How did you get first get into the business?

RUSSELL When I was 18 or 19, I began driving down from Vancouver to L.A. in my little tiny Toyota, trying to go to auditions. I didn’t have money or a visa, and I couldn’t be a waiter in America so I’d save up over many, many months. My parents never really worried about me — I was working in a restaurant when I was 13 and had two jobs when I was 15. When I was 20 or 21, I moved down there, and booked “Lost in Space,” which, funnily enough, was produced in Vancouver.

TURNER-SMITH When I first started in modeling, I went back to England, and it was really hard, because I would go around to the agencies and they would be like, ‘We already have one mixed-race black girl.’ With Instagram and the internet that seems to have really shifted. People are making a lot more noise about representation and diversity. But I think modeling is one of the professions where people can be kind of racist. When I went back to England, I really couldn’t get any work. I was there for eight months and moved back to L.A., where it was definitely easier.

Given that you’re not from America, did you feel there were experiences and challenges that are specific to portraying people of color in the United States?

TURNER-SMITH What’s unique about America is that the country itself was built upon oppression, it’s in the very foundation. We definitely experience racism in England and different levels of oppression as well. Anywhere affected by colonialism there’s certain kinds of race relations and class relations going on. What’s unique about the American experience is that it’s built into the very fabric of society.

RUSSELL There was a lot of instability in Emily’s life, and I think that the pressures are much more intense. However, I think those exist for black families everywhere, whether you realize it or not. I’m in South Africa right now, you really feel the segregation here a lot. It’s not talked about as much. And in this family, in “Waves,” that is talked about: “This is who you are, and this is what you mean in society. Do you realize that? You need to recognize that and own that because you need to rise above that.” And the pressure is immense.