Diana Hopper Ready For Big Break With Goliath

Mainstream television is slowly dwindling as online streaming makes a cultural push past it. Burgeoning giants like Amazon, Netflix, and Hulu are dialing in Emmy-winning content that provides a genuine cinematic experience.

Amazon firmly placed its chips into the middle betting on Goliath. The show released on Oct. 16 and is centered around a booze-burdened lawyer who gets a chance to seek revenge on the law firm that fired him.

Diana Hopper (Criminal Minds, The Wicked) flexes her acting muscles in her most prized role yet, starring alongside Billy Bob Thornton.

PopCultureNow.com spoke with Hopper about her already diverse career that's bounced between television and feature film, Goliath, and the evolution of streaming media industry.

Her first crack at playing the daughter of a leading man came at an early age.

"I was actually in fifth grade and I did my first play," she said. "I absolutely loved it. I had one line in The Music Man and I was the Mayor's daughter. I loved the camaraderie of it - working towards a common goal. I thought that was the coolest thing. It felt like a family the first time I did it and I loved being a part of it."

Hopper has put in the time and effort not just over the past few years, but her whole life, and it paid off with her landing the role of Denise McBride on Goliath.

Her sweat was not just spent in front of the audience. Being part of any production was her introduction.

"I did a lot of theater in high school. I was always involved with building sets or working backstage. It was just about being a part of the family," she said. "I was 17 and got a scholarship to go to New York for a summer at the New York Film Academy and absolutely fell in love with film. I realized the subtlety was for me. I then came back to Memphis and booked an agent and straight out of high school booked a lead role in a horror film that shot for just under a million dollars outside of Detroit. Then for me there was no going back. I was going to stay in Memphis and major in theater. But I was on set and making money and there were a lot of actors from L.A. and one guy said, 'You should really move to L.A. and try to pursue this if this is what you want.' So I came home from the movie and told my parents that I wasn't going to college and was going to move to L.A. to become an actor professionally. I'm blessed and have a really great team and that is how Goliath came about. At the end of last year, I auditioned for it and I got the call."

The 23-year-old actress has worked on some highly reputable shows, but working with the cast and crew of the Amazon series seemed to be a euphoric experience on almost every level.

Sharing the set with Billy Bob Thornton and Maria Bello, Hopper went line to line with the best, and had the time of her life.

"The cast was incredible," she said. "I mostly worked with Billy which is obviously a huge honor and a pleasure. He is so present and spontaneous. He loves what he does. He has this centered-ness about him. I absolutely loved working with him. I learned a lot. I tried to soak up as much as possible.

"I worked with Maria a little bit -- she plays my mom -- and she's also an incredible actress. Such an honor to work with her. I also got to work with Nina Arianda as well. And, I mean, what can you say. It's seriously an all-star cast."

Goliath is already getting great critical feedback, which helps proves the streaming industry is here to stay, and something television executives should be concerned about.

Being a member of the Millenial Generation, Hopper was part of making streaming a threat to network television.

"I think it already is," she said. "If I'm speaking from personal experience, I don't have cable. I have Amazon. I have Netflix. I have Hulu. You can live off of those. They are so great, especially with Amazon and Netflix dropping everything on one day. Binge watching is the new watching.

"We've all kind of been like that secretly, but now it's just talked about and it's mainstream. Why would you ever want to wait week to week? I don't think television is going to fall off completely. I don't believe that at all. I think it has its place as well, but I definitely think streaming services have come in such a powerful way that they are a force to be reckoned with. The content is very free creatively. I'm very blessed to be a part of it."