Katy O'Brian: Why I said no to starring in a huge Hollywood franchise

Katy O'Brian turned down a role in a "huge project" because she wanted to diversify her career.

The 33-year-old actress trained as a martial artist before launching a career in Hollywood and after appearing as a henchwoman in Marvel's 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' and Major Sara Grey in 'Black Lightning', she had to learn to say no to some big movie roles so she could avoid being typecast.

In an interview with Collider, she said: "I used those roles as a stepping stone. I think a lot of people hopefully would agree, if you are getting cast, that's a good thing. And if you are getting work, that's a good thing, especially when you're first starting out. And then once you start to want to branch out, I had to start turning down roles. And I said specifically, 'I’m not doing another henchman role. So either don't send me the audition or let me tell casting or whoever. I'm not coming in for that role. That's not how I see myself. That's not how I want to be represented on screen. There was a project, it was a really big project for a certain franchise that was, again, it was another henchman role and I turned it down and because of that I was probably able to audition for other projects in that universe."

Katy is now starring as Jentorra in 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania' alongside Paul Rudd and went on to explain that the "hardest part" of making the switch to movies from television was not having a stringent schedule.

She said: "Sometimes I'd show up to set and they’re like, ‘You’re gonna learn a fight scene right now.’ The hardest part for me though, and the strangest part is, generally [in] television, it has to be done next week, right? You’ve got to get the episode done next week or it's not gonna get done.

"For 'Ant-Man', I never knew what days I’d be working. The schedule changed constantly. You’ve got all these A-list actors that have a bunch of other stuff to do and everyone's flying in and out. I do not envy the ADs. I don't envy the producers. I don't envy anybody that has to be in charge of any kind of schedule for that stuff. You really genuinely never know when you're gonna be there or no."