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Interview with Christina Cox

Christina Cox has more than 40 roles to her credit but some love her best as Kim in Better than Chocolate, for her turn as the bisexual private detective Vicki in Blood Ties, and one half of the lesbian crime fighting couple in Nikki & Nora. Christina’s newest sci-fi series, Defying Gravity doesn’t have her playing a lesbian or bisexual, but she does get to wear form-fitting space suits and rattle off scientific jargon as a mission biologist. What’s better than a hot nerd in space? Nothing, that’s what.

Christina talked to AfterEllen.com recently about her new show,which is described by a production executive as a “sci-fi premise, told in a female-friendly way.” She also gave us some dish on Ladycops, the show-within-a-show from the web series, 3Way, and shared her thoughts about this year’s Hot 100 List.

AfterEllen.com: We’re going to talk about many things, but first of all, Defying Gravity. You’re an astronaut now.

Christina Cox: I am. It’s my first astronaut.

AE: Many of your roles are sci-fi or other worldly. Do you consciously gravitate towards those genres or roles?

CC:Maybe I just don’t fit in with the rest of humanity! No, it’s part coincidence, and part that Canada [where Defying Gravity and other shows were shot] has become the go-to location for sci-fi. And a lot of my sci-fi credits are from before I moved to the States. So it looks like my passion, but it’s mostly just coincidence.

AE: Speaking of go-to, you played a lesbian in Better Than Chocolate, a bisexual in Blood Ties, a lesbian again in the web series, Nikki & Nora, and yet another lesbian in Ladycops, the gay-show-within-a-gay-show on 3 Way. You’re the straight go-to actor for lesbian and bisexual roles.

CC:I tend to gravitate towards strong, fleshed out, complex women characters. It’s whether the writing is there and the character and the story interest me. I ask myself, “Would be compelling to perform?”

AE: And you can’t help it if the “strong, fleshed out, complex women” are gay or bisexual. You have a large and loyal lesbian following because of those roles.

CC:They’ve given me an incredible amount of support over the years. Both the GLBT and the sci-fi communities have been great, loyal fans. I’m really grateful for that. Chocolate and Nikki & Nora were really positive examples of what entertainment for the gay and lesbian community can be because they’re grounded in reality. After doing Better Than Chocolate, I got sent every lesbian script out there. And a lot of them were insulting in how they portray lesbians. A lot of them have questionable motives and questionable execution, in my opinion.

AE: What was wrong with those scripts?

CC: Well, it was a lesbian character that was that way because she had been abused, or she had her heart broken by a man. It was a reactionary choice that made her go to the other side. Or the other versions are: She can be a part of a three-way, so a bunch of guys can get their rocks off, or she’s crazy, or a black widow, or a damaged woman, or a stalker. And it’s like, “Wow, this is not the way.”

AE: Well, everyone knows we’re either damaged or killers. Or both.

CC: Right. But I’ve been lucky. I look forward to more great roles for women.

AE: Any chance of seeing you and Liz Vassey (CSI) doing more episodes of Ladycops, the police show within the web comedy 3Way?

CC:I was just talking to [Executive Producers,] Nancylee [Myatt] and Maeve [Quinlan, who also stars in the series,] and we’re likely to sit down this summer and write a few more episodes. They were fun and well received and we had a riot doing them. We’ll see if we can come up with a couple more episodes. I don’t think we’ll have time to do a full season or anything, but I’d like to do more.

AE: Will Ladycops ever be its own show, outside of 3Way?

CC: I’m not really sure at this point. But we were thinking we could knock out a few more that would be stand-alones, like the newest episode, “Brotherly Love” which I just watched. Liz and I weren’t involved in putting up 3Way. When we came in for the first installment, “Ladycop”, it was for Nancylee, and to do an homage to our other show, Nikki & Nora. So if we do it, we’re talking about focusing on just doing little Ladycops webisodes.

AE: That will be so much fun, I hope you do.

CC:Yeah. We’d love to. And we have a couple of other ideas, so…

AE: What are some of those other ideas?

CC: I don’t think it would be very fulfilling to rattle around about the ideas. We just love working together so much. We were so devastated when Nikki & Nora didn’t get picked up. I think it may be the most watched, never-aired pilot in history. It’s all over YouTube — we have no idea how it got that big. But the page views on Nikki & Nora are pretty insane. It would have been the first openly gay drama on network television.

It was a great show with an amazing location. New Orleans is a fantastic city. Sometimes you work for money, sometimes you work for art. Sometimes you just get the opportunity to enjoy what you’re doing and who you’re working with. But we were fighting an uphill battle getting that show on network. But it’s different now. With Barack in office, maybe that would be a different. We were up against Bush’s second term and no gay marriage, so what do you think the odds were, really?

AE: You’re on our 2009 Hot 100 list, once again.

CC:Yeah, but I’ve kind of slid down the ranks. I’m kind of hurt, I must say. How did I go from 24 to 99.9?

AE: Christina. You were not 99.9! But maybe Defying Gravity will move you into the top 20 for 2010. Your new character, Jen, isn’t bisexual by any chance, is she?

CC: No, but anything can happen. Those elements are definitely in the mix. The thing about Defying Gravity is, it’s addressing issues that have not necessarily been addressed before, and doing them with a really light touch. I don’t mean in a frivolous or flighty way, but you’re not being hit over the head with it. It’s balanced with grace and levity, [and] giving us a taste of things not often [addressed by] characters on a network TV show.

AE: That sounds too good to be true. Can you give me some examples?

CC: Like women’s rights, relationships, sexuality, fidelity, friendship, all within the context of an extreme environment. You know, we’re in space for six years, with seven other people. All of these characters are going to have their own emotional journey and we’ll see them play out on the ship. And we have the five years leading up to the launch — why they get chosen and what they bring to the table. Also, there’s a secret within this story.

AE: I can keep a secret.

CC:It’s a mystery that’s going to push these people further than a traditional relationship drama would. The ulterior motive behind their mission will change a lot of their behavior.

AE: Fine. And the story takes place how far into the future?

CC:Near future. So it’s based on science fact, not science fiction. We’re not stretching the boundaries of what we’re able to do. All of the things we do on the show are real or in development: Space travel, space exploration within the next two decades. My character’s goal is to find life on other planets. She’s the ship’s biologist, so her interest is in finding out what our origins are.

AE: Do you think there’s life on other planets?

CC: Totally.

AE: Me, too.

CC: Do I think it’s E.T.? No, not really. But if we’re as good as it gets, we’re in big trouble.

AE: Did you get to do your own stunts or research for your role?

CC: We did our own research. There’s a science brain, and engineer brain. I tend to be more on the engineer side, like lawyers, law enforcement. They tend to want a solution to a problem, not looking for the endless possibilities where the “what if’s” only lead to more “what if’s.” That’s an impossible place for [problem solvers] to be.

AE: I saw some of the publicity stills. Astronaut uniforms will look pretty hot in the future.

CC: Well, would you really want people to watch your show with people walking about in Teletubby, Michelin Man outfits?

AE: I vote “No.”

CC: All of our technology is getting smaller, you know? So, the same would apply to the materials that we use to create flight suits. The costume designer is truly talented. The suits were made specifically to the bodies of every single one of us. They did an outstanding job.

AE: Yes, they did.

CC:[laughs]

Visit ChristinaCox.com for more info, and tune into the 2-hour series premiere of Defying Gravity on ABC on Sunday, Aug. 2 at 9/8c, before the series moves to its regular time slot on Sundays at 10/9c on Aug. 9. Watch an extended promo here:

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