Photo Credit: John Nacion By Okla Jones ·Updated March 11, 2026 Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…

Over the years, Javicia Leslie has continued to expand her presence across television and film. On ABC’s High Potential, she plays Detective Daphne Forrester, a determined investigator whose confidence helped her become a standout on the show’s investigative team. The role reflects Leslie’s growing reputation as an actress willing to push her craft forward.

When Leslie first read for Daphne, the character’s personality immediately stood out. “Our first audition, she was sassy,” she recalled. “She had a little bit of a smart ass-ness to her, but in the most polite way, but just in a way of knowing who she is.” Forrester’s sense of self, she said, was central to the appeal. “I really enjoyed that. I love that. I could tell she would be highly intelligent, highly knowing as well. And I also could feel that she would have a sense of knowing her own power.”

Throughout High Potential’s current run, Daphne evolves from a supporting presence into a detective with increasing responsibility. Season 2’s most recent episode placed the character at the center of an investigation, giving her the chance to lead a case on her own, where Daphne works to uncover who attempted to kill a key witness, navigating complicated dynamics within the department while relying on help from the team around her. The show’s recent renewal for another season adds an additional layer for the character. Leslie says the opportunity to continue exploring Daphne’s story intrigues her. “Very excited,” she said about the renewal. “I’m very excited to keep going deeper.”

The role also represents a shift from the superhero universe she occupied in Batwoman, where Leslie made waves portraying Ryan Wilder, a character created specifically for the series after the departure of the original lead. While her previous experience remains significant, Leslie approached High Potential with a different mindset.

“I think that being a police detective in general, is a world I’ve never played in,” she explained. “To be able to put down one hat and put on a totally different hat and immerse myself in that world, that has been a great journey.”

Much of Leslie’s perspective on career and identity traces back to her upbringing and education. Born in Germany to a military family and raised in Prince George’s County, Maryland, she later attended the prestigious Hampton University. The HBCU experience, she says, shaped how she understands success and community.

“There is this pride that I have that’s not even intentional about being Black, and being in Black environments, and being around Black success,” she said. Leslie notes that growing up surrounded by Black professionals and leaders made those achievements feel normal rather than exceptional. “It’s not something that I’m like, ‘oh my God, look.’ For me, it feels normal.”

Her outlook on life also informs how she views representation within the industry. Leslie stresses the importance of support systems on set, especially for actors of color, and  emphasizes that authentic representation requires more than casting decisions; it requires attention to every department that contributes to the finished product. “In order to hire someone that doesn’t look like you, you need to make sure their voice is supported in every other element,” she said.

For Leslie, representation does not stop at casting. The environment around an actor matters just as much as the role itself, from the people writing the scripts to the teams responsible for production. When those things aren’t considered, she says, the experience can quickly become isolating; all of which have shaped how she evaluates the projects she joins and the spaces she works in.

“Innately, Black women’s skin textures are different,” the actress said. “The way our bodies are shaped, is different. So these things need to be comfortably addressed in those areas. I can say that I don’t have that problem at High Potential, but in my journey, it has been a problem because it makes you feel very insecure when someone else’s experience goes easy, but yours is a bit more complicated.”

“I think that we were moving towards fixing that, but with the disillusionment of DEI and things like that, we’re going backwards where [these issues] haven’t been important,” she continued. “I’m very blessed to be on a show where it is very important. You walk into our hair and makeup trailer and it looks like the cast, and that’s the type of reflection you need to have if you’re going to hire people of color.”

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The post Javicia Leslie On ‘High Potential,’ Growth As An Actress, And Representation In Hollywood appeared first on Essence.

Author: Okla Jones

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