“I just have a love of life and a love of love. I want to spread light and love everywhere,” announces American actress Tati Gabrielle. And speaking of love, Gabrielle plays librarian and main love interest, Marienne in season three of everyone’s favorite Netflix stalker-thriller series, ‘You.’ In case you haven’t been stalking Gabrielle’s career—which is already impressive—she is a recent Forbes Hollywood & Entertainment 30 Under 30 recipient and she plays anti-hero, Prudence in Netflix’s ‘Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.’ Gabrielle gets candid with MOD about her experiences as Prudence and Marienne, and dishes her perspectives on love’s subtopics—red flags and infatuation.
Interview by Sandy Aziz
Sandy: Tell us where you are from and where you consider home.
Tati: I am from the San Francisco Bay Area and that is where I consider home. I mean, I guess I live in L.A. now, but I still consider the bay my home—my family is still there, and I try to get home when I can.
Sandy: Congrats on being recognized as one of Forbes’ Hollywood & Entertainment 30 Under 30 in 2021. How do you feel?
Tati: I think it is still really just mind blowing for me. I think it was a huge honor and it’s such a surprise. Yeah, I just aim to live up to that and be able to progress in my career, life, and with philanthropy. It is still very surreal, and I haven’t really had the moment to digest it because I’ve been working so much. But it’s truly an honor!
Sandy: Your Instagram bio reads “Vintage Gangster, Hippie Sailor”—can you elaborate more on these please?
Tati: So, it’s in two parts: obviously Vintage Gangster and then Hippie Sailor. Vintage Gangster—I am a really big kid, and I love all things vintage: trinkets, clothes, and furniture. People say that I have an old soul. Half of that is from my dad, and my dad is what I would consider a gangster. So, I say vintage gangster because in my head, I picture myself with a zoot suit… that vibe. My mother always called me her bohemian child, since I was a kid. And I very much am a bohemian at heart, or a hippie as people like to call me. I just have a love of life and a love of love and want to spread light and love everywhere. So that’s the hippie, and then the sailor is about being out in the water and believing that the water is what connects us all. My goal was really—how can I describe myself using the least amount of words that would accurately describe me.
Sandy: Let’s talk about Prudence on Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. What is your favorite thing about Prudence?
Tati: My favorite thing about Prudence has always been her unapologetic nature. Just the fact that she knows who she is! I feel like I grew a lot as myself through playing Prudence, and she taught me how to stand in my own ground, know myself, and to be comfortable in myself and the choices I make. Excuse my French, but she also just doesn’t take shit from anyone. She runs her own life in the way she wants and doesn’t wait for anyone to give it to her. She is definitely an anti-hero in the show!
Sandy: Do you see any similarities between you and Prudence in real life?
Tati: Her strength and resilience are what I would say I related to closely in my experience. Just thinking about how much she could withstand and how she could keep going—I would like to say that I’m a lot like that in that way. I’ve been through a lot in life. But I’ve always come back! So, our strength and resilience are both things we share.
Sandy: What do you find the most chilling thing about Netflix’s You?
Tati: How real it could really be! The way the show is structured and placed in our modern time, and all the things Joe does. Even the elements that he uses, such as social media and driving around, stalking people. It’s too real. It really makes you think—are there are people out there like that? It just hits too close to home.
Sandy: Did you watch You before you auditioned for the role? And what attracted you to the role of Marienne?
Tati: Yes, I was a huge fan of the show before I was in it. There were several things that attracted me to her. One thing was that she was different than Joe’s previous love interests in several different ways. For example, she is a woman of color. I mean, there’s another woman of color that Joe dates in the first season but Marienne doesn’t shy away and is very vocal and present about her race. She talks about the struggles that she goes through—especially that her baby daddy is a white man. All of this was something that really intrigued me in the context of the show—especially in terms of the conversation that it often made among the black community. In other words, when we see horror films, our intelligence is insulted where the black person is always the first to die, or the black person is the one that makes the stupid decision that doesn’t run out of the place that the killer is in. So, I appreciated Sara’s take on Marienne in that way. Sara gave her that intelligence and that strength. And instead of obliviousness, Marienne was blinded by her own desire and need for love, as well as distracted by the turmoil that she was going through with her custody battle and with dealing with her ex-husband. So, I just was really drawn by the realness of Marienne.
Sandy: Do you feel that the introduction of Marienne at this point in the show was important and why now?
Tati: I feel like if you introduced a character like her early on, you wouldn’t have the show that you have now. You wouldn’t have the suspense, and you wouldn’t have been able to build the show in the same way. The main reason that we all root for Marienne truly is because we already know about the two women before her that fell victim to Joe. So, yeah, I felt like all that build-up and character development happened before Marienne was introduced strategically right now.
Sandy: Spoiler Alert: Marienne is a survivor, which seems like a foreign concept in a show that is usually all about the victim. Would you say she was victim to other things instead, and her surviving was carefully crafted in this way?
Tati: Oh, absolutely. You know, she’s Joe’s victim—but she is also a victim to the system that she grew up in as a black woman. If all that wasn’t the case, she may not have found drugs and become a victim to addiction. But all of that made me so grateful that she was able to just survive.
Sandy: What is your favorite Marienne moment and why?
Tati: My favorite Marienne moment is when Ryan comes to the library and Joe and Marienne are locking up for the night. Specifically, the part where Joe comes in and steps in to diffuse the situation and the way that Marienne blows up on him. It shows that she’ll never view herself as a victim. I feel like it shows who Marienne is at the core, which is someone who has been a victim of a lot of things but will never let herself fall completely apart.
Sandy: Do you think Joe has red flags, and what are red flags you’ve experienced in real life?
Tati: Absolutely. And it is because we’re able to—as the viewer—hear Joe’s thoughts. So, of course, all of these thoughts are red flags… you know the stalking, of course, is a huge red flag. The way that he always thinks someone is flirting with him is also a huge red flag. I feel like we all know the red flags of Joe—he is a walking red flag. In my past (teenage years and in my early 20s), I was often attracted to men who have issues or have had some type of issues in their lives. Issues could be daddy issues, for example, or other issues. But the red flag I experienced is that type of guy who is broken that wants to be taken care of but isn’t taking care of himself.
Sandy: Let’s talk about love vs. infatuation. How do you think they are dangerous in their own ways in the show and in reality?
Tati: Joe’s infatuations are dangerous because they lead him down a very dark path. It’s not a healthy way to pursue someone. Love can also be dangerous. Love in the show has also been dangerous because it’s not the answer to everything. You can love someone all you want, but it doesn’t mean it’s healthy. And then in life, the dangers in general of being infatuated with somebody are that you never really know them and you’re never really getting to know them. Instead, you’re focused on all of the bright, shiny things and this perfect version that you’ve created in your mind. And love in real life is dangerous but also a beautiful thing—it’s a fine balance. There is such a thing as toxic love. It’s a matter of understanding that love doesn’t always mean you have to do everything for that person and sacrifice so much. Sometimes loving somebody is letting them go. Love is also encouraging your partner or family loved one to be the best version of themselves by removing yourself at times or by giving them the space to find themselves.
Sandy: If the show wasn’t called You, what would you call it instead and why?
Tati: ‘Head of Lies’ or ‘Love is a Dangerous Thing’
Sandy: What is something your fans may not know about you?
Tati: I don’t know if my fans know that I’m a person that’s fiercely protective of the people that I love. I will go very hard for the people that I love.
Sandy: Are there any roles you want to experiment with next?
Tati: I would love to try something that is completely inhuman. I would really love to be a superhero—that is on my bucket list. I really want to be a Storm. Also, I would really love to do a biopic or some sort of creature or something. If I could be Caesar from Planet of the Apes—that would be a really fun and interesting acting challenge and true to my roots in theater and movement. Like how do you emote without using words? Also, I really want to play somebody who is either schizophrenic or an addict—someone whose mind is completely away from mine and that I would have to search to find. I’m a big advocate for mental health, so I just want to tell the story of that nature.
Sandy: What are you working on next?
Tati: I am currently working on a new show for Netflix that should come out next year, called Jigsaw, starring Giancarlo Esposito, Rufus Sewell, Jai Courtney and myself. I’m really excited about it! It’s a sort of heist situation that takes place over the course of a long timeline of a few years. It is loosely based off of an incident that actually happened in New York during Hurricane Sandy—$7 billion worth of bonds went missing in Manhattan. We’re a few months into filming now and it’s going really well. Also, that show is in a cool new format that Netflix is doing where you’ll be able to watch the story and the episodes are by color. So, you will be able to watch the episodes in any order you choose. Also, I should mention that I am in a Sony Pictures movie, Uncharted, that is coming out February 18th, with Mark Wahlberg, Tom Holland and Antonio Banderas. So, I’m also excited about that. It’s based off the videogame of the same name, and it is sort of like a modern-day Indiana Jones!
