“I really value public health and what it means to be well in this society, especially under capitalism, especially under a lot of these different oppressive systems. … It was just always important to me to, one, put myself in environments that would challenge me intellectually, and two, to follow through and just maintain that level of discipline where I could finish something that was a big challenge.”

While a student, O’Connor served as a doctor’s assistant in Lima, Peru, despite not speaking Spanish. In Baltimore, they participated in a program that connected people without reliable internet access to health services.

It was O’Connor’s “vibrant, energetic spirit” — plus their passion for social justice — that made an impression on former Hopkins assistant professor Cui Yang, who hired them as a research assistant in the spring of 2019 to help raise awareness around PrEP, a medication taken to lessen the chances of acquiring HIV.

O’Connor is “going to be excellent, no matter what [they] want to pursue in [their] career,” said Yang, now an associate professor at Rutgers School of Public Health. “I always encourage my students … to keep curious and explore different paths, pursue a passion.”

At Hopkins, O’Connor said they also developed an appreciation that “entertainment is an industry, and there are systems that I have to navigate.” That outlook on working as an actor has prompted them to “take things less personally.”

It’s a point of view that may have proven helpful as O’Connor’s most recent release, “Madame Web,” became mired in online criticism.

O’Connor played the role of Mattie Franklin, part of a trio of emerging young Spider-Women in “Madame Web,” which tells the story of Johnson’s Cassandra Webb, a New York paramedic who develops an ability to see future events before they happen.

After auditioning for months, O’Connor said they got to have a hand in crafting their character — a skateboarding kid from a wealthy family — to feel “real and well-rounded and honest, especially as the only Black girl in the cast and the only Black girl to ever play a Spider-Woman live action.”

O’Connor said they’ve become close friends with Sweeney and Merced, after bonding during overnight shoots and off set.

And unlike Johnson, who told Magic FM in mid-February that she hadn’t yet seen “Madame Web,” O’Connor said they’d already watched the movie three times.

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