From network television to theater and film, the Australian actor chooses roles that are rooted in humanity and challenge her professionally.
One of the biggest challenges an actor can face is stepping into a role on a long-running network procedural and joining a cast that has spent decades on the show. Natassia Halabi did exactly that when she joined NCIS: Los Angeles in the recurring role of Mossad agent Eliana Sapir, acting opposite Chris O’Donnell, LL Cool J, and David James Elliot. Halabi describes her character as “highly capable and disciplined, but with a real sense of sacrifice beneath the surface.”
For two seasons, Halabi has been a part of one of American television’s prime time franchises. This success is not the result of a traditional upward career path in which each new role is bigger than the last. Instead, Halabi has pursued a broad approach, taking on a range of acting roles across television, theater, streaming, independent film, Australian productions, and American productions.
“For me, it’s always character. I’m drawn to people who are complicated, contradictory, and trying their best, even when they get things wrong. I think we can all relate to that,” Halabi shares, explaining her process.
An Eclectic Résumé
Halabi was born in Australia to a Lebanese-Syrian father and an Australian mother of Eastern European heritage. Since she started acting, she has never been interested in staying in just one lane. When Halabi looks at a script, she doesn’t care about the genre. What she wants to know is if the character feels real. 
Because of her approach to her acting career, her credits might look eclectic. Halabi has had a recurring role on Neighbours, Australia’s longest-running soap, and an appearance in Netflix’s Apple Cider Vinegar opposite Kaitlyn Dever. Her work on stage with the Queensland Theatre Company has been critically acclaimed for her portrayal of a Syrian immigrant.
Variety magazine just announced Halabi’s lead role as Georgia, a grounded comic foil and emotional anchor, in the upcoming Australian horror-comedy feature Bloody Legend.
Halabi describes the film as “wonderful, hilarious, true-blue Australian chaos. As for her character, “In her personal life, she’s just trying to keep everything on track, kind of like the eye of a storm” As a mum of two young kids, I definitely relate.”
When she chooses to portray a character, Halabi handles the role the same way, even if the characters come from different worlds with different goals: finding their humanity. That will always come before the script’s genre.
Stepping Into a Machine Already in Motion
Taking on the role of Eliana Sapir meant Halabi had to do a lot of preparation work, including learning to shoot at a range in California’s San Fernando Valley with a former NCIS agent. She was drilled on firearms handling until it became instinctive. She wanted to understand how experienced agents move.
“A lot of the work was actually about restraint. They’re calm because they’ve trained for every scenario, not because they’re fearless. I would’ve taken all the action they could give me. Weapons, stunts, military trucks. That’s a very good day at work,” Halabi says.
When joining a long-running procedural, it’s like stepping into a well-oiled machine that is already in motion and everyone, from cast to crew, knows how it works. The audience is invested in the characters and knows the relationships well. Newcomers entering the scene don’t have much time to find their footing.
The character of Eliana Sapir entered the NCIS: Los Angeles universe and stepped into the established ensemble with her own agenda and relationships. Halabi and her character came under scrutiny from a deeply invested audience.
“Fans on Twitter definitely had opinions. People really feel like the cast are part of their family. When you’ve been watching a show for years, you become incredibly protective of it,” Halabi notes.
She was a fan in her own way, especially of David James Elliot.
“I grew up watching JAG with my family. I told David I was such a fan, and he just laughed and said, ‘Now you’ve made me feel old,’” Halabi points out.
Messy Love at a Fast Pace
Neighbours is Australia’s longest-running television drama, and in 2025, Halabi joined the cast as Sandra Jago. The character was complex, driven by loneliness and the need to be loved, to the point that she hurt people not out of malice but out of desperation.
“Love can be messy,” Halabi explains. “What interested me wasn’t judging her choices. It was understanding them. She wanted to be loved so badly that she convinced herself she was doing the right thing.”
Acting on the drama was intense, with scripts coming fast and the production demanding technical precision. The eight-episode arc Halabi worked on was filmed in sequence by seven directors with distinct visions. The only rehearsals were for stunt work.
“What struck me most was the pace,” Halabi says. “The cast and crew operate with incredible efficiency.”
The fast pace never slowed. Halabi would find creative shorthand with one director, just as she was supposed to start working with a new one. She had to rely on her instincts to adapt quickly. The production required extensive preparation.
Preparation Versus Instinct
The dramatization of the Belle Gibson wellness scandal, Apple Cider Vinegar, on Netflix reached No. 1 in Australia and had over 12.2 million views worldwide. Halabi acted with Kaitlyn Dever, who had to learn an Australian accent.
Halabi also had to practice a new accent in preparation for the role.
“We swapped accents,” Halabi shares.
Halabi and Dever had to play opposite each other in an emotionally intense confrontation scene while maintaining their new accents.
“We were firing, take after take. It was intense. You’re trying to stay completely present in the emotion while trusting that all the technical work—the accent, the preparation—is already there.”
It was while acting with Ethan Hawke in Born to Be Blue that Halabi relied on her instincts. The Robert Budreau-directed production was filmed in Toronto and was later screened at the Toronto International Film Festival.
After Halabi spent weeks preparing her dialogue, she was surprised when Ethan Hawke began improvising as the cameras rolled.
“There was no discussion. The director just looked at me and said, ‘Go with it.’ Well… he’s Ethan Hawke,” she adds.
In that moment, she had to forget what she rehearsed and respond to Hawke in the moment. Working with another actor often relies on instincts, and working with Hawke took that to a new level.
Later, Hawke spoke to her about breath, but not as a vocal exercise. Instead, he told her to see it as the thing that carries thought and emotion before words.
“Ethan told me breath is the bridge between technique and truth,” Halabi says. “He’d just been working with Sarah Snook and said Australian actors have a real sensitivity to it. I’ve never forgotten that conversation.”
A Deeply Personal Role
A role that drew glowing critical reviews for the actor was her role of Rania Hamid in Queensland Theater Company’s production of the Australian play The Appleton Ladies’ Potato Race. It was a deeply personal production since Halabi and her character both have Syrian immigrant fathers. Halabi drew on her lived experience, finding that many of the details that shaped her character were already familiar to her. 
“Her story felt very close to home,” Halabi notes. “I felt a real responsibility to portray her authentically, empathetically, and respectfully. What was important to me was that she wasn’t defined by the hardship she’d experienced. When she spoke about Syria, I didn’t want to play the sadness of being a refugee. I wanted to lean into the excitement of building a new life in Australia. Someone with warmth, resilience and a terrific sense of humor just like my dad.”
Halabi believes that the stage demands something different of actors. Every performance is a live shared experience that can’t be repeated.
“Once the curtain goes up, there’s no second take. You’d better be ready. You rely on each other completely. Night after night, you could feel people connecting with the characters, their flaws, their humor, their humanity. That’s one of the things theatre does best. And my favorite part? The audience lets you know immediately whether you’ve landed a joke.”
Though being the mother of two small children makes it hard to balance motherhood with an extended theater season, Halabi knows she’ll return to the stage in the future.
“There is a feeling you get in theatre that I still haven’t found anywhere else. It’s challenging, exhausting and exhilarating all at once. I think that’s why actors always find their way back.”
People Are Rarely Just One Thing
Halabi grew up in a home where her Syrian father ate peanut butter on toast for breakfast while her Australian mother put out spreads of Lebanese food.
“Nobody stayed in their lane culturally. I think that’s what made our household so special.”
That background has informed her role choices as Halabi shifts between different types of characters. It’s the complexity of people that makes them human.
“I’m drawn to characters who don’t fit neatly into a box. People who are trying to find where they belong, who feel misunderstood, or who are navigating different worlds,” Halabi concludes.
