Stephanie Beatriz, Brooklyn Nine Nine’s Rosa on Rocking a Catsuit

Brooklyn Nine-Nine began ruling the comedy scene on arrival—it won last year’s Golden Globe for best comedy in its freshman season. And in this kingdom, it’s Rosa, queen of side-eye, whom I most enjoy. In our continuing series of interviews with women who made TV for us this year, I talked with actress Stephanie Beatriz about creating the most lovable hard-ass on television.

How did you get the role of Rosa?

I originally auditioned for Amy, and our casting director smartly saw that I wasn’t quite right for it. There was this other role in the pilot called Megan, who later became Rosa. There was a flashback in which she was opening a gift—she takes a sweater out of a box and says, What kind of idiots are you? Which of you thought I would wear a sweater like this?” I thought it so brilliantly encapsulated her personality.

That’s what’s great about Rosa. It’s not that she’s a b—tch, exactly…

She just doesn’t have time for anything that isn’t a priority to her—that’s what I love about her. A lot of us wish we could set aside politeness and be like that.

So when did her name change, then?

Mike and Dan said, “We want to name you something really soft, like a flower: Rosa.” For me it was another glimpse into the personality of this woman: I wonder what she felt like growing up and having everyone call her this name that didn’t fit who she was. And then at some point, she just decided to own it.

Did you collaborate on Rosa’s style? She’s a quintessential New York girl. Very into her black.

Yeah, I wanted the look to be very streamlined, with a lot of black and a black leather jacket. It’s like a piece of armor—I wear them all the time myself.

Speaking of black leather, you had to wear a catsuit for the Halloween episode.

For me personally, it was like: My butt’s out there for everyone to see! But a pleasant and unexpected thing to happen on set was that so many of my male friends still treated me like an equal.

You guys killed it during awards season. The show is hilarious, but since it’s so new, it had to be a surprise when you cleaned up at The Golden Globes.

The main thing was that we were all so excited for Andy [Samberg, who won best actor in a comedy series]. It was so thrilling when the show won, but for all of us, our friend winning was the incredible moment.

I stalk your Instagram a little, and I saw you recently went back and visited your high school. What was that like?

Dude, it was so weird and so awesome. The theater stage looked so small, when of course I used to think of it as the largest stage in the world. The kids asked such great questions, and it wasn’t all, like, “How do you get an agent?” I had this one kid who talked about struggling in group situations and feeling like his voice was getting drowned out. I told him to remember, the rest of your life people will tell you your voice doesn’t matter, so keep making it heard—but you have to be a set of ears too. You never know who’s going to have the best idea in the room. Theater was so important to me in high school. I didn’t feel like I fit in anywhere else. It was a safe place, like, no matter how you dress or act or what you believe in, you’re safe here.

Which women made TV for you in 2014?

Amy Poehler has been an idol of mine for a long time. Shonda Rhimes—the shows she’s creating and the people she’s casting, it’s a big deal.