This spring, Arielle Prepetit’s Beyond the Gates character, Naomi Hamilton Hawthorne, stepped up to challenge her father and waged war against his law firm. On Instagram, the Orlando native was so proud of her work that she shared one of her favorite monologues during this story. Prepetit recently talked with Soap Hub about this story and opened up about how she got into acting, and what it’s like to work alongside Tamara Tunie and Timon Kyle Durrett.
Naomi Hamilton Hawthorne: Attorney at Law
Naomi recently removed herself from the lawsuit because she didn’t want it to affect her relationship with her father negatively. Their bond was strained enough after he shattered the family when he married her best friend, Hayley (Marquita Goings).
Prepetit loved this legal story for her character. “I think it’s such a huge moment in her career because what a feat to go up against Bill Hamilton (Timon Kyle Durrett) like that.” Plus, it gave her character the chance to raise her game by providing a voice to the three women who desperately needed representation. “I ultimately think she took this case on because she saw these women who were wrongfully fired and were treated, not well, and she wants to help them because nobody else wanted to.”
She appreciates Naomi’s thirst for justice, and she’s happy anytime she gets to play that. “She always wants to do the right thing and wants to find those who were wronged.” Having said all of that, the Atlanta-based actress admits that Naomi taking on this case involving sexual harassment and a hostile workplace environment was a little bit about taking down her dad.
“The fact that it happened to be against her father adds another layer,” Prepetit explained. “I think at the end of the day, she wants to do the right thing for these women and go head-to-head with Bill Hamilton.”
READ THIS: Marquita Goings On Hayley’s Drama and Bonding With the BTG Cast.
From Orlando to Atlanta
The first-generation Haitian American started dancing when she was five years old. “I’ve always been on the stage and always been in entertainment. And then the dream was to be on Broadway one day.” One of her teachers told her she needed to take acting and voice lessons. “And it was in high school that I took my first acting class, and it was for film and TV,” she revealed.
In Orlando, Prepetit pursued work in live entertainment. “I grew up going to Disney World and Universal Studios,” she said. “So when I was old enough, I auditioned for Disney, and so I worked there for a couple of years.
“And then after Covid happened, I decided to really focus on film and TV acting,” she continued. This epiphany caused her to make the big move from Florida to Georgia. “And that’s when I decided to move to Atlanta, because Atlanta turned into the Hollywood of the South, and everything was filming here.”
READ THIS: BTG’s Timon Kyle Durrett on Bill Being in a ‘Vulnerable Place’
Cool Co-Stars
Prepetit revealed that the first thing the soap ever filmed was Naomi’s confrontation with Bill at an outside remote location. “No pressure. Hello! I couldn’t believe we were starting off with that. That was insane. But that was also my audition piece that I had to do, so it was kind of in me already.”
“There was so much going on and this camera was here, and that camera was here, and it was so overwhelming,” she continued. “I just had to focus on the work.”
She also gets to focus on her co-stars, like Durrett, who plays her father. “I have to say I do love my scenes with Timon,” Prepetit explained. “We get so locked in, and we have such good chemistry. We’re just back and forth, and we’re always trying to one-up each other.”
On BTG, the actress, whose primetime credits include NBC’s Found, regularly gets to share scenes with people she admires, like Tamara Tunie (Anita Dupree). “I grew up watching Miss Tamara Tunie, so the fact that she was going to play my grandmother, I really was not ready.” They recently got to do a karaoke performance together. And even before that, Tunie’s character schooled Naomi with a signature rap.
“And she came with that rap ready. She was off-book — she came out the gate swinging. Those are real reactions like that. I was not acting in that moment,” she recalled. “We did that in like two takes, or something like that. It was so fun to film those scenes.”
Keep It Locked to BTG
The BTG crew recently celebrated filming the show’s 100th episode. Prepetit says she can’t wait for the fans to see what’s coming up. “We’re just turning these out, and I have to say it just keeps getting better and better. The drama keeps getting juicier, and I’m so excited for everyone to see what we continue to work on every day,” she teased.
She’s grateful the fans are showing up and responding to what they see on screen. “It’s been great seeing people’s reactions and to see how invested people get and how passionate they are. Soap fans — they’re next level.”
