Melissa Barrera is finally fulfilling her lifelong dream of becoming a spy onscreen.

In Peacock’s The Copenhagen Test, Barrera plays Michelle, a mysterious operative for “The Orphanage.”

With early dreams of playing a role like this one, Barrera shared how her character is a mix of the many influences and representations of female spies she watched growing up.

Her ‘The Copenhagen Test’ character has hints of these shows

“I grew up watching and loving spy movies and spy shows, so I had a lot of references to pull from,” she told Blavity’s Shadow and Act in an interview ahead of the show’s release.

“They’re like little Easter eggs that I wanted to pour in from my influences in the genre, and bring them into my character,” Barrera continued. “For example, Alias is one of my favorites; oh my gosh, I love Alias. One of my favorite things about her (Jennifer Garner’s) character was the use of wigs. She was constantly in like different characters. And even though, for this specific season, we didn’t get to do a lot, I managed to get them to say yes to a wig for a part of it. I was like, even though it’s not a drastic red wig or whatever, that wouldn’t be believable, it feels like it’s a different look.”

She added, “And then a character name that I use in the show is a reference from Charlie’s Angels, which was one of my favorite movies. Then, Michelle’s fighting style, I took from Tom Cruise and Mission Impossible. So there’s little things that I wanted to bring into the character from my love for the genre, and it was a dream come true. I’ve always wanted it.”

Art imitating life

The inspiration behind The Copenhagen Test comes from creator and executive producer Thomas Brandon’s wife, whose laptop was hacked by ransomware hackers who ultimately demanded Bitcoin from the couple to unlock everything.

The series, which centers on Simu Liu’s Alexander Hale, is an espionage thriller that follows the character as he learns that his brain has been hacked and those who carried out the attack can access everything he sees and hears.

Playing with intimacy while under surveillance is a unique touchpoint throughout the series, particularly between Liu and Barrera’s characters.

“I think it’s a testament to the writing,” she said, when asked how the pair managed to build an authentic connection while still keeping viewers unsure of her character’s true motives.

“I think the writing is really good on this show, and I think it helps us as these characters that are playing on different playing fields constantly, to kind of resort back to the writing and remember what the intention is for each scene, what we’re supposed to be telling, not just to the audience that’s watching the show, but to the character that you’re playing opposite of, right?” Barrera continued. “Because there’s a performance within a performance within a performance. It was such an interesting acting challenge to have that, but it always helps when the writing is really good. And for Simu and me, I think we tried to spend a lot of time together to build that chemistry because we knew that the relationship between Michelle and Alexander is key to the show. We wanted the chemistry to be there so the audience is invested in the relationship, even though you don’t know how much of it is real and how much is acting. It was so easy working with him, and we’re very similar in the way that we approach roles.”

The Copenhagen Test is now streaming on Peacock.