Words Jasmine Smith
PEOPLE / FILM & TELEVISION · SPRING 2018
In 2015, Marlyne Barrett landed her role as Maggie Lockwood, the Head Charge Nurse at Gaffney Chicago Medical Center on Dick Wolf’s NBC hit show “Chicago Med”, now in its third season. She cites Wolf as an icon for the way he portrays the systemic institutions that hold a city together. A regular in the Dick Wolf universe because of her work on the “Law and Order” series, she regards this role as a dream come true.
In our interview, the Brooklyn-born, Montreal-raised actress discussed with us her new projects, her love for Chicago and how she got her start in acting. The daughter of Haitian immigrant parents, she grew up with the medical field playing a prominent role in her life. Her mother is a nurse, her father a medical engineer, her sister a doctor. Although she knew early on that she wanted to pursue acting, as a promise to her parents she went to school and earned a nursing degree from Canada’s Collège Maisonneuve.
Although she never practiced nursing, Barrett believes going to medical school definitely helped prepare her for her role on “Chicago Med”.
“The art form behind nursing is the love for humanity, which plays hand in hand with being an actor.”
She started theatre in high school.
“That’s when the acting bug hit me. I knew I was really comfortable in this. My parents didn’t understand when I said I wanted to be an actor, they didn’t understand that I had a gift toward it. What they did understand was that I love people and that whatever I was going to do was going to have a great technique behind it. It was going to have a great social impact and I was going to put my heart and soul into it .”
That is exactly what Barrett does before the camera on “Chicago Med”.
It is gratifying to Barrett to know her parents have respect for her craft. She explains that her mother believes she was predestined for this role as well as for having earned her nursing degree. Barrett values her parents’ wise words of advice to not only portray what is visible about the human condition, but also what is not visible.
“I think they enjoy the art form realizing it’s an honor and more importantly that it is a calling.”
Barrett explains that two main events shape her character of Maggie Lockwood, and have helped Maggie grow. The first was finding out her sister had cancer and the second was finding out her boyfriend lied about his identity.
“It has been a great journey for Maggie. She represents a total force that is the integrity of great medicine.”
In future episodes Barrett says:
“Maggie will be in some trouble for crossing the line and doing a procedure she wasn’t supposed to do in order to save a life. This was similar to an event that happened on the news where a nurse was arrested for that. Maggie’s always under that kind of pressure.”
Barrett can identify with most of her character’s friends being in the medical field, but on the larger scale she says they differ a lot.
“I live more simply and quietly. I’m more of a homebody. I love my long term friends. My faith and spirituality is a big portion of my life. I travel a lot. Maggie doesn’t travel that much. Also, I don’t live under emergency situations all the time!”
When Barrett isn’t behind the camera she can be found in downtown Chicago where she lives, or at one of her favorite restaurants Maude’s or Hugo’s. She also enjoys Shakespeare at Navy Pier, The Joffrey Ballet, The Chicago Symphony and the city’s summer music festivals.
“One of my favorite concerts was the U2 concert here. Funny enough it occurred during my off-period on the show, so I flew my entire family here to watch it at Soldier Field. I love it in Chicago so much. We ended up walking that day all throughout the city to get to Soldier Field and coming back.”
After suffering through the horror of a sexual assault Barrett courageously chose to take five years away from the industry. Helping her get through this tough period of her life, she credits the support of her husband Gavin Barrett who she met after the attack. She also acknowledges the significance of the substantive support she received from Canadian Pastor Gerry Plunkett, who is the founder of the nonprofit organization The Way Out/La Sortie. She feels her work with this organization is her way of being involved and making a difference.
“This group helps victims who have been rescued from sex trafficking to get back into society through healing, through the recovery from most of the things they went through. It’s a peaceful place for them to re-center their lives, to heal, to cry and to be loved on.”
The organization holds annual fundraisers and Barrett occasionally goes back to Montreal to visit the girls.
“It’s one of the only homes that exist right now in Montreal to help kids that have been rescued. I’m hoping to participate in the opening of multiple homes around the world. These women need and have a place to go. I want to be a part of that church-type of solution, which is a place where someone can go home and soul heal, spirit heal and physically heal.”
Barrett can also be seen in the film “Shotgun” as Dr. Beatty, the doctor who diagnoses the main character with an illness and sends him to a specialist to find out what is going on with him. She says the film, which has been doing well at festivals was a no brainer for her because she’s always drawn to truth-based stories. Barrett has a future project in the works that she tells us will be great, but she cannot yet share the details. “Chicago Med” airs on NBC Tuesdays at 10 and at 9 CST.
Creative Credits
- Written by
- Jasmine Smith
- Photography
- Eli Nichol
