FBI season 1: Ebonee Noel talks going from SVU guest star to FBI heroine

Ebonee Noel is giving analysts a good name on FBI, and spoke to One Chicago Center about her role and how she got her start on another Dick Wolf show.

Playing an analyst on TV can often be a thankless role—unless you’re FBI star Ebonee Noel, who has reinvigorated the character type with her character Kristen Chazal.

Instead of just being stuck behind a computer or delivering constant exposition or technical jargon, Ebonee has made Kristen a three-dimensional character and a vital part of the show’s team. She’s just as interesting to watch as the other agents, and watching Kristen develop has been one of the most fun parts of the first season.

The show wouldn’t be the same without her, so ahead of tonight’s new FBI episode, we connected with her to learn how she developed her part and how she began her career in another Dick Wolf franchise.

Learn more about Ebonee Noel and her experience behind the scenes of FBI in our interview, then tune in to the next episode tonight at 9 p.m. on CBS.

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One Chicago Center: Your first TV role was in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. How does it feel to be starring on a Dick Wolf series just four years later?

Ebonee Noel: It’s kind of crazy. I just remember being so excited and so terrified on my one day on set [on SVU]. I didn’t have any idea of what I was really doing in terms of camera. I had gone to school and had actor training and had those things to fall back on, but in terms of where the camera would be and what its capturing, all those things I had no idea about. So four years later, when I got cast in [FBI], I look at how far I’ve come and it just felt good. It felt right.

What was it about Kristen Chazal that hooked you and made you want to play this role for, hopefully, several seasons?

I loved the character Kristen because she was somebody my age, but she was written to be the brainiac of the group, which was not something that I’ve seen in a lot of scripts that come my way. I’ve seen it here and there in television, but I feel it was refreshing to play a character whose value was her smarts and her abilities.

So many times they write millennial characters to be off-putting or vapid or caught up in our own personal dramas. I hadn’t seen a lot of millennial characters who were really there for their ability to add something to a group of people. I feel the conversation in the media and the workplaces that I’ve been in is that we have a lot to learn, and I just really loved that in this script, a young woman is an asset for her intelligence.

Which brings us to something common in TV: that the analyst isn’t always fully developed as a character, and they spend a lot of time just delivering information to other characters. How did you keep Kristen from falling into that stereotype?

The thing with Dick Wolf and the production of this show is they’ve really gotten the impression that the analyst is a very important part of the team. So like you said, one of the major differences between Kristen and a lot of analysts shown on TV is that she is so fleshed out. She isn’t just in front of the keyboard typing a few things and coming up with all the answers.

That was one of the things that the agents we had the pleasure to meet with…They really spoke to us about how much of an integral part of the team an analyst [is]. It was really nice to talk with an analyst that I got to meet at the very beginning of the project and [have] ongoing conversations with our writers.

I tried to make the technical dialogue be as interesting as possible when delivering it, because I know some of the stuff, I got the script and it’s like what am I talking about here? If I don’t know what I’m talking about, the audience is going to have no idea what I’m talking about. So it’s just fleshing out that jargon and trying to find her joy in figuring these things out.

What’s been the most rewarding or exciting thing that’s come out of FBI for you so far?

One of the things I asked when we met the agents, is what is the most exciting part of your job when she’s not in the office? She basically relayed to me when she really feels she’s moved the case forward, that’s when she knows she’s doing her job.

There’s been a couple scenes where Kristen gets that feeling like she’s saved the day, like our last episode, where they have these two suspects in the crosshairs and right before they’re about to take that shot [Kristen] came up with the inclination that one of the suspects is not who we think they are; they’re actually the victim.

In the beginning too, our first pilot, shooting the scene where Kristen finds the bomb and is able to cut the right wires so that it doesn’t detonate and saves the day. Those things are just thrilling because it’s a high-stakes show and in order to do it well and capture the audience, you really have to give over to those moments.

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What’s it like behind the scenes of FBI, going to work every day with this cast?

It’s fantastic. We’re very lucky that our cast is very humble and easy with each other. There’s a lot of jokes and pranks that happen on set. It’s kind of in opposition that we’re dealing with such serious material. We’re spending such long hours on set that you can’t live in that mold forever and we’re lucky we have an easy repertoire with each other.

I think that everybody sort of brings [something]. We’re different in those particular ways and I think you see that reflected in our characters; all of our individual quirks that show up. It’s a lot of fun.

How close is Kristen Chazal to Ebonee Noel? What would you want FBI fans to know about you?

I’m kind of a nerd in real life as well. I loved school; I loved learning about new things. I’m a singer, I’m a goofball and I have a bunch of theater and nerd friends I hang out with on a daily basis. I would just say Ebonee is as multi-faceted as the role I play. I’ve played a lot of different roles that are just completely opposite.

I’ve been really lucky in that respect, to not sort of get stuck [with] one side of me coming through in my work—to play people that are in this century and then I’ve played a pirate, an Upper East Side snob and I’ve played an FBI analyst. I feel I’m a really lucky actress.

dark. Next. An FBI spinoff is in development

For the latest FBI season 1 spoilers and news, plus more on all of Dick Wolf’s other series, follow the Dick Wolf category at One Chicago Center.

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