YEM speaks with Cloak & Dagger's Noelle Renee Bercy

Freeform’s newest show, Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger, is already a huge hit. The Marvel series stars Olivia Holt as Tandy (Cloak) and Aubrey Joseph as Tyrone (Dagger), and has already been renewed for a second season. The show revolves around two teenagers with extraordinary powers. YEM spoke with one of the stars of the show, Noelle Renee Bercy, who plays Evita, who forms a bond with Tyrone. Noelle spoke to us about the Marvel show, her character, and what’s ahead for season two.

Young Entertainment Mag: You play Evita Fusilier on Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger. Can you tell us a little more about the character?

Noelle Renee Bercy: Evita is a boss. She is intelligent, protective, kind, knowing, nurturing, assertive, sweet, sassy, a natural healer, spiritually connected, and doesn’t take anyone’s sh!t. In any realm. She is the love interest of Tyrone Johnson, and assists him in reaching his fullest potential. She’s a young lady that know what she wants, knows how to get it, and won’t let anyone stand in her way.

YEM: Do you do any research to prepare for playing Evita? (such as reading Cloak & Dagger comic books, etc.)?

Noelle: I didn’t have much background on Evita, seeing as though she was not in the original comics. Since I didn’t have a solid backstory for her, I had the liberty of creating it. Evita and I have a lot in common, so I pulled a lot of my own history into her. We both grew up in New Orleans, have the desire to save/heal people, are extremely headstrong, went to Catholic school, cheered, and manage to give off the “Omg she is such a sweetheart, but you don’t wanna mess with her!” vibe.

YEM: You’re from New Orleans, which is where the show is set. What’s it like portraying your hometown on television?

Noelle: It’s a sheer dream to be able to bring light to my city, New Orleans. And a truthful light at that. Being a New Orleanian, one of our biggest pet peeves is when shows come to town and they don’t hire any locals, they don’t have a diverse writers room, and our city, our culture, our people, our home ends up turning into this caricature on screen. I’m proud to be a part of a project that focuses on authenticity.

YEM: Evita has inherited certain abilities from her family and while they aren’t as prominent as Tandy and Tyrone’s, can you elaborate on what exactly they are? She seems to possess the skill to resist the Divine Pairing’s powers and seeing past events.

Noelle: I can’t elaborate on what her abilities are exactly, but I can say that they are a lot more prominent than you have seen thus far. You’ll have to stay tuned to see all that she’s capable of!

YEM: Do you have any favorite memories from shooting the first season?

Noelle: I was chatting with a group of background actors and they were wondering who the director was. I asked them to guess and watched as they all pointed to this white man, and that white man. I pointed to Gina and said “The black woman in the hoodie.” Their faces were priceless. Some of them felt guilty for not assuming a minority, some were in complete shock, and some were beyond excited, and inspired. In that moment everyone’s eyes were opened to the reality that a deserving, talented, black female was running the show. It was such a proud moment that I’ll never forget.

YEM: Cloak & Dagger has been renewed for a second season, congrats! What would you like to see from Evita moving forward?

Noelle: Thank you, I’m so excited for everyone to see what we’re cooking up! I would like to see more of Evita’s backstory. I would like to see her connect to her spirituality, her powers and Tyrone even further. And I would like to see as much girl power team ups as possible!