31 TV Characters Trumps America Needs Right Now

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7. Natasha Zapata- Blindspot

Natasha Zapata (Audrey Espraza), a female FBI agent on Blindspot, is struggling with a hidden gambling addiction, trying to make ends meet while in severe debt, all the while fighting crime, terrorists, and death as a woman of color on Kurt Weller’s team in the FBI. For two seasons, she’s proved to us that women can have storylines other than having a love interest.

Esparza knew that was important to her. In an interview with StarryMag, she explains it as, “Every time we go into a woman’s personal life between the ages of 18 and 45, it’s about who she’s sleeping with! I really applaud the writers for coming up with something that has nothing to do with that. I know that my life is not all about that. I imagine yours isn’t all about that.”

Her plotline is solely about herself and her team, not who she’s sleeping with. And that’s something we, as women, need to see more of on television. Because we’re more than that. We have more to give to this world than trying to win someone over. She also adds, “To have young women and characters like that on television is really important and makes us feel like we’re doing the right things, and there’s no guilt about getting done what we need to get done.”