Antonia Gentry of ‘Ginny & Georgia’ opens up on what it’s like being a biracial teen

Like her character in the Netflix series Ginny & Georgia, Antonia Gentry’s background comes from different races. The difference is that Virginia Miller has a white mother, Georgia, and a black father, Zion, when in real life, Antonia’s father, Tony, is white and American, while her mother, Sandra, is black and was born in Jamaica. And it’s her mother who the young actress turned to whenever she had a question about her identity (unlike in the TV show, where Georgia doesn’t understand some of her daughter’s experiences.)

The problem of racism has been present in Ginny & Georgia since season 1, such as when Ginny, being new in a school, didn’t know if she should mingle with her white classmates or the black ones. And just the fact that there is a separate group of black people altogether says a lot. Another example is when a teacher, who is clearly racist, tries to “include” her but actually ends up excluding her by making her share her point of view to her classmates.

Photo Credit: Instagram

Antonia Gentry feels her own life experience has helped her understand these situations. In an interview with Teen Vogue, she said that, when growing up, she never saw a biracial lead in any show. “I didn’t see interracial couples or narratives often displayed in television or movies, and that was something I didn’t realize I wish I had until later on.”

“This character, Ginny, goes through a lot of identity challenges, mental health challenges, and I’ve had hundreds of messages from fans saying they felt seen for the first time. That just feels so gratifying,” Gentry expressed in the “The Jennifer Hudson Show.”

Ginny & Georgia is not the first show Antonia has appeared in, but it has given her the chance to open the door to discuss these issues. She was even given the chance to share how she went through some of these situations herself as a teenager; the series creator asked Toni to share stories of what it was like for her, from being biracial to attending a predominantly white school, to make the show as realistic as possible.

“There are some lines in the show from other characters that are said to Ginny that are actual quotes from my real life, that people have said [to me],” she confessed to Teen Vogue in February 2021, when the first season of the TV show was released. 

Who is Antonia Gentry?

Antonia was born on September 25th, 1997, in Atlanta, Georgia. She knew she wanted to become an actress since she was five years old. She acted in several school productions and in plays written by her mother at their local community theatre. She then attended Emory University to study drama. While she was studying she had a few small roles, like in the romantic comedy film “Candy Jar” and in one episode of the superhero television series Raising Dion.

The actress has said that she had to make time to study, for her part-time job, and for her dream job (acting). Things got even more complicated when it came to auditioning for Ginny & Georgia, since it took place at the same time she was studying for her finals. After giving it some thought, she decided to do both. Not only did she get the part of Ginny she also passed the exam.

In the series, Virginia is 15 years old, but in real life, Antonia is 25. She’s mentioned that she is often mistaken for a teenager, probably due, in part, to her being 5’1.”And in the series, she gets a chance to relive that period of her life, highlighting the experience of being a mixed-race woman, along with mental health struggles and self-harm.