyone in this show, so everyone is invited. Everybody is invited to find someone that’s like them, and that’s With Love. I should write the tagline. [Laughs]

That’s perfect! Also, the show is so unapologetically queer. How do you think the show handles queer subjects and queer love?

The writers’ room was really diverse, which I know Gloria thought was really important. So there were some queer people in the writers’ room, and you can kind of see it also through the way that the writing of my friends are. It’s just so much nuance there that you just know, OK, someone did the research and somebody knows, somebody’s lived it. It’s just certain verbiage and nuances that are there that I feel like that’s why having people in the room is important. You can kind of just see in the show, and I think that’s what also keeps [it] so real and grounded.

There are also very multiple gender-neutral trans actors of color on the show, which is a rare occurrence for television. As a trans actress, what do you have to say about Hollywood’s current state of trans visibility?

We’re getting there. We’re getting there slowly. So many people are still underrepresented. We’re not a monolith. And one day it’s not going to be the shock value. I appreciate Sol Perez because they’re not shock value on the show. They’re just a person who wants love. And I think when we get to a point where we see more of that and it’s just normal and nobody is making a big deal about it, that’s when we get there. Hopefully, I get to see that in my lifetime. But honestly, when I was younger, I would have never thought I would see this type of thing. I remember when I first started acting, the roles were like a few words prostitute, and that’s it.  We deserve to be fully realized characters because we’re fully realized people in real life.

Where can fans see you next?

I’m auditioning, so we’ll see. I’m just so grateful for the opportunity, as an actress who has been doing this for 14 years, to finally be seen as an actress, which took me longer because I come from reality TV and also am a model. So I’m just so grateful for Ava and for Gloria, for giving me these opportunities to show diversity and just show what I’m capable of in different ways. Each time I do one of these amazing projects, it makes it easier for me to break through. So I’m just so grateful. And this is the beginning. It’s starting. So I’m ready.

With Love, Series Premiere, Friday, December 17, Prime Video