Ebonée Noel – FBI

By: Jamie Steinberg

Q) What are the recent projects that you are working on?

A) I’ve been working on “FBI” since March so the majority of the year has been taken up with this series. I think the last project I worked on was a pilot that hasn’t seen the light of day as of yet. Right before that I did a show on TBS called “Wrecked” where I played a pirate called Barracuda. It was a lot of fun and they are a great group of people over there.

Q) How was your character Analyst Kristen Chazal originally described to you?

A) She was described as sort of the brains of the operation. You have the field agents who are Maggie (Missy Peregrym) and OA (Zeeko Zaki) who are on the street and interviewing suspects. You have Jeremy’s character who is sort of running the job and obviously our SAC character who is the head of everything. Kristen is the analytical prospectus so she was described as the brainiac of the group who sort of connects the disparate clues and the disparate pieces of information that come up through the course of investigating a case. When she speaks the team listens because she’s the only one who occupies that sort of space – that ability to look at cases across the board as opposed to what they’re working on and saying, “This reminds me on something we were working on last year.” She’s able to fill in the details if they’re working on a gang related case or a particular piece of Science of technology she’s the one who has all of that info.

Q) Was there anything you added to her that wasn’t originally scripted for you?

A) With these characters I find it easy to fall into a stereotypical nerdy type character who is just spitting out information. I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to separate her and give her some sass – jus ta little bit, not too much. Just a point of view on the perpetrators of each given case, a worldliness. I wanted to lift her out of “Oh, she’s sitting at a computer all day. Maybe she wears glasses and is just spitting out all of this information, so nobody has any idea.” I wanted her to feel well rounded and just out of that archetype.

Q) Is that what you also found the most challenging about portraying her?

A) I guess so. She has to sort of lay out a lot of information that our characters aren’t even very familiar and I’m sure the audience isn’t familiar with. She brings out a lot of technical information and I want the delivery not to go over anybody’s head. I didn’t want anyone to say, “Yes, yes, yes. Kristen has all of the information and we can sort of check out.” That’s not how I wanted viewers to be on that journey with her so I kind of break it down in a way that is more relatable than just the words are on the page or can come across. I try to give her enough personality and enough point of view that people can go, “Oh, okay. We can sort of follow the information here.”

Q) Were you familiar with any of your costars before working with them on “FBI?”

A) Like any 90’s baby, I had recognized Jeremy [Sisto] from Clueless and Missy from Stick It, but I hadn’t worked with any of them before. So, it was a pleasant surprise to sort of get on set and all have a natural chemistry and all have a really good time working with each other. It’s a really fun set to be on, despite the fact that a lot of the cast is dealing with a lot of larger than life, very dangerous issues. After “cut” and before “action” we have these great, easy times with each other. I didn’t know anyone before we started working together, but it didn’t take very long for us to form a bond.

Q) How did you prepare to portray an FBI analyst?

A) We were very fortunate to get to meet with a group of agents. I, in particular, got to meet with an analyst and sort of pick their brain about their job. I met with a female analyst. It’s funny because that’s sort of the one job in the bureau that’s about 50/50 female and male. That was cool to get to see what her every day is like and how it is different from agents in supervisory roles. She gets to work different cases, so she gets to work with a broader range of agents. So, that was really interesting to find out when she knows she’s doing a good job. Because obviously when you’re an agent and you’re investigating there are different barometers for when they are successful at their jobs. But I wanted to know for her, “Okay, you’re drawing a profile and you’re making these connections at what point in your job do you realize you’re doing it really well? I’m killing it.” That also gives you information about at what point in your job you know that you’re failing or dropping the ball. It was important for me to know what tone I wanted to bring to certain scenes. That was the most helpful bit of information that I was able to do before the pilot. Then, they were able to give us some literature and books about the FBI, how it has been restricted after 9/11. It completely changed how they investigated terrorism. After 9/11 it changed vastly because it was sort of an event you couldn’t see coming and it changed how they looked at things. We read some books about it and there was a documentary that went into different squads because different squads focus on different kinds of crimes. That was pretty cool because you get an array of information as opposed to when we met with agents because we met with agents who worked counter-terrorism, but then we got to meet with agents that handled crimes against children and people who work on organized crime cases. They gave us a lot of information and a lot of material to go through before we started and then we got to interview people who had boots on the ground.

Q) What does it mean to you to be a part of a series with more than one strong female leads?

A) I think it’s really important. I think for a show like this, that is about law enforcement too, when you think about (at least from myself playing an FBI agent), I didn’t necessarily think a young black woman or a young woman sort of being (with Missy and OA’s partnership – he’s the more senior, more dominate character in their partnership) a female SAC in the FBI. I just think all of those things are important because it opens viewers’ minds to say, “I can do this. I can actually see myself doing this. There is a place for me here. It’s not necessarily a boy’s club or necessarily something that I feel like I’m separate.” I feel like it’s important for people to see a young black millennial who is also the brains of the operation and the smarty pants of the group. You’re sort of seeing that more now with certain movies and TV shows…When I was a kid I didn’t get to see that as much so it’s really exciting to portray something that was close to me, but that I didn’t necessarily read all the time when I was growing up.

Q) What were some of your most memorable moments from filming the show?

A) I think that last scene of the pilot was definitely a huge day! It was my first day on set and we went and shot at what used to be NYU’s campus up in the Bronx. I’m an NYU alum and I had no idea that we used to have a campus in the Bronx. [laughs] That was really cool to get to go up there. We shot in what as in their library, which was modeled after the Pantheon in Rome. So, it was sort of an epic day to know you’re in this huge building. Obviously during the scene there are a lot of extras, but I didn’t have any scene partners so the pressure was on to get these circumstances right. I was in this building and did not expect at all to have to clear a hall and have to diffuse a bomb. It being the first day and then having all those challenges I will never forget that. It also felt very full circle being in a building that used to be connected to my alma mater where I trained and I cut my teeth, so to speak. We had some days on set where it is fun. We look around and we’re like, “Wow! See where we are. Look at this huge production.” It’s this huge undertaking, but also there is this joy of going to set every day. So, I have some special memories with my cast -just being on set and relating to each other and trading stories and telling jokes. I think that first day as an introduction to the production is never going to fade in my memory.

Q) You are a part of social media. Are you looking forward to the fan response you’ll receive to episodes?

A) Yes, that’s my favorite part of social media. It has so many tentacles and so many features. Sometimes navigating can be too much, but my favorite part of Twitter or Instagram is hearing what people think. You kind of create these episodes in a silo. You go to work for sixteen hours a day and we know what we hope to create and what we hope to come across. At the end of the day, when you’re on set it’s out of your hands. You show up and do the best you can, but you have no idea after that. So, hearing what people say and the little things that they react to and pickup on to. I really enjoy that. I think it can be overwhelming for some people. And, obviously, there are critics. You are never going to escape people who find something they don’t like, but that sort of comes with the territory. I don’t’ take that on so much. What I really look forward to is what people spark to and you can’t really ever predict that. You can only do the best you can do on that day. Jeremy had this pencil in his hand and he really does love to use that prop. We all have these things that we love to use that help us drop into the character or feel natural to us in the space. I mentioned it on Twitter and then all of a sudden it became this thing where people were looking for Jeremy’s pencil. Fun things like that have almost become an inside joke with the audience. I really enjoy that.

Q) We recently saw you on Season 2 of the comedic series “Wrecked.” You often take on dramatic roles though so what drew you to be a part of this show?

A) Well, she is the first villain that I really ever got to play on screen. And I would listen to actors talk about how delicious those characters are. Growing up you are watching actor interviews and that’s a running scheme, but it’s so true! As the villain you get to lean into instincts that you have to stay away from in life. I can’t go around threatening people with weapons and throwing spears. [laughs] There were elaborate tents set up for me to just camp on the beach and hop around in leather and jewelry. That’s nothing that I’m going to get to do in my real life. So, to get to step into the character and be that much larger than life and dramatic, but also…I guess it sounds counterintuitive to enjoy being so mean to people. [laughs] But it’s just those things that you can’t lean into in life. We all have I think our darker sides or our tougher sides. You have to represent yourself in a way that people aren’t going to run away from you on the street. I try to be a good person, but to be able to have that space to take over and run a crew of all male jacked up pirates…I’m 5’2 so to saunter around the island with all of these guys and order them around…Also, I learned to jet ski for the role. That was beyond fun! She was a lot of fun and I won’t forget her.

Q) Talk about filming scenes with Rhys Darby.

A) That whole cast is like a master class in comedy. They are all hilarious and very specific. So, it was fun to just be around them. Then, w hen you are in a scene with Rhys Darby it’s hard to keep a straight face. Barracuda is not cracking jokes. She’s not improvising that much. All of them are master improvisors. The Shipley brothers write a very strong comedic script. They shoot that and then allow all of their actors to add their adlibs and have fun. The challenge on set with that is to stand across from Rhys who is doing the most ridiculous things. He was throwing out these adlibs that I couldn’t even imagine. To just keep a straight face was the hardest part, but it was really inspiring to watch someone who is that good at their craft and that level of mastery over what they do. They were all fantastic to work with. I did get to spend a lot of time with Rhys and I’m very grateful for that experience.