Betty Gabriel

Gabriel was born January 6, 1981 in Washington D.C. and grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Hyattsville, Maryland.[2] In 2002, Gabriel received a BSc in animal science from Iowa State University.[3] After college, Gabriel relocated to Chicago, studying modern dance and working as an actress in the Chicago theater community.[4][5] In 2014, she graduated with a GrDip in drama from Juilliard.[6]

After doing a bit of theater at Iowa State,[7] Gabriel got her start working as an actor and dancer in Chicago theater, first as part of her further studies, and then in various productions.[4][8] Gabriel's first major role was in a 2011 drama called In Memoriam.[1] She began her career as a television actress with minor recurring roles in Good Girls Revolt and Westworld and her first major role was in the 2016 horror sequel, The Purge: Election Year.[2][9]

Gabriel was on vacation when she was invited to audition for Get Out. To prepare for the role, Gabriel by watching the TED talk of Martin Pistorius to get insight into the feeling of being trapped inside one's own body.[10] She also watched Bride of Frankenstein and talked to her own grandmother, who was raised in Alabama, about racial tensions from her era.[11] The film was a critical and commercial success, and Gabriel earned critical acclaim for her performance. Her role was discussed as a contender for Best Supporting Actress for the 2018 Academy Awards by Variety and The New York Times.[12][13] The New York Times cited her role as Georgina as one of the best performances of 2017.[14]

Gabriel starred opposite Logan Marshall-Green in the sci-fi action horror film Upgrade (2018), written and directed by Leigh Whannell, and shot on location in Melbourne, Australia.[15][16][17] Gabriel has been in six projects by Blumhouse Productions, The Purge: Election Year, 12 Deadly Days, Get Out, Upgrade, Unfriended: Dark Web, and Adopt A Highway.[1] In 2017, Gabriel joined the cast of Westworld as the character Maling.[18] In February 2018, it was announced she would join the second season of Counterpart playing an FBI agent.[19]