It’s been nearly a decade since Nicole Beharie’s last gig as a TV-series regular—an experience that left her “labeled as problematic and blacklisted by some people” in Hollywood, as she told the Los Angeles Times in 2020. But her time on Fox’s hit supernatural series Sleepy Hollow, which she exited in 2016 amid rumored creative differences and after allegedly receiving less accommodation than her male costar, inevitably echoes season three of The Morning Show—a series all about workplace injustice.
Beharie joined the latest season of the Apple TV+ drama as Chris Hunter, an Olympian turned UBA’s newest morning-show anchor. A cyberattack leads to leaks of the network’s internal emails, including correspondence from Holland Taylor’s network board president, Cybil Reynolds, who likens Chris to “Aunt Jemima” in an exchange about lowballing her salary. The revelation unearths other race- and gender-based pay disparities within UBA. In “White Noise,” the season’s electric third episode, Chris is tasked with holding her boss accountable on live TV—and shouldering public fallout from the racist incident.
The actor, who earned a Gotham Award and an Independent Spirit nomination for the critically acclaimed indie Miss Juneteenth, says she’s moved past her most public professional conflict. But as Beharie tells Vanity Fair on this week’s Little Gold Men, she was heartened to see how her Morning Show character’s onscreen confrontation resonated with viewers. “When it aired, there was a very big response that I hadn’t expected,” she says. “And I think it’s because a lot of people related to it. It was cathartic, regardless of your race or gender. Everybody has dealt with a boss, or has a bone to pick with someone, and knows that they won’t have that opportunity. And I feel like Chris gave everyone a little bit of that.”
Vanity Fair: Your performance felt so grounded amid a show that goes to some crazy, ambitious places. When the series first came to you, how was your role as Chris Hunter presented?
Nicole Beharie: I actually auditioned for this. It didn’t come to me—I did the old-school thing. And it was fairly fast as well. I just knew that she was a new face on the actual morning show and that she was a bright, fun, new energy. Funnily enough, that was my focus going into it. Morning-show people have to be consistent, even when they’re delivering terrible news, you know? I’m not a person who watches a great deal of that kind of television, so I just inundated myself with that world.
As you are meeting me right now, you realize I’m a pretty mellow person. So Chris lives in a completely different, energetic space, or at least has to do so for work. I actually think that Chris Hunter does live in that space. She’s an athlete and a spokesperson. She loves being bright and the center of attention, and is probably less cerebral than I am. So that’s what I was focused on. Then we get to episode three and episode seven. I was like, Oh, I’m working. I thought I was just bringing the jokes and laughter, hopping into the space chair and having fun with Yanko [played by Néstor Carbonell]. And yeah, it changed.
What stood out to you most in your morning-show research?
Jennifer Aniston connected me with Gayle King. So that’s nothing to snub your nose about. I had a conversation with her, and she just talked about what an honor it is to be a part of history. That’s the way that she’s thinking about it: that there’s a person that has an appetite and fervor to be in the middle of things. I’m kind of fine watching from afar. So, what is it to want to be in the midst of all the things?
One of the things she said too is, nobody really cares how you feel. You’re there to do a job, and people actually need you to start their day and make everything okay, even when it’s really tough news. Putting all the personal stuff on the back burner—I probably need to do that myself, to be totally honest. That’s what Reese [Witherspoon] and Jennifer were doing with their on-camera personalities. I wanted to figure out what that meant for Chris. The game is already going, you know? So I was just having to jump in, find my rhythm.
You’ve spoken about alleged inequality and mistreatment that you faced while starring on Sleepy Hollow. Since then, you’ve appeared on other shows, like Little Fires Everywhere and Scenes From a Marriage, in more limited capacities. But given that negative experience, was there hesitation about joining another show as a series regular?