Who Plays Gabriela on ‘Fire Country’? Meet Stephanie Arcila

After blazing through a captivating and fiery first season, the hit CBS action show “Fire Country” will be back on TV with new episodes on Feb. 16.

The drama series follows a firefighting crew that is part of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and is stationed in a small town in wildfire-prone Northern California.

The show immediately grabbed the attention of millions of fans when it debuted in October 2022. And after securing more than 8 million viewers per episode, “Fire Country” was greenlit for a second season just three months later.

But after the surprising ending to the first season, the fates of all the show’s leading characters may go up in flames.   

Protagonist Bode Donovan (Max Thieriot) is a convict with a troubled past and is looking to reduce his prison sentence by working as a volunteer firefighter. In the first season, he is immediately drawn to the fire captain’s independent and determined daughter, Gabriela Perez, played by actress Stephanie Arcila. 

Outside of the wildfires, Perez battles a lot of conflict in the first season in her personal life. She experienced a major shock during the Season 1 finale, which could change the entire trajectory of Season 2.

In real life, Arcila is beginning to make waves in Hollywood. “Fire Country” is the actress’s first series regular role in English. But based on her dynamic performance, it likely won’t be her last. 

Here’s everything we know about Arcila and her journey through the entertainment industry:

A Budding Actress

Arcila basically grew up on film and television sets. 

Her father, Jairo Arcila, has been a producer in the industry for more than four decades and occasionally brought his young daughter to work. 

Arcila told the “Dante Night Show“ in 2017 that when she was on set as a child, she would just quietly sit and watch the filming for hours, shocking her parents and other adults. 

Even without trying, her father’s work must’ve rubbed off on her, because she has wanted to be an actress since she was a little girl. But her father disagreed. 

“He did not want me in the industry at all,” Arcila told BEONDTV in 2020. “One day, he came home from work and sat me down and said, ‘Here you go. It’s a monologue and I want to see you do it.’ At first I was terrified, but then I realized I’ve been trying to convince him that this is what I really wanted to do my whole life and he hasn’t understood it.”

Arcila said she dove into the monologue and surprised him with her newfound abilities. After realizing how serious she was about acting, Arcila said, her father laid out all the good and bad of the industry while promising to support her.

The Latina actress started going to auditions in her hometown of Miami, Florida. Before she was 20, Arcila secured a number of Spanish-speaking roles in soap operas including “Ojo por Ojo” and “Corazón Apasionado.” 

Arcila’s father is Colombian and her mother is Peruvian, so Spanish is actually her first language. Her bilingual abilities helped kick-start her career in Latin media.

The actress said she was about to sign her own lease in Miami in 2012 — literally was holding a pen and the lease papers — when her mother called and told her she needed to be in Los Angeles if she was serious about an acting career. Two weeks later, Arcila said she was settled in the City of Angels.

Making It in LA

Once in LA, Arcila started to rack up some small speaking roles in things such as the short film “Til Death Do Us Part” (2015), the action series “Supergirl,” the crime procedural “NCIS” and the hit sitcom “Black-ish.”

But even though she was nailing small roles in popular and acclaimed projects, Arcila still didn’t feel as if she had “made it.”

“It takes time,” she told the “Dante Night Show.” “You take acting classes, study, audition and [producers] are going to give you a thousand no’s before they give you one yes.”

Finally, after around five years of auditioning in LA, Arcila booked the role of Rosie Rivera in the Telemundo miniseries “Jenny Rivera: Mariposa de Barrio.” 

Arcila said playing the sister of a famous singer was new to her because she was pushed to portray and collaborate with someone who existed in real life

But after the show, Arcila didn’t book anything for almost two years

“For me, it was perfect because it was an ideal amount of time that I needed to grow maturity-wise and grow in my craft,” she told LRM Online in 2020. “It helped me to be where I am right now. Since we worked so hard for it, and it is a hard industry to break into, it’s even more satisfying when something does happen, and more overwhelming.”

Rather than stress about not working in her beloved industry, Arcila said she chose to work on herself and fell in love with meditating and developing her own inner peace.  

“I worked on myself trusting, having patience, and understanding that things are not always in my control,” she told LRM Online. “I have a peace about what’s meant to be for me. What’s going to happen is going to happen. The way things pan out is the way they are supposed to.”

After years of dedication to her craft and herself, Arcila booked the role of Bernadette Romero in the Showtime British-American horror drama “Penny Dreadful: City of Angels.” 

The actress told the LA Daily News in 2020 that she related to her character, who was born in Mexico and moved to LA at a young age.

“She also holds a lot of pain inside and when her rage shows, she goes into survival mode,” Arcila said. “I think it’s because as Hispanics we are always taught from a very young age to always work hard, and sometimes that transfers into being in survival mode. When we are older, we have this fear of losing what we’ve worked so hard for.”

Arcila said that role reflected a turning point in her career because she’s been told she’s “not Latina enough” for certain characters in the past. 

“We come in all colors, shapes and sizes,” she said, noting it’s a big deal to be a Latina working on “Penny Dreadful.” “To be able to represent Latinos with the cast we have, and to be able to educate people, too, is so amazing. I’m ecstatic about it.”

That show prompted even more roles to come her way. Arcila soon booked the role of Mami in three episodes of the dark dramedy series “Here and Now.” Then she played Hernandez in the horror film “Don’t Breathe 2″ (2021) and even voice-acted in the Spanish version of the video game “Life is Strange: Before the Storm.” 

A Big Shift

Now, Arcila has been able to stretch herself in a completely different role as the fire chief’s daughter and a former Olympic diver in “Fire Country.” 

In order to try to stay somewhat accurate to the experiences of real wildfire firefighters, the entire cast was put through a tough boot camp before filming started. The fictitious fire crew was put through drills, required to carry pounds of heavy equipment and taught how to extinguish raging fires — all in the dead heat of a California summer. 

Arcila told TV Line that filming the first season was like going to boot camp all over again. 

“I had a blast, though,” she said. “I’m in the best shape of my life now because of ‘Fire Country,’ because I had to get strong to be able to carry all of the heavy stuff that we carry, and to be able to do all of our action stuff.”

As the actress has prepared for Season 2, she says she believes there will be a huge shift for her character Gabriela.

“I know just because of everything she has been through in such a short amount of time, it just forces you to grow up in a different way and get to know yourself in a different way,” Arcila told Pop Culture. “So I know she will have a big shift. I’m sure she’ll fight for the truth. I don’t know where she’s going to end up going, but I know that one thing she will fight for is the truth.”

Regardless of how Season 2 is received by “Fire Country” fans, Arcila says she couldn’t imagine herself doing anything else.

“I love what I do. I’ve never imagined myself immersing myself in different areas of the industry,” she said to LRM Online. “At the core, this is what I love — creating and being able to transmit that to people. We’re giving art. We’re giving love for making people feel through our art. It brings me an extreme amount of joy.”

READ MORE: Who Plays Manny on ‘Fire Country’? Native Texan Kevin Alejandro Also Helped Direct the Firefighter Drama