Great chemistry between CSI: NY principal actors
There is a hush on the set of CSI: NY as Gary Sinise questions a suspect in the interrogation room. Everyone falls deadly quiet when Sinise, who plays Detective Mac Taylor, is doing the scene.
No one says a word even when he flubs his line. Twice. Maybe it is because there are eight reporters in the building that day observing his every move from a distance. But being the consummate actor that he is, Sinise nails the scene the next time around and the set is abuzz with activity as the next scene is being prepared.
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Detectives Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise) and Stella Bonasera (Melina Kanakaredes) examining a key piece of evidence in an episode of CSI: NY. |
Initially, Sinise never even considered doing television but all that changed when he met with CSI: Crime Scene Investigator creator Anthony Zuiker. He saw potential in CSI: NY and it had a good chance to be successful.
He also saw the opportunity to flex his acting muscles while playing Taylor, the lead investigator and former Marine Corps officer who lost his wife during the 9/11 attacks. Taylor is intense, direct and very interested to know not just the how but also the why crimes are committed.
There were other factors too. He says frankly: “In exchange for maybe a little creative boredom, I have a good strong steady income to put my kids through school and a regular job that allows me to actually do other types of things I’m interested in.”
Sinise talks passionately about his charity work. He has a band (the Lieutenant Dan Band) that tours and plays for the US troops around the world and a programme called Operation Iraqi Children, which provides school supplies to the children in Iraq and fosters positive relations between America and Iraq.
CSI: NY’s Melina Kanakaredes, 37, who plays Detective Stella Bonasera, appreciates the stability and the perks that come with her role as well. She points to her children’s trailer, which is parked just outside the building where journalists are having roundtable interviews with the cast of the show. “Across from that (trailer) is mine, and there’s a little playground in there. My children come to work with me everyday. We hang out and have lunch together.”
No stranger to TV – she played Dr Sydney Hansen, the principal role on the critically acclaimed Providence, for five years (it was never aired in Malaysia) – Greek American Kanakaredes was thrilled about taking up this show.
“This is a series that deals with death and the people who were left behind – the victims’ families – and I found that that was the most exciting thing when doing the research for this role. (At the same time,) we’re starting to delve into who the show’s characters are and what they’re about and less intense on the morbid stuff,” she explains animatedly.
Half-Greek half-Italian, Bonasera is adept at handling guns and obsessive when it comes to getting to the truth. She’s an orphan whose fierce independence, intelligence and determination earned her the coveted spot as Taylor’s right hand. In fact, Bonasera is to Taylor like Catherine Willows is to Gil Grissom (the lead characters in the original series).
Like Grissom and Willows, there is great chemistry between Bonasera and Taylor. The two characters appear to have been friends for years and are comfortable letting down their guard around one another. Could there be something more in store for them in the future?
“I think they should do the flirting but never quite do the dance,” answers Kanakaredes. “That makes it more exciting. It’s pretty common for two people working closely together to have a sort of unspoken language. They can make it fun without having them jump on top of each other.”
Sinise corroborates: “It’s a professional relationship. I don’t know where that would go. But wait a minute, it’s a TV series. Anything can happen.”
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