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Interview with Liz Vassey

Liz Vassey won a Daytime Emmy at the tender age of 18, thus throwing her already busy acting career into overdrive. With gigs ranging from Beverly Hills 90210 to Tru Calling, the stunning brunette cites a brief cameo on Joss Whedon‘s internet musical, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog as one of her most cherished roles.

These days, when Vassey isn’t peering at DNA patterns as Wendy, the forensic technician on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, she’s hoping for a return to musical theater and touting her ta-ta’s for a very good cause.

AfterEllen: How are things on CSI? What’s in store for Wendy Simms this season?

Liz Vassey:I don’t really know, but I’d love for her to go out in the field more. In one episode, I went out in the field for the first time with Laurence Fishburne. He’s just fantastic and could not be nicer. And I got to swab John Schneider, who came in as a villain. I had a paralyzing crush on him as Bo Duke from Dukes of Hazzard, when I was a kid. And I was like, “You guys! This is the best Christmas ever!” I had a great time being able to shoot in the sunshine, as opposed to the darkness of the lab.

And I think Hodges [played by Wallace Langham] might go out a little bit more, too. We were both sent to Vegas to do a ride-along recently, and I got to watch an autopsy and talk to real CSIs. So, I get the feeling things are moving in that direction.

AE: How was it working with Jorja Fox?

LV: I got to work with Jorja quite a bit when I first joined the show. She and Laurence Fishburne are both made of cool. When you’re around her, Jorja has this thing where you feel like, “It’s OK. I’m with Jorja.” It’s a feeling that they both exude – they’re really comfortable and fun to be around.

And I like everything Jorja stands for. I’m a pescetarian and I’ve been talking to her about that. She’s avid about animal rights. And I think she’s a terrific actress. She’s back for five or six episodes this season. They’re not consecutive. But I hope she stays for more, it’s really great having her around.

AE: Are you in any scenes with her this season?

LV: No, and we don’t like it. We really like working together. And it’s nice when the women get to do stuff ’cause we’re outnumbered by the men on the show. We all genuinely like each other. But the law of averages says you’re probably going to be working with the guys.

AE: Lauren Lee Smith is not returning this year. What happened?

LV: That had absolutely nothing to do with her talent, because she’s a very talented. It was unfortunate – she was brought in at the same time as Laurence Fishburne. And [we] were in the midst of this perfect storm of cast upsets: three people leaving and Laurence coming in. I think she’ll land on something in about five seconds, if she hasn’t already.

AE: The cast list on CSI is ridiculously long.

LV: Oh it’s huge. I think there are 10 of us. I went out to lunch recently with Patrick Warburton [from The Tic] and he was making fun of me saying, “You’re doing an hour drama and I’m doing sitcom. Your schedule must be sick.” And I told him, “Dude. [laughs] There are 57 people on my show. It’s not that bad at all.”

AE: Are we going to see your character, Wendy, having a personal life?

LV: I hope so. Last season, we did that episode where she and Hodges almost admitted we had feelings for each other. It really opened up a lot. Wendy sees something else in him – that he’s not the suck-up everybody else thinks he is – and that makes her like him.

I think these two characters work well together because it doesn’t quite make sense, but it doesn’t make sense in all the right ways. It makes me root for them.

AE: Since you have a cast of 57 people, do you have time to work on other things?

LV: It’s really hard to work out with our schedule, which can switch on a dime. But I’ve been back in voice lessons for the last two years. I was a singer, starting when I was nine, doing theater. I thought I’d be singing and doing Broadway plays, and I fell into television when I was 16, on All My Children.

Singing is something I miss very much. Last year, I went to New York, met some casting directors, and sang for them. I went in with no ego and just said, “Look, I know I’m new here. I just want to work and sing and be a part of it, if I can.” I would love to go be a theater bum.

AE: Not much chance of that while you’re on CSI.

LV: Actually, I said to the producer, “The episode we have to write has got to be a musical. And I think that Henry should sing a song called “Let’s Give Them Something to Tox About,” ’cause he’s the toxicology guy. And Mandy should sing, “Someday, My Prints Will Come,” because she does fingerprints. We have a musical!” He just sort of pats me on the head and says, “That’s sweet.” [laughs]

But that’s a big thing, career-wise, that I’d still love to do.

AE: Your partner in crime, Christina [Cox] told me how much fun it was to do Ladycops and mentioned wanting to find time to do more episodes.

LV: Ever since we did Nikki and Nora five years ago, we’re ridiculously co-dependent! I think Nancylee [Myatt], Christina and I – I’ve never done this with people from work before – we will do anything to work together. So when we made Ladycops, we were like, “Oh sure, we’ll get up at 7AM on a Saturday and shoot a comedy, no problem.”

I mean, Christina is tied to Defying Gravity and I hope to stay on CSI for a long time, but you want to do something different on the side. We love to do funny things because both of us are on dramas. So yeah, I’d say we’d definitely do more.

AE: People are still disappointed that Nikki and Nora didn’t go.

LV:We felt like it was time for a show with two lesbian leads. Why shouldn’t that happen? I still think about it and cannot believe it didn’t go.

To skewer that, we had the idea that the fake network behind Ladycops didn’t want the two female leads to kiss because that would upset the network. So, we almost kiss all the time, but never quite do it. It makes us laugh because we’re making fun of what people are scared of. Christina and I honestly don’t get it.

AE: And when you come that close, again and again, but never actually kiss, it drives people crazy.

LV: [laughs] It makes us laugh really hard. And in every single near miss, a hair will fly across her face, and I’ll brush it aside. Or she’ll see something and blow off the kiss because the perp is running in front of us. We just thought it was a ridiculous way to keep from actually sealing the deal.

AE: Why is it so hard to sell a show with lesbian leads? The L Word was groundbreaking, but there seems to an attitude that we had the one, and now, we don’t need any more. And yet, they’ll greenlight medical shows or sitcoms set in suburbia until the cows come home. Why?

LV: I wish I could answer that. When it comes to the people in charge of programming, fear is a huge motivating factor. And because there is a faction of people who have a problem with [gays and lesbians,] the networks are afraid to “promote” that. I think is a shame, because as long as it’s viewed as different, how is it ever going to be accepted as it should be?

When I was little, I was doing South Pacific, and I had the biggest crush on this guy – I was probably 10 and he was about 25. And he started making out with another guy right in front of me. And I remember looking at my parents and they were like, “Yeah.” And I basically just said,”Yeah.”

Not to get too political, but I think network television is the tip of the iceberg. I wish there could be change. Because you know what? I’m a straight woman, married to a man, and I’m here to say, “Hey, it’s OK. Christina’s hot. Who wouldn’t be attracted to her? I’ll almost kiss her all the time! And we both like each other. We’re cute together.”

AE: You do make a very beautiful couple.

LV: Oh, well, thank you very much.

AE: Have you ever really sealed the deal with Christina?

LV: In Nikki and Nora, we did something in the pilot where we had a huge kiss in the teaser, but it was cut. I think the scene didn’t make sense [or was] cut for time. But that was a really good kiss.

AE: What else are you up to, besides pitching musical episodes of CSI and not kissing Christina?

LV: I’m heavily involved with charity work. I just signed up with Save the Ta-tas to be their good will ambassador.

AE: I don’t know what that is, but it sounds like something I could do.

LV: [laughs] This woman, Julia Fiske, gave up an incredibly lucrative job at Nike to start this organization called Save the Ta-tas. Her grandmother had breast cancer, so she decided to get involved helping to beat this horrible disease.

To date, they’ve given well over $300,000 to fight breast cancer, and they sponsor of the Revlon Run/Walk for Women. They have “Save the Ta-ta’s” t-shirts, which are hysterical.

They firmly believe that laughter is the best medicine.

AE: Who thought up that fantastic name?

LV: Julia told me she was trying to think of a word that was crass, but not too crass, and but get a laugh. She went through every slang word until she said, “Save the ta-ta’s?” and her husband laughed. That was it.

I try to do stuff like this to balance out the very blessed life [I have.] I think it’s ironic they chose me to do a photo shoot; someone who doesn’t have very big ta-ta’s. They had to tighten up the shirt on me.

AE: Well people like them all shapes and sizes.

LV: That’s right. And they’re real, baby.

AE: Can I tell you how much I love DVR’ing CSI? Old, new, it doesn’t matter. And I sit there for nine hours and do a marathon. I love a marathon. I once crammed five years’ worth of The West Wing into a week.

LV: Well, that’s the right show to do. I went crazy about West Wing, too. That was my favorite. That, and Buffy.

AE: Now you’re talking.

LV: Yeah. I met Joss Whedon before I watched it, and I’m happy it happened that way because if it had been after I became a fan, I would have peed myself. I’m so crazy about Joss.

AE: You should have been on Buffy.

LV: Oh, I would have loved to have been on Buffy. I got to do this tiny little cameo on Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along. I mean, it was only five seconds, but I didn’t care. Joss was there, and Neil Patrick Harris.

AE: Cool. Last question. When you have a scene with Marg Helgenberger, why do I feel like there’s a little subtext going on?

LV: Well, there are quite a few people out there who think that. My sister found this music video that someone made, where they cut all these scenes that Marg and I have together. We’re looking at each other longingly and they put the song “If We Kissed” over it. [laughs]

Hey, there are worse people to be paired with than Marg Helgenberger. She’s sexy as hell. I ran into her at a restaurant, and when she walked in, the whole place just stopped. She’s kind of electric, ya know? And men and women all go, “Ooh. Pretty.” She’s got that vibe.

AE: I think when you walk in a restaurant, there are lots of people who also go, “Ooh. Pretty.”

LV: Oh, my mom was with me and she outshines me in a big way. She’s gorgeous.

AE: Maybe that’s where you got it. Thanks, Liz’s mom.

LV: [laughs] You’re welcome.

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