Andrea Gabriel on LOST, Breaking Dawn – Part 2, and Acting

Interviews, Stories
Andrea Gabriel on LOST, Breaking Dawn – Part 2, and Acting

Table of Contents

Andrea Gabriel portrait
Andrea Gabriel.

Introduction

Andrea Gabriel is best known for portraying Nadia Jazeem on LOST, a character whose impact far exceeds her screen time and remains central to the emotional mythology of the series. She also appears as Kebi—part of the Egyptian coven—in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2.

This interview was conducted via mail correspondence. Questions were sent in writing, and Andrea responded in handwritten form. Her answers are presented verbatim below.

Spotlight on Andrea Gabriel

Nadia on LOST: Memory, Mythology, and Emotion

Gabriel’s portrayal of Nadia Jazeem helped define one of LOST’s most enduring emotional through-lines. Even when Nadia appears briefly, she functions as a gravitational force in Sayid Jarrah’s story, shaping the series’ ideas about love, fate, and loss.

Breaking Dawn – Part 2 and Ensemble World-Building

In The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, Gabriel appears as Kebi, a member of the Egyptian coven. Ensemble roles like this often require actors to create inner life and history quickly—even when the final screen time is limited—so the character reads as real inside the larger world.

Theatre Discipline on a Film/TV Set

With a background in theatre as well as on-camera work, Gabriel approaches performance with a strong sense of preparation and ensemble responsibility—an approach that can be especially valuable in projects with complex structures or technical demands.

Identity, Casting, and Shifting Industry Norms

Across her career, Gabriel has worked in roles shaped by ethnicity and perception, while also navigating how the industry’s assumptions have shifted over time. Her perspective speaks to what has changed—and what still needs to.

Interview

1. You grew up with both parents working in daytime television; in what ways did watching them navigate that world shape your understanding of storytelling and what it meant to be a working actor?

Yes, absolutely — my dad especially. He taught me that acting is a profession, not an excuse to get attention or “fame,” and he instilled an invaluable work ethic in me.

2. You’ve spoken about your mixed background, including Iranian heritage; how has that informed your sense of identity and the way you move through an industry that often has very rigid ideas about ethnicity and casting?

I simply present myself in the role that is presented to me. I do bring whatever experiences I have to inform the emotional reality of the character.

3. Nadia on LOST is central to Sayid’s emotional arc, even though she appears relatively rarely on screen; how did you approach building a character who is so pivotal in memory and mythology, more than in sheer screen time?

It was hard! But I enjoyed the assignment. I lived with her at my fingertips for six years — so she became familiar to me, and hopefully represented authentically regardless of screen time.

4. You appeared on LOST across multiple seasons and timelines; can you walk us through a moment on set when the complexity of the show’s structure directly affected how you had to play Nadia in a particular scene?

The flash sideways. I had no idea what was going on or what that Nadia had experienced that the first hadn’t and vice versa — so I made it up. a sliding door Nadia, lol.

5. Looking back, what conversations, if any, did you have with writers or directors on LOST about how Middle Eastern characters were depicted, and how did you personally negotiate those concerns while playing Nadia?

Not many, unfortunately. Those days we just showed up and did the work.

6. Shifting to The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, what do you remember most vividly about inhabiting Kebi and finding a specific inner life for her within such a large ensemble of covens and vampires?
Andrea Gabriel portrait
Andrea Gabriel.

Created a back story there too! But it happened to align with Stephanie’s back story for Kebi. although I didn’t get to do much, it was grounding for me. and my coven was so talented that I had great people to play with.

7. Breaking Dawn – Part 2 relied heavily on visual effects and technical shooting; was there a specific day on that set where you had to adjust your craft most to act against green screens, marks, or elements that weren’t physically there yet?

Every day! Lol. The easiest days were rare – like when we were in a designed set or outdoors – but most were complete make believe.

8. You’ve been repeatedly cast in Middle Eastern and North African roles, from JAG to Gossip Girl; at what point did you become consciously aware of that pattern, and how have you tried to push back against or redirect typecasting over time?

I was just happy to be working and to bring humanity to an otherwise, somewhat two dimensional roles – but the business has changed a lot. Now I’m probably too “American” to play many of those roles – but I’m happy to go with the flow.

9. You’ve done substantial work in theatre as well as on camera; can you describe a stage role or production that fundamentally changed the way you think about performance when you returned to film or television work?

All of them – Theatre is the best teacher because if you mess up, it’s you who looks ridiculous. And you want to show up for your castmates as well, so you’d better know your stuff. It’s easy to recognize who has worked in theatre on set.

10. When you look at your résumé—from soaps and procedurals to cult genre hits and indie horror—what through-lines do you see in the characters you’re drawn to, even if the projects themselves seem wildly different?

Mostly the ones I’m cast in! But I’m usually cast in “morally pure” roles. I like that. But my favorites are the ones who are good people, but complicated.

11. Social media gives audiences a more direct view of your personality than traditional press ever did; how has interacting with LOST and Twilight fans online influenced your relationship to those characters and to your own legacy in those franchises?

At this point, both LOST and Breaking Dawn 2 are one big social club, and I feel like I’m an esteemed member of them. More so of LOST, obviously because I was more involved emotionally and time-wise.

12. At this stage in your career, what kinds of roles, collaborations, or stories feel urgent or necessary for you to pursue, especially in terms of more nuanced representation for women of Middle Eastern and mixed heritage on screen?

Again – whichever ones I’m cast in! I’d actually love to see ethnicity take a back seat to character and story – but if it’s a plot driven by ethnic identity, that’s a different story. I’d love to play ethnically ambiguous characters with more complex arcs.

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