Shanola Hampton Is Taking Risks in Found: I Wont Be Put in a Box (Exclusive) [Video]

Audiences are discovering a whole new side to Shanola Hampton‘s talents in Found.

The 47-year-old actress is captivating viewers weekly on NBC’s hit procedural as Gabi Mosley, a commanding public relations specialist and crisis manager leading her own firm of private investigators, tech experts and lawyers searching for missing people the police have overlooked — all the while secretly consulting with her former kidnapper, Sir (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), whom she has trapped in her basement decades after escaping his hostage.

It’s a role that couldn’t be a bigger swing from Hampton’s breakout: Veronica “V” Fisher, the outspoken bar owner she played for 11 seasons on Showtime’s Shameless. And it turns out, that was by design.

“I won’t be put in a box,” Hampton tells PEOPLE in a chat for this week’s issue. “If you meet me, you’ll know that there’s no box you’re going to put me in. So it was very much intentional in the reading material I was …