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.

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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?

I mean, of course, but I feel like everything is in the past. It’s also a very different time in the business. There was a lot less awareness. And then I just really love the show and what it’s about. The ethos of it is in alignment with that, you know what I’m saying? It makes sense for me, and I think everyone on this show really gets it. It’s about what’s happening behind the scenes and the complexity of ambitious people, media, women. Complex and flawed women and men, people. I feel like I’m specially suited to do that.

Are there certain things you need to know or hear going into a project in order to trust the working environment?

I mean, I think for me it’s about the work. I’m not carrying—look, that stuff happened maybe a decade ago now. I think people are reading about this stuff now, and it’s a very, very long time ago for me. So I’m not moving from a place of fear in my life, and I’m not necessarily thinking about that a great deal, if that makes sense. It’s more about the work and the people and what I can bring to it, and if I feel like there’s a challenge and if I feel excited and passionate about it. I’m also a big fan of the women who are running this show. So it’s in the past.

In the season’s third episode, your character, Chris, takes center stage because of a racist workplace incident. She gets likened to Aunt Jemima in a leaked email from the network’s board president, and through that discovers that she’s being paid less than her white counterparts. How much of your own experiences informed how you embodied the fallout from these revelations?

I feel like maybe a little bit of it, but a lot of it was actually based on other people in media that had actually experienced this specifically. Pay disparity is a big thing with women and people of color. It’s something that I personally care about, and we’re actually seeing, funnily enough, post the show airing, other actors talking about a great deal due to the strike and all sorts of things.

So no, I don’t feel like it was on the pulse of anything that was particularly happening for me. But when I read it, I was like, Oh, okay. Then I did some research, and these things have actually happened with other media companies. I don’t know if it’s a morning-show host necessarily, but other journalists where things had been said, and also with athletes as well. So it was a perfect mix for Chris to step into that place. What’s actually interesting is none of those people had the opportunity that I was given to face the person who had said the things and devalued them, ultimately. That was a difficult thing to do, but at the same time, so cathartic for other people.

At the end of the interview, Chris says, “We’ll move on from institutional racism right after the break,” acknowledging that this conversation is finite and things could go back to the status quo the very next segment. How different do you feel like the rules of lasting accountability are for those in power when it comes to race?

Are the rules different? I mean, absolutely. I was actually recently talking to someone about white-collar crime, and this is, like, completely left, so y’all can edit this out—but there are people who’ve done some random check fraud or whatever. They were Latinx and Black people. For the exact same felony charges, they were charged something like 24 years, versus someone else who came from a higher socioeconomic status got, like, 18 months. So yes, it’s just different. But I do think that things are improving. Conversations are happening. I think the thing that I have the opportunity to do is bring things to light. But it’s also not the only thing I want to do. I’m also an artist that is interested in love and comedy and so many other things.

We’ve already started talking about next season—what Chris is doing, who she is, and what the world is. I hit the ground running, and it did feel a little bit that she was the hot-topic girl, you know what I mean? [She did] the heavy lifting in that particular way. But I think some of that is growing pains, so hopefully this season we’ll be seeing more of the interiority of the character.

Elsewhere in the season, Chris gets into some hot water for taking a public stand on abortion rights following the overturn of Roe v. Wade. How do you, as an actor, know a battle is worth fighting in terms of advocating for yourself or your character?

I feel like I’m still figuring out what that looks like for me. A lot of the vocalization for me is in the work, if that makes sense. I don’t feel like I’m necessarily a forward, front-facing activist, but it’s where I spend my money and the things that I’m passionate about. For example, when I’m working with a stylist, I like to request brands that are thinking in terms of sustainability and waste. I look for material that has something to say, but not necessarily to teach.

Scenes From a Marriage—that’s about the complexity of love and relationships and marriage. Black Mirror is about agency with your body, sexuality, science. I really just like engaging with what it means to be human in this age—turning it over and examining what that is. And for me, in this body, it comes with myriad challenges, but also some of the most exceptional blessings. I feel like we’re gearing this toward challenges and politics. In fairness, that’s what the show is about, but it definitely doesn’t encompass the whole thing for me. [Laughs]

Viola Davis praised your work in the third episode on Instagram. She also mentioned your name while accepting her Emmy in 2015. What has having someone like her championing you on a public scale meant?

Man, I love her. I went to Juilliard, so I was like a theater baby beforehand—still am. But there’s a library next door, the Lincoln Center library, and they have archives of almost every Broadway play, off-Broadway play. I watched almost all of her performances. She’s done a bunch of beautiful work. So I’d seen her before even How to Get Away With Murder and all that stuff where everyone was in love with her, and Doubt, and just been a fan of hers for a long time. To see her and know how long this journey has been and how much she’s probably gone through and seen herself and how generous she is, it means everything.

Even for me to be able to speak out about certain things or to play a character that gets to address these things, I can’t imagine what it was like in the ’40s or ’50s or even the ’80s, honey. You know what I’m saying? Even what happened with me, it was 10 years ago. It’s not the same world now, thank God. All that goes to say, I think she’s a superhero, and it means everything. Because she’s one of the most skilled, grounded, generous people, and so many of the things that she said on her path have helped me immensely. It’s helped a lot of women feel like they can be here in their full self, as they are, traditional or nah, and still take up a lot of space.

The season begins with Alex Levy helping select clips that will go into her eventual “In Memoriam” package. It got me thinking: Out of your body of work, from Miss Juneteenth to Shame—is there a scene that you would want to be remembered for?

How dark! Yo, this is the darkest interview I’ve ever—wow, wow. You know what’s weird about that? Ugh, I don’t even know if I should share this. I just recently had two people pass away in my life, and so I have been thinking about death lately. So it’s kind of weird that you would bring that up.

To me, the question is less about death and more about discussing something that you’re proud of.

I just want to be remembered for anything that resonates. I think what’s been the biggest gift of my career is, thus far, we’re creating some cool stuff. So what I wanna be remembered for, we haven’t made yet. But it’s coming. It is coming and I’m excited about it.

I’ve gotten feedback from audiences online even without—I don’t know if there’s critical success or whatever, but the moment in this season trended, and the Black Mirror thing trends every now and then. I’m like, How does that happen? And the same thing was happening when we were on Sleepy Hollow. So whatever it is that’s connecting, it means everything. Because I really love this. It is the love of my life, and I have a lot of fun, and I get to work with such incredible people across the board. There’s so much out there. So for people to take time and be like, “Hey, we felt that”—it’s huge. And that it’s not necessarily coming from any gatekeepers. That’s never been my career. It’s been love from the people that are watching. Even if other people don’t feel it, it’s like, Wow, that’s kind of crazy and undeniable. And so I guess that’s the thing. That’s what keeps me going.

This interview has been edited and condensed.