Why Wright From Jack Ryan Looks So Familiar

As far as career years in the life of John Krasinski go, it's safe to say 2018 ranks pretty high on the list. The former "The Office" star did, after all, kick off the year with the release of the smash-hit horror flick "A Quiet Place," which he co-wrote, directed, and starred in. Just a few months after breaking the box office with that sci-fi creeper, he made his streaming debut in Amazon's hit espionage thriller "Jack Ryan."

Expectations were understandably high for the series after the runaway success of "A Quiet Place." Thankfully, Krasinski delivered the goods in the title role and has helped make "Jack Ryan" one of Amazon's biggest hits to date. He has, of course, been aided mightily by the work of the series' supporting cast which, for Seasons 3 and 4 has included rising star Betty Gabriel.

The actor portrays CIA director Elizabeth Wright in the series, debuting the character in the Season 3 debut. She's since become a major player in the high-stakes comings and goings of Ryan and his allies. It's a safe bet the actor looked familiar to many "Jack Ryan" fans. Here's where you've seen Betty Gabriel before.

Betty Gabriel began her screen career in earnest circa 2008, but got one of her first big breaks in 2015 with a minor role in Michael Almereyda's star-studded indie "Experimenter." Barely a year later, she turned more than a few heads with a key role in the Blumhouse hit "The Purge: Election Year." The third offering in the "The Purge" franchise, "Election Year" sees Elizabeth Mitchell portraying Charlie Roan, a brave Senator out to put an end to the infamously bloody shenanigans, and Frank Grillo playing Leo Barnes, the security specialist tasked with keeping her alive long enough to ensure she does just that.

With Purge night in full swing, that task becomes increasingly perilous as Roan and Barnes are forced to fend for themselves on the crime-addled streets. Thankfully, they get some help from a wily band of allies, including reformed Purger and EMT Laney Rucker. Rucker quickly becomes a vital part of the survival effort, helping Roan and Barnes outlast the New Founding Fathers of America forces out to end them. And Rucker's stellar work in the role helps elevate the character well above that of a cookie-cutter supporting player. 

Betty Gabriel has made a habit of making an impact on films with even a minimal amount of screen time. In 2018, she did that and more playing a small, but vital part in Jordan Peele's Academy Award-winning flick "Get Out." That film, of course, sees Daniel Kaluuya play a talented, African-American photographer whose Upstate trip to meet the parents of his Caucasian girlfriend Rose Armitage goes off the rails in ways too wicked to fathom. 

As for Gabriel's role in the deeply unsettling action, the actor is on screen for mere minutes as Armitage housekeeper Georgina. At the risk of spoiling a major "Get Out" reveal, viewers eventually learn Georgina isn't exactly who she seems to be, with the mind of Armitage matriarch Marianne having been transplanted into the woman's body. That unfathomable duality is enough to explain Georgina's odd behavior leading up to the reveal. And if you've seen Gabriel at work in "Get Out," you know she's beyond brilliant in the role, with her teary, single-line becoming one of the film's legit calling cards. 

If Betty Gabriel has made a habit of delivering scene-stealing supporting work over the years, she's also made a habit of doing so in subversive genre fare boasting the Blumhouse Pictures production banner. While that includes her roles in both "The Purge: Election Year," and "Get Out," the actor added Leigh Whannel's "Upgrade" to the list in 2018.

For those who missed out on "Upgrade," the lo-fi marvel is set in a not-too-distant future and finds Logan Marshall-Green playing Grey Trace, an avowed technophobe whose life is turned upside down when an attack leaves his wife dead, and himself a quadriplegic. That tragic turn also leads to an experimental chip being implanted in his head that allows him to walk by essentially controlling his body's motor function. Things get weirder when the AI behind the chip takes almost complete control of Grey's body in a vengeful pursuit of those who killed his wife.

Into that twisted tale of technology run amok steps Gabriel's Detective Cortez, a no-nonsense cop who couldn't close the case on the attack that killed Grey's wife, only to find herself investigating Grey himself when the attackers begin to turn up dead. That pursuit leads to a finale that is sort of perfect. And Gabriel's work in the waning moments helps ensure the drama lands with maximum impact.   

The same year Betty Gabriel appeared in "Upgrade," she also turned up in a pair of notable small-screen sci-fi offerings, playing Maling in "Westworld," and portraying Naya Temple in Starz's short-lived parallel universe drama "Counterpart." In 2019, she'd also re-team with Jordan Peele for a meta episode of "The Twilight Zone," and Logan Marshall-Green for his feature directorial debut, "Adopt a Highway." In 2020, she landed one of her biggest roles yet, joining the A-list cast of Apple TV+'s crime drama "Defending Jacob." 

That eight-part miniseries fronted the talents of Chris Evans, Michelle Dockery, Jaeden Martell, J.K. Simmons, and many more in a convoluted tale of teen murder in a small New England town. It also marked Evans' streaming debut after his lengthy stint playing the MCU's Captain America. As for Gabriel, she portrayed Pam Duffy, the detective in charge of the case that casts Evans' onscreen son (Martell) as the prime suspect in a gruesome murder. Gabriel brings her typical mix of grounded humanity and intellectual intensity to the proceedings, making Duffy a genuine force to be reckoned with in the sobering drama at hand.