‘9-1-1’s Aisha Hinds Talks Building a Character Over 100 Episodes
9-1-1 has captivated audiences for seven seasons, bringing fans along on action-packed missions with their favorite characters. Aisha Hinds, who plays Henrietta “Hen” Wilson, has been with the series since its premiere. And in talking to her, it’s clear that she loves Hen’s journey through the years.
The show has 100 episodes under its belt and while Hen has not been in every single one, Hinds still has an impressive number of 9-1-1 episodes to her name. It’s rare for a network series to have this kind of longevity in the streaming age, and it allows an actor to grow their character thoughtfully. When speaking with Hinds, it is clear how much she loves the journey she’s been on with Hen.
“Yeah, I feel like it is just kind of a privilege first of all, right?” Hinds said. “Because we’re in a landscape right now where shows are going for three, maybe four seasons and they’re truncated seasons, they’re like 10 episodes. So the time that I’ve gotten to spend in Hen’s shoes, in her body and her brain, has been such a blessing for me. It’s been really, really wonderful. It’s been an exhilarating exercise as an actor to kind of just stand by and not know what’s coming, but be thought about in such a intentional and thoughtful way by our writer’s room who have shown as much care for Hen as our viewers, who are very vocal about the things that they love about her. And then they just continue to explore all these different storylines and depths and layers to her. That has been wonderful. I couldn’t ask for more, honestly. This is my first show that I’ve been on that has gone this length of time, so I was kind of used to a different kind of thing. This now has been like a treat. It’s been a treat.”
Having a voice when needed
“I probably could have a say, but again, because they’ve been so intentionally thoughtful, I haven’t needed to be like, ‘Hey, I wanna talk about this,'” Hinds said. She went on to talk about how the evolution of her character has helped her throughout the seasons. Hinds knows that if she needs to, she could speak up in defense of Hen. Luckily, she hasn’t had to thanks to the care that the writers’ room put into her character. Hinds is very proud of the writers’ room, which features writers of color and queer writers to help bring an authentic voice to Hen.
“I’m grateful that they have been intentional about making sure those voices are there. And it gives my voice an authenticity when I get to play her,” she said. “So, yes, I remember in the first few episodes I was concerned about Hen. I was like, ‘She ain’t got no morals. What is going on?’ She was all over the place but the heart does what the heart does, you know?” Hinds went on to talk about Hen’s past relationships, and what she’s been through, discussing her character’s evolution on the show. “Just being able to have real evolution play out on screen, real marriage play out on screen, real motherhood play out on screen, or even the path towards motherhood play out on screen in a way that feels authentic and not overly romanticized for audiences to feel like they can see their own journey on screen. So I’ve been grateful for people who are thoughtful in writing for her specifically.”
When I asked her about having Black women writers in the room, Hinds said that it “absolutely” makes a difference concerning her character. “I’ve been doing television probably the bulk of my career, and in the beginning, it wasn’t even a thought. I would literally get material to audition and my thought was less about how can I authentically endow and occupy this material. I was preoccupied with thinking, what could they want from this? Because they’re not writing authentically for me. They’re writing for what they want out of this. And I was trying to contort myself and my aesthetic and my vocal quality and everything to what I thought they wanted on that page, because it wasn’t particularly written for me and for people like me. So it became really, really beautiful when there was room made for people that looked like me and existed in the characters voices and lives to be present in the room so that you could authenticate those voices,” she said. “And once you have these authenticated voices, I think it then appeals to audiences even deeper and even more so. Yes, the answer to your question, it definitely was, was, was a different experience and grateful for those experiences to now have shown me what it feels like to now have this one, which makes me even more grateful.”
The fan response to Hen
One of the things about 9-1-1 that is undeniable is the fan response to the series. Many fans (myself included) were introduced to the series via its fervent online fanbase. They love these characters and this cast, which is a welcome reminder of the power of network television. For Hinds, she loves seeing the support from fans of the series.
“Quite a bit of the art that ends up coming, finding my way,” she said when I asked about her favorite thing she’s seen online. “I’m a part of the auntie generation, so people are like, ‘You know, you’re all over TikTok.’ I haven’t fully dived in, so my little cousins and nieces and nephew, they’re like, ‘You’re all over TikTok. One experience that I did have was just honestly, I was going to a store one day, and I pulled into a parking lot. I pulled into the parking spot. And a woman, she drove up to me and she got out of her car and she had tears in her eyes, and she was like, ‘Thank you so much for your portrayal of Hen.’ And she said to me that her son was having fear surrounding his sexuality and coming out into the open with it.”
Hinds went on to talk about what it meant to hear this woman’s story. “Because of this character, he not only was able to share openly his sexuality, but he also decided to pursue a career as a paramedic firefighter. And so being able to provide a sense of agency and identity and purpose for people who are watching the show is a really, really special privilege. That stuck with me. And so, again, just hearing stories like that, there’s quite a number of Black female firefighters and paramedics who reached out in the first few seasons and was just so grateful that there was representation of them on screen because, as far as they’re concerned, they didn’t exist or they existed in the shadows of people who are more commonly known for assuming that profession. And so they were just so grateful because it was on screen as if it were normal. And that’s their normalcy. So they were grateful that it was just represented in a way that put it into America’s homes in a large quantity.”
It’s even better working with Angela Bassett and Peter Krause!
One of the initial draws for fans was the pairing of Angela Bassett and Peter Krause. For Hinds, it is still a “pinch me” moment whenever she thinks about working with them. “I have to pinch myself every time. I’m like ‘What is life right now? What do you mean? I’m on a transpo van next to Peter Krause and Angela Bassett? What do you mean?’ Angela Bassett just comes back from like collecting her Oscar and is now on set with us. I’m like ‘Should you be here still?”
100 episodes of any show is an impressive feat and watching how Hinds has grown Hen throughout the years really shows us just how amazing she is as a performer. Congratulations to the cast and creatives behind 9-1-1!
(featured image: ABC)
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