Odelya Halevi Talks Playing A.D.A. Samantha Maroun on Law & Order

[00:00:09] Odelya, thank you for joining me today at Pop Culture Unplugged. Thank you for having me. Excited times, you know we see you on Law & Order but you've been busy throughout the last few years. I've known when I was doing some research on you. Oh, thank you. Yeah, I mean I have been busy not as busy as I am on Law & Order but you know I've been mostly busy trying to get these jobs. Hey, I'm not gonna complain, when I was reading the research you know like

[00:00:36] you girl I love that show you had a throw on there Mike and Molly you know like but before we jump into that I'll add to like uh saw you're born in Israel right? Born and raised in Israel. Moved to the states uh when I was 20. Acting bug how did I hit you? Oh my god I mean just I moved with uh not with the intention to becoming an actress in the U.S. I moved with the intention of making money in the U.S. you know

[00:01:05] back then when you made money to go back to your country and uh you know you could do anything so I wanted to come here and make money so I can go to acting school in Israel and then I um I smelled something in the air. I went to L.A. and I I didn't like it. Sorry L.A. people. It grew on me but I didn't like it at first but I was like I smell opportunities and I chose to stay

[00:01:30] and I had to deal with a lot of uh language barrier and culture barrier and um I just remember you know trying really hard and people would would make fun of me all day long and I was mostly insulted or chose to take their life laughs as an insult um and then I you know I learned

[00:01:55] something I I was like you know what while you're working on getting better at this why don't you just laugh at yourself you know that was my way of coping I was like just just laugh with them just you know don't take life so seriously and um and that resulted in and creating great great friendships and and later on great relationships with uh casting directors because I would I would walk into every room

[00:02:23] um um you know so nervous in the beginning and just trying to say the lines correctly the words correctly and I would get a panic attack and I would just lose everything and then you know you get the the the occasional thank you so much for coming in and then you know it weighs on you and then I decided you know what the next time this happens just laugh at it laugh at this moment and

[00:02:52] and uh that's what I did and and and slowly I created this more like personal relationships with casting directors and that led um them to hire me for the jobs that I was actually right for versus the jobs that I thought that I needed to fit in for um yeah looking back through like all these roles you've had uh what would you say is like the what stands out for you the most

[00:03:21] I think so the first role was um that really I was like oh my god that's it that's my moment you know it was good girls revolt which uh Dana Calvo and Scott Weinand gave me a real opportunity because I had nothing on my resume except for you know commercials and uh and and a couple guest

[00:03:48] of stars on Mike and Molly which was really really funny and I had a great time you know playing that part and and the new girl but I didn't have anything substantial to show and they picked me they picked me and it was the first time I had an arc on a show where I could actually um create a whole back story to the character and I and and and people respected my choices and and respected my opinion and I I

[00:04:17] it was really exciting it was really exciting I felt in that moment that even though it wasn't one of the lead characters I felt I know I felt like I knew at that moment that I have a chance and back then I have to say like with my look it's very specific people didn't know casting directors didn't really

[00:04:42] know how to place me they didn't really know what I was at the time and so it was really really meaningful because when I moved to the United States it was 2008 and there weren't a lot of people who looked like me on tv and if they did they played the terrorist or the brother of the terrorist the sister of the terrorist so I like you know one day maybe the industry will change and it did and I think

[00:05:09] the first the first part was good girls revolt where I played a middle eastern sort of princess um you know a character that has seen the world very very intelligent and um you know regal and that was that was me very meaningful to me and now we have law and order and by the way so we we have a new

[00:05:37] writer on the show he's worked with dick wolf before and um he the first time he came to set he's like you know I'm Dana Cowboy's husband and I said oh my god she I love her so much she was the first person to trust me and say I want this girl like I trust her and so it's like yeah just full circle that's amazing and now you know like opportunities are bigger for you just because you've networked like

[00:06:06] this yeah yeah I mean so how does it feel like now for like law and order like how does it feel to join like an iconic show like that I mean that that show was on me when I was a kid yeah so throughout all these years you know now it's a huge milestone for an actor to do a series like this and nerve-wracking and intimidating no pressure no pressure I mean when I got the part I was so happy but for a while I

[00:06:34] thought okay I'm they're they're about to fire me they're about to to realize that I'm not right for the job that I can't do it you know the imposter syndrome comes in right and um I mean working with people like Sam Waterston that I used to watch when I was when I was a little girl with my mom before I could understand English but would read subtitles and uh and I just can't believe that I'm

[00:06:58] here it's it's a total dream and all I could think about is you don't deserve this you're not good enough and really growing and you know um growing into the character and and and evolving as the character but also as Odelia uh really it's just this really shaped me over the last four seasons over the last three

[00:07:25] years and it's just been wonderful I mean I I'm so I'm just so grateful that I joined a show that's all the actors on that show has been doing this for so long they have so much experience I can only learn from them versus a show where you know maybe everyone is new and

[00:07:50] I just I I always want to work with people who I can look up to and be intimidated by because if I'm intimidated by someone that makes you work harder learn harder and it makes yeah and and and you learn so much more so she's a fascinating character too like how would you describe like how how would you say she's evolved down throughout the these episodes a season how much has she grown I mean I think um

[00:08:17] I think Maroon when she started I think for the character she's obviously he worked her ass off to get to where she is and you know if you look at her background she's uh daughter of immigrants and a lot of similarities we have a lot of similarities and um and I think the confidence would be the the word that I would choose

[00:08:44] to describe her now um at first yeah she had her opinions and and passions and all of that but now more than ever she's not afraid to speak up she's not afraid to to say I know what I'm doing I have the knowledge I have the credentials I you know it's it's you're you're gonna have to agree with me you're you know

[00:09:11] you're gonna have to trust me versus in the beginning she was asking a lot of questions and she was learning and now now now it's about partnership versus just yeah tell me what you think is right you know when she's talking to Nolan it's not like what do you think we should do it's more here's what I think we should do she's pushing her boundaries this season pushing her boundaries and yeah yeah as she should

[00:09:40] as anyone should in in a work environment because really they hire you because you're valuable and and yeah but with the fans that are enjoying the maroon and Nolan price too and like in the courtroom or how would you describe like that working relationship this season with them too in in the courtroom yeah because there's like sometimes I feel like when you're watching these seasons a little tension between you two also oh yeah I mean look

[00:10:10] that's the dynamic right yeah if there's no tension there's no growth uh there so there's always tension between these two just as you would have with you know a friend or a relationship and and um and I think they really push each other's each other to be their best selves through these um disagreements

[00:10:36] yeah and they really push each other to look inside and you know have uh um yeah to just search on the inside and search for for the answers and and at the end of the day they they come together and they're a team again and they're they go and work on the next case and they've learned their lessons from all the other cases right and they keep growing together uh playing playing a

[00:11:05] role like this a prosecutor do you how often do you like do you find yourself like getting lost online doing research to see like how you want to play certain scenes or certain roles or certain scene of a show where you're you're playing a prosecutor um yeah i don't know if i can say that but i mean in my whole life i was really into the law and before

[00:11:33] way way way before i got law and order i i had this like stalker of a cop that would pull me over everywhere in the city gave me four tickets in in a month and i didn't have money at the time and i had to hire a lawyer to fight those ridiculous tickets so i pretended i put a suit on and i went

[00:11:59] to court and i bought these tickets which i then got most of them dismissed uh just by talking to him and i was like you know what i i i just all i did was research at the time and so i keep you know i i'm fascinated by the law i'm fascinated by yeah each each case is different and um and and it gets me

[00:12:25] excited to learn because the law is not black and white right just the justice system is not black and white you have to up your game you have to do your research you have to um just be more knowledgeable and uh yeah every case is different what about samantha samantha would you change anything about her would i change anything about that and what and what do you see i would want to see her go on a date

[00:12:54] i would want to see her have more personal life get out of the courtroom yeah you get out of the courtroom but also you know this woman works really hard which i do too and i love that and i appreciate that but i would want her to have a little bit more of a personal life what do you hope like the audience uh takes away from your uh from this for this character you know what always stand up for yourself

[00:13:24] especially in the workplace always have an opinion um don't be afraid just just and don't don't be afraid just knowing that that you are enough you know that you are valuable that um you're not going to get fired because you said the wrong thing just stand have values and stand by them you know your

[00:13:52] your principles would you love to see her do a crossover with a different law and order like uh svu organized crime yeah absolutely yeah i mean i work with mariska um we did a crossover on svu it was our second season and not second the season uh uh 22 and i had such a great time

[00:14:16] mariska is such an incredible actor but also incredible director and incredible scene partner uh she i just told her coach me give it to me you know when sometimes when you do procedurals you you don't have time for that you know it's not like shooting a movie it's different get the lines day or two in advance and you got to come and deliver and mariska takes the time with her guest stars and you know

[00:14:45] fellow actress it's just like let's be partners let's work let's play let's this is fun and i you know i i would love to work with her again is there a last question on la on law and order is there a specific episode that you can't wait for the viewers to see especially about your character that you can tease

[00:15:06] yeah i mean i think this episode that's coming up um it's about it's about um abuse um i i personally am very connected to that issue um it's just an interesting episode i i can't wait for the audience to to watch it and see what they think what's next for you now any other projects you allowed to tell us about the coming up you're working on are you taking a break after

[00:15:34] this well i am getting married and man congratulations so i'm like you know what in may that's what i'll be doing and i'm gonna go on the honeymoon in africa which will i'm sure will be super fun especially because i'm so i love animals so much but i'm so scared of getting attacked which is why i need to do it pushing boundaries and uh i'm really excited for that and i'm yeah i'm

[00:16:02] i'm working on developing a little bit of a you know something of my own my own personal story my life story uh hopefully turning it into a mini series and uh yeah just excited to to be behind the scenes and and be on the creative side a little bit more that's awesome amazing delia i want to thank you for keeping from us today thank you we got to get you back on uh we'll continue on the the story yeah thank you so much thank you you