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Christina Cox Sweetens the Small Screen

It’s not often in the entertainment business that the author of a book singles out an actor to play a character, and years later she actually ends up on-screen in the role. But that’s exactly what happened to actor Christina Cox (Better Than Chocolate), star of Lifetime’s new series Blood Ties, based upon the novels of Tanya Huff. Years before Blood Ties would grace the small screen, Huff thought Cox would make a perfect Vicki Nelson, a bisexual ex-homicide detective-turned-supernatural sleuth.

When Cox heard, she was rendered speechless. “It’s unbelievably flattering,” she said. “There’s really no cool or casual remark you can say to that. That’s just such a huge compliment because when people are envisioning the actors they want to play characters they’ve written, you’ll hear Michelle Pfeiffer, Cate Blanchett, you know, and for someone to pull me out of a hat and say they’d like me to play that character, and five or 10 years later I end up doing it – that’s pretty amazing.”

The creators of the series are taking great care to ensure that the other aspects of the show live up to Huff’s original vision, and that means keeping the original story lines (along with all their complications) intact. In the beginning of the series, Vicki leaves the police force due to her deteriorating eyesight and starts up a second career as a private eye.

She soon becomes embroiled in a case involving a vampire killing and finds herself teaming up with Henry Fitzroy, a 450-year-old vampire – but it gets even more interesting after that. “All these supernatural cases … start coming her way because she ends up becoming sort of like the GPS demon-homing device,” Cox explained.

Though there’s plenty of action on the show, the focus is on the deeper issues of Vicki’s relationships and her past. “The fighting aspect of it comes up because, well, demons are awfully cantankerous and problematic,” Cox said. But like Buffy or Alias, the emotional life of the character is much more important than the fisticuffs.

“I think first and foremost, for me, the focus is: What does this woman want?” Cox said. “She’s going in different directions trying to figure out who she is and what she wants out of love and life, and [the question is] how much is she carrying a degree of damage from past experiences?”

Vicki does have quite a past to deal with, as her romantic history is focused on her relationship with two exes: one man and one woman. Adding to the confusion is her attraction to Henry and all the implications of getting involved with a creature of the night.

Cox likens Vicki’s romantic dilemma (of whether or not to get involved with a vampire) to the decision of whether to date someone who has a drug problem or an illness. “Would you want to take that on?” she asked. “Because you are taking on more than a person; you’re taking on all of the baggage, so to speak, and the complications that come with it.”

Blood Ties is not Cox’s first foray into playing a queer or questioning character. She played lesbian icon Kim in Better Than Chocolate (1999), an experience she describes as being overwhelmingly positive. “When you go and do a film like that, you want to have some impact on people’s lives, hopefully in a positive way,” Cox said.

“It seemed from everything I received, in terms of letters, that it had a really positive effect for a lot of young women who had previously felt that they couldn’t come out because they didn’t think they could have a ‘normal’ life or a ‘normal’ relationship.” Cox still receives letters from fans of the film, despite the fact that it’s been out for eight years.

“I still get letters from people saying, ‘Thank you, this gave me the courage to come out because I finally believe that I’m not going to be dysfunctional or fringe or any of these things just because I’m a woman who loves women,'” Cox said.

After her performance in Better Than Chocolate, Cox was offered a number of other queer roles, but nothing approached Chocolate‘s positive portrayal of a lesbian. “[The roles] were all like the woman who’s a lesbian because her dad left or because her boyfriend smacked her around, or [was a lesbian] because of some sort of male trauma, and then she was vindictive,” Cox explained. “I don’t want to have any part in making it look as though lesbians are in some way women who just can’t get it right with a man, and/or distrust or dislike men.”

Cox was indignant about the stereotypical parts she was offered. “I found it really insulting,” she admitted. “The only thing that came along after that that I had any interest in was Nikki and Nora; that was the first positive portrayal … I’d seen in TV and film for awhile.”

Nikki and Nora, from South of Nowhere producer Nancylee Myatt, would have been the first network drama to feature a lesbian couple (two New Orleans detectives who were partners on and off the police force) in the leading roles. A pilot was filmed and all signs pointed toward distribution, but unfortunately the series was not picked up — something that Cox attributes to the conservative political climate in the United States in 2004.

Though Cox, a Toronto native, has been acting for some time now, she actually got her start in the dance world. “I actually thought I was going to be a dancer,” Cox said. “I went to a performing arts high school and did theater and dance. I realized that dancers have an even rougher road than actors do, and their careers — for the majority — can be over by the time they’re 30.”

Cox discovered her passion for performance and dance by watching old films. “I fell in love with dance watching old Hollywood song-and-dance films, like Fred Astaire movies,” she recalled, “and one morning I woke up and said … wait … they don’t make those anymore! What am I going to do?” So she studied theater, worked her way into roles in national productions such as Twelfth Night and Road, and began acting in commercials.

She modestly attributes her success to having a keen sense of determination. “You know,” Cox explained, “you put your head down and keep pushing, and things just happen. Half of the battle of being an actress is perseverance — it’s just sticking around longer than anybody else.”

Though she still loves dance and harbors dreams of one day performing in a musical, she’s set on her career. “I loved it, but I knew it wasn’t something I could be doing when I turned 60 or 70,” Cox said. “I can act until I’m not breathing, you know?”

And the actress is happy working in either the film or the TV medium, provided that the material is good. “I prefer to do the best work I can. I’m happy doing great TV and great film.”

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