, Odelya Halevi joined the franchise as ADA Samantha Maroun opposite Hugh Dancy as ADA Nolan Price and returning alum Sam Waterston as DA Jack McCoy.
While speaking to ET, Halevi looks back on joining creator Dick Wolf’s mothership series, what makes her character a standout on the franchise, and why “the stakes are very high” for everyone in the finale.
After having grown up watching and always wanting to be a lawyer as a kid, Halevi says her mind was blown when she was offered the part. “It is extraordinary,” she gushes. “I really cannot express it in words.” For the Israeli-born actress, the most exciting part is that her character is Middle Eastern. “What I experienced moving here from a foreign country was people told me, ‘Oh, you know, there aren’t enough parts for a Middle Eastern character.
You’re always going to be the guest star. The stories are always going to be about you being a terrorist or your brother is a terrorist.’ And that’s what I played for years,” Halevi recalls. “And this is something that’s so different from anything else I experienced.” Now, Halevi is starring on one of the most iconic TV franchises as “a Middle Eastern character that is celebrated and that is a lawyer,” she continues. “That’s something that really, really excited me and surprised me.
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