Gina Torres is known for her dynamic presence in shows like Firefly and Suits and movies like The Matrix Reloaded, and she’s just as compelling off the screen as she is on it. Torres, 55, currently stars as a first responder on 9-1-1: Lone Star, which will be airing its series finale on February 3, and in addition to acting, she’s also a dedicated advocate for health.

Earlier this year, Torres appeared in a deeply personal Amgen PSA about the importance of checking your LDL cholesterol levels (and spoke about it with our sister site, First for Women) and she just became a spokeswoman for THRIVE@50+, GSK’s initiative to raise awareness about shingles. “This campaign really falls in line with everything that I believe about maintaining your health and how important it is to stand in your power,” she says. “Age is a number, but with that number, there come certain risks that we have to be aware of and the best way to do that is to go to somebody who knows what they’re talking about.”

After a THRIVE@50+ event with Donna Kelce, Brooke Shields and others in celebration of the first Kansas City Chiefs playoffs game, Torres sat down with Woman’s World to discuss how aging plays into her acting and the women who inspire her.

Gina Torres: Honestly, I feel like I can finally play them with a kind of authority and wisdom that I didn’t have before, and that’s a great feeling, to be in these situations not just as a fictional character but also as a real-life woman making very similar decisions.

You never think about the power that you gain as you get older. So often you’re told that once you hit a certain number it’s going to be over for you and no one’s going to care, no one’s going to look at you, no one’s going to be interested in what you have to say, and that couldn’t be further from the truth.

On 9-1-1: Lone Star, they sometimes refer to me as Mama G on set, which I think says a lot. Rob Lowe and I are kind of the maternal and paternal figures on the show, and certainly my age lends itself to that. There’s an absence of competition, and I get to do more nurturing and help people understand that we have so much knowledge in and out of the field. I think that only makes it more interesting and more fun, and you stop sweating the little things as you move forward.

WW: You’ve starred in a variety of beloved shows, from Firefly to Suits to 9-1-1: Lone Star. What is it like developing a character over the course of a series?

GT: You never know where it’s going to go, which is what I love. You start off with one character and then storylines take off and relationships take off, and the relationship that you’re having offscreen starts informing the relationships that you’re having onscreen.

Playing a first responder on 9-1-1: Lone Star has given me a whole other perspective in terms of medicine and health and what is grounding, and I have to give a shout out to all the firefighters and other first responders that have been doing an incredible job out in California. They are so necessary.

WW: Who are some of the women that inspire you?

GT: There are so many. I grew up surrounded by incredible women in New York City, like my teachers and the journeymen actresses that I got to work with, who were all very focused on the love of the work and the intentionality behind it. I feel like those qualities have only grown in me. And the woman of the moment for me is Michelle Obama.

WW: You have a background in music. Is this something that’s still part of your life?

I was so happy to get to sing on 9-1-1: Lone Star last season, and I look forward to doing musical theater if that ever comes up in the next few years. I started in musical theater, and it would be great to go back to that.

GT: That was born of walking through airports and going to the supermarket and people stopping me and going, “Where do I know you from?” It’s too long a list, since I’ve been doing this for 35 years and I’ve played so many characters, so I don’t know the answer to that question. It’s wonderful when people have that spark of recognition in their eyes, and it’s always lovely to be greeted with a smile.