Marissa Bode from Mazomania in the blockbuster “Wicked”

Bode was paralyzed from the waist down but never stopped acting.

She is now 24 and has a significant role in the blockbuster film Wicked, playing Nessarose, the younger sister of the green witch Elphaba.

She made history when she became the first actress to use a wheelchair to play Nessarose, a character who also uses a wheelchair.

It was early October 2022 and Bode had auditioned for a role in “Wicked.” She was busy at her job as an after-school art teacher and mentor at a Boys and Girls Club in Santa Monica, California, when she learned she might be cast, she said.

She received repeated calls from her agent but didn’t respond immediately because she didn’t want her colleagues to have to pick up her work, she said.

When she spoke with him, she learned that she received a call back from director Jon M. Chu. Bode said she was overcome with emotion and wondered if it had been a mistake.

“I was very shocked, but also overjoyed, overjoyed, very excited,” she said. “It’s been a huge journey since then.”

After a series of callbacks, Bode was invited to an early morning Zoom meeting with Chu and some producers and casting people who were already in London filming.

“It was certainly a very intimidating beginning, but I was just very lucky to even be on that Zoom call and be in the presence of these people,” she said.

At some point, Chu interrupted her and said that there was a knock on the door. When he got up to answer, he brought a small camera with him and standing at the door were Cynthia Erivo (Elphaba) and Ariana Grande (Glinda).

“The wonderful, talented leading ladies stand at the door with a sign that says, ‘Welcome to Oz, will you be our Nessarose?’ That was just very, very sweet and very thoughtful,” Bode said. “I love that they tricked me and told me it was a callback when in reality it was them just telling me I got the part.”

From then on, it all felt like a dream, she said. The huge sets on which the film was shot were practical but also “whimsical and magical,” she said, adding that she got to work with some of the most talented people she had ever met.

Bode not only provides a platform for people with disabilities, but also for women of color and the LGBTQ community because she is bisexual, said her father Sean, who is white. His wife, Marissa’s mother Patricia, is Black.

“As a person with a disability, she really takes on the role of speaking for people with disabilities and advocating for more roles for people with disabilities,” he said.

After graduating from Wisconsin Heights High School in 2018, Bode moved to Los Angeles to attend the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. After graduating, she stayed in Los Angeles while her parents live in Mazomanie. Sean is a quality analyst at Natus Medical in Middleton, while Patricia works in workers’ compensation for the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.

Patricia Bode went to the Australian premiere with Marissa in early November, while Sean went to the Los Angeles premiere the following week, “which was incredible,” he said. “It’s just stunning.”

Marissa’s brother Tristan Bode, 26, of Milwaukee, accompanied his sister to the premieres in New York and London. The film was released in the United States on November 22nd.

To coincide with the film’s release, Mattel released seven dolls of the main characters, including Nessarose. They are designed to look like the actors.

“They are all so beautiful. Glinda and Elphaba have vocal performances that are really cool. And then of course I also have a Barbie who is so special and great,” said Bode.

“Education is so important and visualization is so important, and I think that it applies to both disabled and non-disabled children to interact with something that is either familiar to them, or for non-disabled children to interact with something that is unfamiliar to them . “her,” she said. “Just seeing this image I think is important for a variety of reasons.”

“Wicked Part Two” starring her is coming out in a year and even though filming has been completed, it will still require more promotion. Furthermore, Bode said that she has not planned her next project. Ideally, she said, she would like to work with more creative people with disabilities.

“Also, just more roles that don’t necessarily always focus on the disability. I think that’s important,” she said. “I don’t think there necessarily always has to be a backstory regarding a disabled person. I think we can just let them exist as characters because that’s really just our reality.”