Perry Mason Star Diarra Kilpatrick used a piece of his childhood to inspire Clara [Exclusive]

Chris Chalk explained that Clara was the only character that kept Drake going after he reached a turning point in Season 2 Episode 4. As the actor said, " It's Clara who lets Paul get his shit together." And Clara has been that way since season one, where she stood by her husband as he went through a crisis of conscience while investigating a case and was pressured by corrupt cops to change his reports — not to mention the pervasive racism he had to endure. .

Diarra Kilpatrick recently spoke to /Film, where she reflected on how Clara "grew up in the universe and how she became such a support for her husband." But Clara is so much more than a steadfast partner, and Kilpatrick has found it exciting to explore her character more this season. The actress explained how she crafted a whole backstory for Clara. And, when asked if there was anything from her personal history that she had incorporated into her backstory, she recalled a family reunion in South Carolina where her aunt went. remembered burying her mother before moving the family to Detroit:

"We spent a lot of time in the heat looking for this marker, this headstone of [her aunt's] mother. She's about 90 years old and she's like, 'I know we we put the marker. I This is the last thing we did before leaving. And everyone is there, and finally, we found it. His mother, Mary Campbell. So I borrowed this piece of burying my mother and it was the last thing keeping her there and then moving on to what was hoped to be a better life."