Stephanie Sigman is Changing the Game With Her Boss Role on “S.W.A.T.”

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Not only does the Mexican-American star get to play Shemar Moore’s love interest, but more importantly, her character Jessica Cortez is the S.W.A.T. team boss. And while that leads to some steamy back and forth between Jessica and Moore’s Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson, the 30-year-old actress always remembers how important her career is and how easy it would be to lose it all.

It’s fun to see a female boss break the rules a little bit, as many men have done on screen. But will she ultimately pay the price for it? That is yet to be seen. But in the meantime, Sigman proudly plays this badass Latina, while showing Hollywood that women can do anything that men do.

“It’s something that I have to bring attention to,” Sigman told Latina during an exclusive set visit. “The fact that I am a woman in this world, and I don’t just mean in this world of S.W.A.T. although it is a very masculine world, in this world, in general, we have to keep fighting for our rights. We struggle to get the same attention [as men]. Whether you like it or not, sometimes things matter more when a man brings something to the table.

This is especially true when we think of a female boss. A lot of people don’t like to have a female as their boss. We haven’t completely discussed this on the show just yet, but there are hints of it out there already. This is something that she will struggle with. Especially in such a male-dominated world as you’ll see on ‘S.W.A.T.’ That’s pure testosterone right there! Jessica has to prove herself even more than a man would, and it’s exhausting. I relate a lot to her in that aspect because working in Hollywood is very much the same.”

Playing Jessica means so much to the former Bond girl because she’s hoping that she will help change the game for other women in the industry. By landing one of the only female roles in the male-dominated series, she already has.

“I want to help change things as they currently are,” she explained. “So that when there’s another project to be cast, they’ll consider having many more female roles. I want to see many more roles for, not just Latinas, but people of color. I would love to see more Asians on TV and film. I have an accent. And I know that casting says they want more diversity, but it’s been mostly that you look diverse but not so much sound like it because audiences may not understand it. But we live in a very diverse country, and we speak so many different languages especially Spanish and English. So even though I study every day to improve my diction, I hope to also share my accent with our audience.”

PLUS: 6 Mexican Actors Killing It in Hollywood Right Now

“S.W.A.T.” features a truly diverse cast that has been allowed input into their characters by the team of show writers. So don’t expect just to see faces that represent many different cultures, but to learn about what makes them so unique.

Check out this exclusive clip above of Stephanie and Shemar from Thursday night’s episode titled, “Pamilya.” “S.W.A.T.” airs Thursday nights at 10 pm on CBS.

Source: Latina