Shannon Gisela Explains How She Went from Pursuing Psychology Career to Landing the Lead Role in “M.I.A. ”(Exclusive)

Yamillah HurtadoFri, May 15, 2026 at 4:28 PM UTC

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Shannon Gisela attends The Hollywood Reporter's Women in Entertainment Gala on Dec. 3, 2025
Credit: Amy Sussman/Getty -

Shannon Gisela initially planned to pursue a psychology career before catching an acting "bug" and getting her big break in M.I.A.

"It feels like tiny little miracles have happened along the way,” Gisela tells PEOPLE of landing the lead role in the crime drama

M.I.A. is available to stream on Peacock

Shannon Gisela had another path in mind years before making her television debut.

Gisela, who leads Peacock's M.I.A., tells PEOPLE that she acted “a little bit" growing up before her interests turned to sports and science. She studied psychology at the University of Central Florida and planned to pursue a career within her degree, but as she prepared for graduate school, something changed.

“I got hit by the bug again,” Gisela says. “I was like, ‘OK, instead of going to grad school, I'm going to take a year off, take an acting class and see if I really like it. And I did.”

She adds, “Now here we are somehow. It's kind of crazy. It feels like tiny little miracles have happened along the way.”

Shannon Gisela as Etta in 'M.I.A.'
Credit: Jeff Daly/Peacock

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In the new crime drama, Gisela plays Etta Tiger Jonze, a twentysomething who witnesses her family get murdered by one of the biggest drug cartels in Miami and sets out to avenge their deaths. Throughout her pursuit of justice, Etta is forced to question how far she's willing to go to do so.

After learning of Etta's character breakdown for her audition, Gisela says she was drawn to how dynamic she was. “I couldn't believe there was a character that was written like that,” she says. “She's whip smart, she has a big heart, she is a badass,” Gisela says, and like her, “[Etta] was born and raised in South Florida.”

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When she read the script for the first time, Gisela “bawled my eyes out” because of the “level of humanity” it held. “It's grief, it's anger, it's shame and guilt,” she says. “It was her pain that I found compelling, too.”

For Gisela, playing a character who's experienced great trauma felt like a “huge responsibility.” In wanting to do the show and Etta justice, she says she gave it her all. "I'm going to leave nothing on the table,” Gisela says of her mindset going into it. “I felt like I owed it to the production. I felt I owed it to the people I was working with to really commit in that way.”

“It was heavy stuff, but that was the thing that I kept coming back to,” she adds.

Shannon Gisela and Brittany Adebumola in 'M.I.A.'
Credit: Jeff Daly/Peacock

The cast and crew of M.I.A. had a “family dynamic,” Gisela adds, noting that she had instant chemistry with her costars Brittany Adebumola and Stanley Jackson. The pair play Lovely and Stanley, the two immigrants Etta befriends when she flees the Florida Keys and finds herself in Miami.

Gisela, who grew up in Dania Beach, Florida, previously told Emmy Magazine that her school improv group at the University of Central Florida was her true "gateway drug into performing" before her 2019 graduation. "I had a couple grand in my bank account, and I was like, 'I’ll figure it out,'" she said of her move to the West Coast after school.

Shannon Gisela as Etta in 'M.I.A.'
Credit: Jeff Daly/Peacock

From Ozark creator Bill Dubuque, M.I.A. also stars Danay Garcia, Alberto Guerra, Maurice Compte, Gerardo Celasco, Marta Milans and Cary Elwes. The nine-episode series wrapped filming in summer 2025, when Elwes posted on Instagram that "being a part of this show has been one of the most joyful experiences of my career."

M.I.A. is available to stream on Peacock.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”