Acting was not Frances Turner’s first choice of profession.
The Cornell and Georgetown Law School graduate practiced law before switching tracks several years ago. The analytical thinking and research skills gleaned from legal training are put to good use, when the “Fallout” actress is developing new characters.
“I’m like an investigator in certain ways by bringing a level of intellectual curiosity and intellect,” Turner says. “Then my artist brings the truth to that.”
A fast thinker, who considers the macro and micro aspects of a subject simultaneously, Turner says she also leans into what’s not being said or shown to dig into different levels of a character. As “Barb Howard” on Amazon Prime’s “Fallout,” Turner says she is excited to learn more about her character, why she makes the choices that she does and how she walks “this moral-ethical tightrope.” Loving and caring as “Barb” is for her family, she also is navigating the complexities of business and corporate policies.
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“As everyone in the world of ‘Fallout’ in pre-war 2077 knows, the situation is precarious,” she says. “She also has additional information because of her position at Vault-Tec. This year we’re going to see more of her interior life and how she balances all of those things.”
As for how the show reflects current times, Turner says sci-fi and post-apocalyptic shows invite viewers to ask questions about morality and corporate responsibility. Many years into her acting life, she is still surprised when fans approach her in places like Tanzania or Spain.
Just as Turner felt a pull from her lawyer career to a more creative one, she has also been drawn to take various travel adventures, like a “transformative” 548-mile Camino de Santiago trek in Spain in 2023, a gorilla tracking trip in Rwanda, a safari in Kenya, time with the Maasai in Tanzania, and witnessing the Great Migration in the Serengeti.
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“I get really excited about different experiences whether that big, or just simply stepping into MoMA or The Met and being transported that way,” she says.
Fashion is another way to have a conversation, according to Turner. While “Barb is a fashion girlie,” Turner says the intentional power suit dressing, which serves as a type of armor, is offset by her softer, feminine at-home looks. That dichotomy mirrors what’s happening to the character. “We are going to see her become more undone,” Turner says.
She likes structured looks including ones that have that effect, due to her own silhouette. Isabel Marant is a favorite resource for more bohemian styles, and an avid vintage shopper, Turner frequents vintage shows during the preview hours.
“Your style and how you use fashion has the most impact, when you know who you are at your core,” she says. “When you do, you can go bigger, or smaller, and have range.”
Her outlook on life is that she is learning the lessons that she is supposed to be learning, before moving on to the next experience and the ones that follow. “And I’m happy here — there’s an ease in that, and trust and faith in that,” she says. “I tend not to look at things as good things and bad things. There are good things and then there are lessons. I like what’s happening right now, and I feel the feelings. But I know that on the other side, I will be OK because there is something that I am supposed to be learning here.”