Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with The Kings of Napa’s Ebonée Noel

Ebonée Noel is a dynamic storyteller who has brought the most complex characters to life on the screen with ease. Her previous credits include projects like Still Star-Crossed, Wrecked, and FBI.

This January, she leads the extraordinary cast of The Kings of Napa. The must-see drama focuses on a gorgeous and picturesque Napa Valley, California vineyard owned by the Kings, an aspirational African American family whose wealth and status lands them on the pages of design magazines and society pages. The wine business has brought the family success and acclaim, but following the patriarch’s sudden exit from the company, his three children must grapple for the reigns to the kingdom — to their own power, wealth, and legacy. Ebonée shines as August King, the marketing wiz turned president of the company.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to chat with Ebonée about The Kings of Napa.

Career

PC: How did you discover your passion for the arts and storytelling?
Ebonée: I remember because my mom tells the story the exact same way every time. The week before my fourth birthday, she took me to see Beauty and the Beast on Broadway. I had this aha moment in the audience where I was like, “Those are adults and they’re playing pretend? This is their job?” I was like, “That’s the job that I want because they’re doing what I do at home every day.” It was pretty much from that moment that I realized I wanted to be a performer and wanted to be on stage. It was something that I was doing naturally; I just didn’t realize it was a career until that moment.

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Ebonée: For sure, it was the fact that my mom would always make going to a Broadway show what we did to celebrate a special occasion, whether it be my birthday or a Christmas present. It was that early exposure that definitely had the biggest influence on my life.

Then, growing up and seeing certain actors on the television screen, like Gabrielle Union, Regina King, and Cicely Tyson—anytime I would see a piece of their work, I’d be like, “I can do this. I can be in a movie. I can be on the television screen.” They opened up those possibilities for me. It was a combination of those two things.

PC: You’ve had a lot of success already in your young career. When you look back, is there a particular moment that stands out to you?
Ebonée: I would say when I got the call that I booked Still Star-Crossed. That moment will always stand out to me because you know you worked so hard, and especially when you want to be a performer from as young as I did, you hear a lot of, “Are you sure you want to do this? Are you sure you don’t want to do something else? You know it’s going to be really, really hard. But when I got that job, it was like, “Okay, all the hard work was worth it.” It was a proof of concept that I had in my head my whole life.

I’ve gotten other jobs since then, and bigger roles, and roles that I’m equally as excited and passionate about, but that was my first break. Someone said, “We believe in you enough to give you a series regular role in an experienced production with a fancy name attached. That moment will always stand out to me. It was such a joyous, celebratory moment.

The Kings of Napa

PC: You’ve got a new series out now. Tell us about The Kings of Napa and your character in the series.
Ebonée: The Kings of Napa is a new, soapy family drama on OWN that focuses on the King family, who own a vineyard in Napa Valley. In the first episode, there’s a power vacuum that’s created in the company by the sudden exit of our father. We see the characters grapple with who really knows what’s best for the company and for the family.

My character is catapulted into being president of the winery. My younger brother is supportive. My older brother, not so much. He spends a lot of the first season trying to challenge me, trying to oust me, trying to make a case for why it should be him and not me. On top of that, there’s an extortionist that pops up, so we’re dealing with that drama. There are competing vineyards that are trying to challenge our position and our standing in the industry and community. You see us deal with that. You see us deal with our own interpersonal relationship dramas and the drama within our family.

My character, August, is bold. She’s courageous. She has a big vision. She definitely makes mistakes. She has an idea of what she wants to accomplish, but she’s never been in this type of position before. She’s not ready for all the challenges. She’s not ready for all the secrets that spill out about her father. You see her fall down and get back up and try again. She’s not giving up on her dream for her family or for the company at all, so that’s where the first season starts.

PC: You’ve played a wide range of characters throughout your career. What was it about August and this script that attracted you to this project?
Ebonée: I have played a wide range of characters, but I think that August was closest to my life experience, not in terms of the sources or the wealth that her family has, but in terms of her exposure to the rest of the world, her ease and her comfort with that, her creative spark, and her big vision. All of those were things that I immediately connected to.

The allure of playing somebody who has the resources to dress however she wants was definitely attractive, because I was like, “Oh, she’s going to be fun to play, too.” It’s not only that I can see a lot of myself in her, but I knew that the setting, the clothing, the juiciness of the role—I knew that it was going to be really, really exciting.

It was also exciting to be in a leadership position, not only was the character in a leadership position, but to also be the lead role myself. I was like, “Okay, I’m ready for this next step in my career.” I watched Lashana Lynch do that when I played her younger sister on Still Star-Crossed. I watched when I played Kristen on FBI. I’ve seen how the number one on a set conducts themselves, and I can do this. All of those things were a big draw for me in terms of going after this role and attacking it once I got it.

PC: There’s great chemistry that comes off the screen between you and the rest of the cast. How were you all able to build that bond?
Ebonée: We started filming in Toronto in April last year. They were back to a level one shutdown—sort of like the beginning of COVID for us. That was the kind of shutdown we were in. Nothing was open, and you could only get essential goods, so we weren’t able to have a cast dinner, which is usually how you would start off a project like this, especially playing a family.

Once I got everybody’s contact information, I sent out an email. I was like, “Hey guys. I would love to lay eyes on each other before we get on set, especially playing a family. Would you be willing to hop on a Zoom? Would you guys be willing to have individual phone calls to talk through the scripts and our individual relationships? Anything that you guys are willing to do in order to make contact, please let me know.”

Everybody was really receptive. We hopped on that Zoom. It was amazing because I could see right away why everyone was cast, but also, there was a very good synergy between us. It started from there. We had that, we connected, and then everybody sort of broke out and called each other.

It was a lot like a theater company. A lot more like that than any other experience I’ve had. It was because we were forced to try to find some way to connect while we were waiting out our two-week quarantine before we could get on set. We had to figure out some way to build those connections, and that was amazing because as soon as we stepped on set, we had all this background information. We had a bit of time to connect with each other, and we were able to step right into these family dynamics.

PC: Speaking of those family dynamics, we’re going to see this power struggle amongst all of the characters throughout the first season. Which of August’s relationships was your favorite to explore in Season 1 and why?
Ebonée: That’s a good one. I think the relationship that she has with her mom was my favorite, because mother-daughter relationships are very complicated. It was easy for me to look at Isaiah [Whitlock Jr.] and say, “Oh, I’m daddy’s girl. I know how to step right into this. I’m the favorite child who won’t admit it, but I am.” I knew how to play that.

With my mom, it was complicated because I think even when there’s a deep love, and there’s not a traumatic experience between you, you’re always trying to prove that you can be the woman that they are trying to raise you to be. My mom is going through a traumatic experience at the beginning of this as well. It’s not just because she loses the structure that she used to with her husband exiting the company, but there’s so much that comes out about him that she has to deal with as well.

It’s about trying to figure out how August is going to handle her mom, who she has always looked up to. Her mom normally has it all together, but everything is falling apart. How is she going to handle how her mom takes out certain things on other family members when it’s not their fault? She’s looking for a way to lash out.

Now that she’s falling apart, what are we going to do to try to mend our relationships with other family members? How are we going to mend the parts of our relationships that we haven’t even broached up until this moment when we’re in a pressure cooker situation. It was such a dynamic and true journey to what mothers and daughters experience. It gave us a lot to dig into dramatically throughout the season.

PC: The show’s going to tackle so many timely and relevant themes within the series. Was there one in particular that hit home for you?
Ebonée: The struggle that is involved with a Black family trying to build generational wealth and a legacy, especially in an environment and industry where you don’t see a lot of Black-owned family vineyards. They’re also dealing with their own family mess. They’re trying to keep that information to themselves while also advancing the company and while also dealing with outside challenges trying to take down the company. I think it’s seeing all the different ways in which Black families are challenged when they’re trying to build a legacy.

When we meet them, they’re not starting from the bottom, now we’re here. No, no, no. They’re in a great place, but it’s “How do we maintain that for the generations down the line?” That’s very, very challenging in a lot of ways that we don’t talk about. I love that you see the many different challenges that a Black family can face trying to do that.

PC: What do you hope audiences take away after seeing the series? What can you tease about August’s arc?
Ebonée: Well, I hope that audiences take away that money does not preclude you from having mess within your family. All families are messy, and as much of a veneer we can put up, don’t fall for that hype; everybody has their issues, flaws, and drama. We need to see more of that, because sometimes people idolize wealth and status in a way that I don’t think is necessarily deserved. I hope people look at it and see that.

I also hope that they realize that even though families have challenges, you don’t have to break apart; you can lean in and fight through it, too. Ultimately, we’re not going to end the season with everything resolved, but I do think we end the season with certain characters and relationships that are challenged throughout realizing, “Okay, in order to deal with these outside forces, we have to figure out our mess, and we have to figure out what’s best for the company and family. We might disagree, but we have to come together because we’re really all we have. We’re all we’re guaranteed in the world.”

I hope that people walk away with those two things because those are the things that touched me the most. I think what we’re going to see for August throughout the season is a woman who is fully capable of being a leader; she just needed a shot. It’s not that she’s going to do it perfectly, but we need to give that space for failure, and coming back from it because that’s the only way you learn.

What I love about this character is that in the beginning, she thinks she’s ready. She’s not yet. By the end of the season, she has faced so many challenges and fought so hard to overcome them that by the end, I think she feels, and I felt, “Okay, now you’re a boss.” Heavy is the head that wears the crown. It doesn’t mean the challenges are done, but she’s proven to herself, I think to her family, and hopefully, to the audience that she was ready for this opportunity as much as she might not have looked like the automatic fit from the start.

To keep up with Ebonée, follow her on Twitter and Instagram. Watch The Kings of Napa every Tuesday at 8/7 on OWN.

Photo Credit: Emily Assiran