By . Paul Thompson . PUBLISHED: . 11:40 EST, 11 December 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 11:50 EST, 12 December 2012 . The female CIA agent credited with tracking down Osama bin Laden was passed over for promotion amid widespread jealousy among her colleagues over her part in finding the terror mastermind. The agent also came under investigation for meeting with the makers of the Hollywood film 'Zero Dark Thirty' which chronicles the hunt for the al Qaeda leader. According to The Washington Post, she has been at the center of controversy during the promotion of the film, and one of the clearest examples came after an email was sent announcing that she won an award and dozens of her colleagues were given less prestigious recognition. That was too much for her to bare. She reportedly sent an email essentially saying: 'You guys tried to obstruct me. You fought me. Only I deserve the award,' and sent it to the entire agency. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO . CIA: The film focuses on, Maya, the 'wicked smart' female CIA agent played by actress Jessica Chastain who was obsessed with catching and killing bin Laden, pictured . She met with scriptwriter Mark Boal to . talk about her role in tracking bin Laden to his hideout in Pakistan, . which lead to the terror mastermind's May 2011 death. A US Navy SEAL team shot dead bin Laden in May 2011 after a stealth raid on his compound in Pakistan. In . the aftermath of the successful raid a female agent was given much of . the credit for refusing to give up in the 10 year manhunt. It was her persistence that led to bin Laden finally being tracked down by agents by following one of his trusted couriers. The female agent, who is in her 30s, has never been named and still works for the spy agency in a counter terrorism unit. Women of the film: Chastain plays the lead . character (left) and said that she knew the film would be politically . controversial, while director Kathryn Bigelow (right) said that the . torture scenes were the hardest to film . But following the death of bin Laden, The Washington Post reports that she was widely expected to get promotion - only to be passed over. The agent is said to have angered many of her colleagues by sending out an email saying they did not deserve the same accolades as her for finding bin Laden. Although she was given a cash award for her work on finding bin Laden missing out on promotion is said to have cost her a rise of $16,000 a year. Integral: The real-life agent who spearheaded the raid is reportedly furious that other agents- who she feels slowed down the progress of the search- were given awards for their work . Propaganda: Osama bin Laden -- watching Barack Obama on television in Pakistan before he died . A profile of the agent in The Washington . Post said many of her colleagues were envious of the attention she . received from Hollywood. Star: Many in the CIA are reportedly envious of how the female agent is getting so much credit for the assassination of Bin Laden . 'She’s not Miss Congeniality, but that’s not going to find Osama bin Laden,' said a former CIA associate. Other colleagues said she had been treated harshly and had come under suspicion of cooperating too closely with the makers of Zero Dark Thirty, which opens in the U.S. on December 19th. The film has been tipped for Oscar success and has already won a host of critics awards. It is also mired in controversy with the opening scenes showing terror suspects being waterboarded and US politicians complaining that director Kathryn Bigelow was given too much access. The role of the female CIA agent is played by Jessica Chastain and has the fictional name of 'Maya'. The film shows her dogged pursuit of bin Laden and challenging superiors who doubted he would ever be found. A spokesman for the CIA refused to talk about the agent but said many people were involved in the hunt for bin Laden. Spokeswoman Jennifer Youngblood said: 'Over the course of a decade, hundreds of analysts, operators and many others played key roles in the hunt.' The film's director Kathryn Bigelow has been quick to dole out praise to the unidentified agent, however. 'With her tenacity, her courage and her dedication, really drove that lead forward and gave it a lot of traction and the interesting thing about the movie is it puts you in her shoes,' Bigelow said during an appearance on CBS' This Morning. The Navy SEAL who wrote the controversial book detailing the assassination of Osama bin Laden credits a 'feisty' female CIA analyst for leading them to their target, after spending five years hunting him. Author Matt Bissonnette – whose identity was revealed even though he wrote the tell-all book under the pen name of  Mark Owen – only refers to the woman using the pseudonym ‘Jen’ in his book. Same inspiration? Claire Danes' character Carrie Mathison is thought to be based on the female agent who lead the search for Osama bin Laden, and she is also at the center of the upcoming film Zero Dark Thirty . The similarities between her backstory and that of the lead character in the hit television series Homeland are obvious. 'I can't give her enough credit,' he said during the interview. 'I mean, she, in my opinion, she kind of teed up this whole thing.' In his book, Bissonnette writes that he sat next to the woman during one of the long-haul flights as they headed to Pakistan for the mission, and his brief description paints a picture of a young and extremely dedicated analyst. 'Recruited by the agency out of college, she'd been working on the Bin Laden task force for the last five years. Analysts rotated in and out of the task force, but she stayed and kept after it. 'After the al-Kuwaiti phone call, she'd worked to put all the pieces together... she had been our go-to analyst on all intelligence questions regarding the target,' he writes. Even though the fact that the CIA is dominated by men is well-documented, it may be too quick to assume that the same ‘wicked smart, kind of feisty’ agent that Bissonnette wrote about was the basis for the lead character in the Golden Globe-winning series Homeland. However, actress Claire Danes hinted at a connection during an interview about the research she did to prepare for her role as Carrie Mathison. 'There’s a woman Carrie is loosely modeled on and she’s a CIA officer and so I met with her and she took me to Langley and introduced me to some of her colleagues,' Danes told The Wall Street Journal. The Homeland protagonist is described as being stubborn, headstrong, and outspoken. The same appears true for the female agent. 'Jen wasn't afraid to share her opinion with even the highest officers,' Bissonnette wrote in the book. 'This was her baby. Jen and her team spent five years tracking him to get us where we were now.' --- Meghan Keneally . WATCH THE TRAILER HERE .
Female CIA agent serves as basis for upcoming film Zero Dark Thirty .
She was one of the top agents who connected the dots to find bin Laden .
Now agents resent her involvement in Hollywood depiction .
She was reportedly overlooked for promotion and sent nasty email to office .
Agent also thought to be inspiration for 'Carrie' character on Homeland .
By . Paul Thompson . PUBLISHED: . 11:40 EST, 11 December 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 11:50 EST, 12 December 2012 . The female CIA agent credited with tracking down Osama bin Laden was passed over for promotion amid widespread jealousy among her colleagues over her part in finding the terror mastermind. The agent also came under investigation for meeting with the makers of the Hollywood film 'Zero Dark Thirty' which chronicles the hunt for the al Qaeda leader. According to The Washington Post, she has been at the center of controversy during the promotion of the film, and one of the clearest examples came after an email was sent announcing that she won an award and dozens of her colleagues were given less prestigious recognition. That was too much for her to bare. She reportedly sent an email essentially saying: 'You guys tried to obstruct me. You fought me. Only I deserve the award,' and sent it to the entire agency. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO . CIA: The film focuses on, Maya, the 'wicked smart' female CIA agent played by actress Jessica Chastain who was obsessed with catching and killing bin Laden, pictured . She met with scriptwriter Mark Boal to . talk about her role in tracking bin Laden to his hideout in Pakistan, . which lead to the terror mastermind's May 2011 death. A US Navy SEAL team shot dead bin Laden in May 2011 after a stealth raid on his compound in Pakistan. In . the aftermath of the successful raid a female agent was given much of . the credit for refusing to give up in the 10 year manhunt. It was her persistence that led to bin Laden finally being tracked down by agents by following one of his trusted couriers. The female agent, who is in her 30s, has never been named and still works for the spy agency in a counter terrorism unit. Women of the film: Chastain plays the lead . character (left) and said that she knew the film would be politically . controversial, while director Kathryn Bigelow (right) said that the . torture scenes were the hardest to film . But following the death of bin Laden, The Washington Post reports that she was widely expected to get promotion - only to be passed over. The agent is said to have angered many of her colleagues by sending out an email saying they did not deserve the same accolades as her for finding bin Laden. Although she was given a cash award for her work on finding bin Laden missing out on promotion is said to have cost her a rise of $16,000 a year. Integral: The real-life agent who spearheaded the raid is reportedly furious that other agents- who she feels slowed down the progress of the search- were given awards for their work . Propaganda: Osama bin Laden -- watching Barack Obama on television in Pakistan before he died . A profile of the agent in The Washington . Post said many of her colleagues were envious of the attention she . received from Hollywood. Star: Many in the CIA are reportedly envious of how the female agent is getting so much credit for the assassination of Bin Laden . 'She’s not Miss Congeniality, but that’s not going to find Osama bin Laden,' said a former CIA associate. Other colleagues said she had been treated harshly and had come under suspicion of cooperating too closely with the makers of Zero Dark Thirty, which opens in the U.S. on December 19th. The film has been tipped for Oscar success and has already won a host of critics awards. It is also mired in controversy with the opening scenes showing terror suspects being waterboarded and US politicians complaining that director Kathryn Bigelow was given too much access. The role of the female CIA agent is played by Jessica Chastain and has the fictional name of 'Maya'. The film shows her dogged pursuit of bin Laden and challenging superiors who doubted he would ever be found. A spokesman for the CIA refused to talk about the agent but said many people were involved in the hunt for bin Laden. Spokeswoman Jennifer Youngblood said: 'Over the course of a decade, hundreds of analysts, operators and many others played key roles in the hunt.' The film's director Kathryn Bigelow has been quick to dole out praise to the unidentified agent, however. 'With her tenacity, her courage and her dedication, really drove that lead forward and gave it a lot of traction and the interesting thing about the movie is it puts you in her shoes,' Bigelow said during an appearance on CBS' This Morning. The Navy SEAL who wrote the controversial book detailing the assassination of Osama bin Laden credits a 'feisty' female CIA analyst for leading them to their target, after spending five years hunting him. Author Matt Bissonnette – whose identity was revealed even though he wrote the tell-all book under the pen name of  Mark Owen – only refers to the woman using the pseudonym ‘Jen’ in his book. Same inspiration? Claire Danes' character Carrie Mathison is thought to be based on the female agent who lead the search for Osama bin Laden, and she is also at the center of the upcoming film Zero Dark Thirty . The similarities between her backstory and that of the lead character in the hit television series Homeland are obvious. 'I can't give her enough credit,' he said during the interview. 'I mean, she, in my opinion, she kind of teed up this whole thing.' In his book, Bissonnette writes that he sat next to the woman during one of the long-haul flights as they headed to Pakistan for the mission, and his brief description paints a picture of a young and extremely dedicated analyst. 'Recruited by the agency out of college, she'd been working on the Bin Laden task force for the last five years. Analysts rotated in and out of the task force, but she stayed and kept after it. 'After the al-Kuwaiti phone call, she'd worked to put all the pieces together... she had been our go-to analyst on all intelligence questions regarding the target,' he writes. Even though the fact that the CIA is dominated by men is well-documented, it may be too quick to assume that the same ‘wicked smart, kind of feisty’ agent that Bissonnette wrote about was the basis for the lead character in the Golden Globe-winning series Homeland. However, actress Claire Danes hinted at a connection during an interview about the research she did to prepare for her role as Carrie Mathison. 'There’s a woman Carrie is loosely modeled on and she’s a CIA officer and so I met with her and she took me to Langley and introduced me to some of her colleagues,' Danes told The Wall Street Journal. The Homeland protagonist is described as being stubborn, headstrong, and outspoken. The same appears true for the female agent. 'Jen wasn't afraid to share her opinion with even the highest officers,' Bissonnette wrote in the book. 'This was her baby. Jen and her team spent five years tracking him to get us where we were now.' --- Meghan Keneally . WATCH THE TRAILER HERE .
Hollywood film 'Zero Dark Thirty' which for her to bare. She reportedly sent an email access. The role of the female CIA agent is of bin Laden and challenging superiors who Same inspiration? Claire Danes' character Carrie Mathison is thought to be based on the female during one of the long-haul flights as they Bissonnette wrote about was the basis for the