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If it wasn’t for Power Book IV: Force, things might look a lot different for Gabrielle Ryan. While chatting about her career, Ryan said she considered quitting Hollywood and going back to Britain before nabbing her role in the show. She had spent years performing in smaller roles on TV shows like The Jim Gaffigan Show and The Haves and the Have Nots before landing her breakout role as Gloria.

Gabrielle Ryan as Glora and Joseph Sikora as Tommy chatting at a bar in 'Power Book IV: Force'
Gabrielle Ryan as Glora and Joseph Sikora as Tommy in ‘Power Book IV: Force’ | Starz

Gabrielle Ryan almost gave up on acting before landing her role on ‘Power Book IV: Force’

Ryan recalled the moment she decided to give acting another shot in an interview with GRAZIA USA.

“It was in 2018 and someone very dear to me said, ‘Give me a year,'” she remembered. “He was like, ‘If after this year you really feel like you don’t want to do it anymore, then yeah, go back to England.’ I was like, ‘OK, whatever. I will give it another year.’ And it really was the turning point where I believed in myself again.”

“I have a lot of successful actor friends, and I never got jealous. I always saw all of these people around me doing so well that I would say my time is coming,” she continued.

Fortunately, it did, with Ryan landing a regular role on Force. Centered around the hot-headed New York City gangster Tommy Egan from Power, the show launched in February to instant success. It even made history as the most-watched premiere in Starz’s history.

Ryan is ‘so glad’ to be part of the show

Ryan said that she “instantly attracted to Gloria” from the moment she learned about her.

“I knew that it was a character that I understood,” she continued. “I feel like I really understand Gloria and her world, so it wasn’t so much that it was challenging or anything. It was actually really exciting to delve into her characteristics and her traits.”

Many viewers have also embraced Gloria — something that makes the experience even sweeter for Ryan.

“It’s been great,” she said of the response to the show. “I am very blessed, I am so grateful to [producers] 50 Cent and Courtney Kemp for taking a chance on me with this role and bringing me into this Power universe that they created. It’s a cultural phenomenon that I am so proud to be a part of.”

“I have sacrificed so much,” she continued. “I came across the world with not much money and it’s been a real struggle. I am just so grateful to [producer] Mark Canton, 50 Cent and Courtney Kemp … they changed my life [and] I don’t take it for granted at all.”

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More ‘Power Book IV: Force’ is on the way

The best part is that there’s more to come from the show. It was announced in March that Starz had renewed the series for another season.

“Fans have been eagerly awaiting Joseph’s return as the iconic ‘Tommy Egan’ and from the show’s record-setting debut, it was clear right away that they want to see another season of him taking on this new city,” Starz executive Jeffrey Hirsch said in a statement shared with Deadline. “We are thrilled to have Joseph back in the ‘Power’ Universe and to be expanding the world with a new tapestry of power players brought to life by our fantastic cast.”

Catch Ryan and her co-stars on Force on Sunday nights on Starz.

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