Laëtitia Hollard Embraces Being The New Kid On The Pitt

Trigger Warning: This piece mentions a sexual assault storyline.

When Laëtitia Hollard showed up for medical boot camp with her fellow on-screen nurses ahead of filming The Pitt Season 2, she didn’t realize the show’s doctors would be doing their prep on the same day.

“It was literally everybody there. ... Noah [Wyle]’s leaning on his chair, squeezing a stress ball,” she tells Bustle over Zoom. “It gave ’80s cool-kid corner from a movie. And I was walking in like the geek with my notebook, like, ‘Hi, guys!’”

For those who have come to love Hollard’s Emma Nolan — and maybe feel a little protective of her, too — it shouldn’t be too surprising to learn that the actor’s nerves lend to her performance as an eager, kind-hearted nurse on her first day of work. The 22-year-old had just graduated from Juilliard when she landed the role, and she wasted no time getting into Emma’s headspace — not just for her own sake but to do right by the field.

“I talked to a lot of my friends who want to be nurses. They have their first day around that same time,” Hollard says. “So I was able to ask them questions like ‘What’s the best part of the day? What’s the worst part? You know, what makes you keep going?’”

Emma goes through her share of trying moments during her first day in The Pitt’s titular emergency department, dealing with everything from maggots to a medically induced erection that won’t go down. But in Episode 7 on Feb. 19, Hollard’s character is involved in one of the show’s most moving patient storylines yet. Along with nurse Dana (Katherine LaNasa) and Dr. Al-Hashimi (Sepideh Moafi), Emma helps a young woman, Ilana (Tina Ivlev), who was sexually assaulted at a Fourth of July barbecue.

The women’s scenes together are rooted in quiet compassion — informed by the cast’s behind-the-scenes visit to Stuart House at the UCLA Health Rape Treatment Center. “We spent a whole day going through, hearing from real SANEs — sexual assault nurse examiners — [about] what they do and how they make people feel comfortable,” Hollard recalls. “So the research was really deep.”

When it came time to film, a SANE nurse was on hand. And while the on-screen circumstances were harrowing, Hollard says there was a “joyous” element to working with the team on this particular storyline. “I just love being in spaces with women, so I think I was just very comfortable and happy to be there,” she says.

In another parallel to her character, Hollard hails from the Midwest — McFarland, Wisconsin, to be exact — an environment she says shaped her and her siblings’ careers in the arts. “We lived in a very white town, where we were the only family of color,” she says. “And we really only had ourselves, our family, and our self-expression, to make sense of what was going on.” Today, her brother is an architect and visual artist. Her sister is a musician with whom she lives in Los Angeles. (“I’m definitely still on dishes duty,” she says.)

While Hollard may not have pursued health care, she’s passionate about supporting those who keep hospitals running. “I went and joined the nurses strike, and so many people were like, ‘Is Noah as much of a hottie in real life as he is on the show?’” Hollard says, before sharing that Wyle once helped her clean up an actual on-set elbow scrape.

As I tell Hollard a lot of viewers probably wish they were in that position, she laughs. “I never saw him in that way! It was crazy to see how many people are thirst-trapping for my boss.”

Learn more about Hollard in her Bustle Booth questionnaire below.

In The Bustle Booth

What’s your coffee order?

Ooooh… I don’t drink coffee! I’m a tea or boba girl. Moroccan mint is go-to.

What are the saved weather locations on your phone?

Greenpoint (Brooklyn, New York), Le Chambon-sur-Lignon (France), Madison (Wisconsin), Guadeloupe (France), and Bozeman (Montana). I don’t check weather in L.A.

What’s your sign?

Gemini! Double Gemini, in fact.

Favorite overused movie quote?

“It’s quiet. Too quiet.” Favorite use is in Shrek.

What was your favorite cartoon as a kid?

Kirikou.

What’s one movie or TV show you're currently obsessed with?

Changes every week, but right now it’s Industry.

Who is your celeb idol?

Zazie Beetz and Florence Pugh.

If you had to be on a reality TV show, what would it be?

It’s actually my dream to be a judge on a cooking show like Top Chef. I also have a delulu feeling I would thrive on Survivor.

Go-to karaoke song?

Anything Amy Winehouse.

What’s something that’s inspiring you lately?

Nurses who are on strike and Hamnet.

What is something you would want people to say about you?

That she leads with heart. In her work and in her life.