In a video interview, Furious breakout Quincy Tyler Bernstine talks injecting her theater background into the “once in a lifetime” character of Nora Washington.
“I would have been devastated if [Furious] hadn’t gotten a Season 2,” says Quincy Tyler Bernstine in a Zoom interview. “We can’t leave these characters. We just can’t leave it like that.”
And fans of the FX on Hulu TV series agree!
With a 99% on Rotten Tomatoes rating and a 90% jump in day-one views for the season finale compared to the premiere, Furious was the surprise hit of the summer, with Bernstine serving as one of the biggest breakouts of a series already packed with memorable players.
Quincy Tyler Bernstine Finds a Huge Audience
“It’s been really, really incredible and overwhelming and surreal,” says Bernstine. “And, you know, I was just talking with someone earlier today about the fact that I have been doing this for decades—you know, I’ve been like in the trenches, like work-a-day actor—and to have this huge audience finally see my work has been a dream come true. It’s really very special.”
Bernstine’s Nora Washington is one of the many surprises on a show filled with twists. On other procedural shows, a character like Nora makes funny quips and retreats to the background. Here, she becomes an integral part of Alice’s (Emmy Rossum) investigation into a female serial killer (Lola Petticrew), her character building with intrigue with each episode.
“From the moment I got the script in my inbox, […] yes, of course, no brainer, but I was like, oh my God, first of all, the story—I’ve never read anything like this story and then this character of Nora is like no one I have ever seen before on the page and yet I knew her so deeply almost immediately and I just felt like I had to figure out how to get this job because this role is so fleshed out; she’s so nuanced and unique and singular and once in a lifetime. It’s rare that you can come across a character like this.”
I had a great conversation with Bernstine about the inner-workings of her fascinating character as well as the early role in her career that she nabbed from Rosie Perez!
Watch or listen below.
