Manifest star Ellen Tamaki had a beautiful few months spent with friends and family, posting highlights on her social media. Tamaki, who plays Drea Mikami on the Netflix show, shared pictures of herself from video phone conversations, including a snap of her posing in a brown bikini in a beautiful little yard. “It’s been real,” she captioned the post. Here’s how Mikami lives her best life, and what she’s hoping for next career-wise.
Tamaki swears by specific beauty products for her gorgeous complexion. “Laneige lip sleeping mask- at all hours of the day,” she says. “Weleda Skin Food single handedly changed my skin. It’s very thick, so perfect for winter dryness. Supergoop glow screen SPF every day, but sometimes I use this as my foundation! There’s a little tint and shimmer to it. PawPaw ointment- for problem areas, I have had an ongoing feud with a dry patch under my nose for as long as I can remember. One of my makeup artists on manifest introduced me to pawpaw and I slather it on. I rarely wear makeup when home for the holidays, so my favorite beauty look is glowy skin! Sometimes my siblings line up and I do all of their skin care, too.”
Tamaki is appreciative about playing a strong, complex character who isn’t just the romantic interest. “I love seeing women on TV who have more relationships than just romantic ones, and I think there can be something so dynamic and professional about female friendships and that’s kind of what we have been discovering throughout the season is the way that these two characters get along and learn from each other,” she says. “Drea comes in at the beginning and is just so infatuated with Mic and is trying to get Mic to warm up to her a little bit.”
Tamaki went on a magical trip to Bali earlier in 2023 where she swam and snorkeled in the ocean. “To my Bali baddieeees- thank you for the trip of a lifetime. From spirituality and support, to morning bintangs and debauchery, I’d like to think that all of our little islands formed a perfect archipelago. Thank you @adawsss for bringing us all together. This insane jet lag was worth it,” she captioned an Instagram post detailing her adventures.
Tamaki wants to explore more physically challenging roles in the future. “When I think into the future and the projects I want to work, I feel like I love and gravitate toward roles that are super grounded and driven and moral,” she says. “I’ve read some scripts recently that are really fascinating about incoming new Congresswomen who want to evoke change in the government. Or maybe even in the vein of a detective, but the scrappy detectives who figures out that there’s something wrong with the system and she goes on and tries to fix it. I’d love to work on something really physical. My training is in physical acting, and I once played Billie Jean King, the tennis player, and so I think that if there were something where I could use my physical acting training, maybe like a superhero that I would love to dive into.”
Tamaki genuinely loves her co-stars and enjoys spending time with them. “I mean, that’s the judicious answer, right? To be like ‘everyone’s amazing,’ but it’s true, this is one of the greatest shows I’ve worked on, cast and crew and you know everybody involved, but the person who actually came to mind is Parveen [Kaur], who plays Saanvi,” she says. “I ended up getting close to her hanging out in New York and we were able to have like a couple of days on set together, but we didn’t have to get to have a big story-arc. Our characters have two totally separate situations going on and they’re really complicated stories, but I think it would be really cool to work with her and to see how these two women could maybe start figuring stuff out together.”