Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor on Playing FBI Agent Billie Rand in Apple TV's 'Lucky'

Few actors command the screen with the quiet authority of Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor. A two-time Oscar nominee for King Richard and Origin, and an Emmy nominee for When They See Us, she has built a career on characters defined by conviction — women who carry the weight of duty, family, and history in equal measure. Her latest role is no exception.

In Apple TV's Lucky, Ellis-Taylor stars as FBI Special Agent Billie Rand, the relentless investigator on the trail of con artist Lucky Armstrong (Anya Taylor-Joy) after a multimillion-dollar heist goes sideways. The seven-episode crime thriller, created by Jonathan Tropper and based on Marissa Stapley's bestselling novel, premiered July 15, with Reese Witherspoon among the executive producers and a stacked ensemble that includes Annette Bening, Timothy Olyphant, and Clifton Collins Jr. But Billie Rand is more than a badge in pursuit — she's a mother struggling to balance family with the job of putting away some truly dangerous people, and Ellis-Taylor plays that tension with the precision we've come to expect from her.

We sat down with Ellis-Taylor to talk about stepping into Billie's shoes, sharing the screen with a cast of formidable women, and what draws her to characters who refuse to look away.