Anna Belknap

CSI Files

CSI Files

Captain
<font color=yellow>Anna Belknap</font> joined CSI: New York in the third episode of the show's sophomore season as Detective Lindsay Monroe, a young criminalist from Montana hand-picked by Mac Taylor to join his team. The CSI: NY producers selected Belknap, whose previous credits include series regular roles on Medical Investigation and The Handler, to portray the enthusiastic young woman. Belknap shared with CSI Files' <font color=yellow>Kristine Huntley</font> her take on how Lindsay is adjusting to the big city and what the biggest challenges are facing her character.

CSI Files: You've been on CSI: New York for half a seasonnow. How are you settling in? Do you enjoy working on the show?

Anna Belknap: I do, I like it a lot. It's the nicest crew, thenicest cast. It's really a great job.

CSI Files: What led you to take the role of Lindsay Monroe?

Belknap: Basically the way it works out here is that you getauditions and you go in. I knew <font color=yellow>Hill [Harper</font>,Dr. Sheldon Hawkes] was on the show. I can't remember if I talked to himabout it before or after I went in [to audition]. I was actuallyauditioning for Numb3ers--they needed somebody new on that show--andI didn't wind up getting that and then they were like, "Well, what aboutCSI: New York? So I was like, "Great!" So I went in, and I think they videotaped it and sent it off to [executive producers] <fontcolor=yellow>Jerry Bruckheimer</font> and <font color=yellow>Anthony Zuiker</font>, and then I got it.

CSI Files: What was it like joining the show in the second season?

Belknap: Everyone made me feel really welcome. It's a littlenerve-wracking because the show has a huge following and it's got thisreal New York fee. Luckily my character wasn't from New York. Butto step in and know you're the odd man in the group--everybody else hasthis real New York energy but you're coming in as this other thing, it'speculiar. On the one hand it's great because everything I felt coming inwas exactly what Lindsay Monroe would feel, sort of like she was coming into something that was already established. So it worked out for the best.I purposefully didn't watch the show; I [got cast] over the summer and Icould have watched the reruns but I purposefully didn't because I didn'twant to try to fit in right away. I was afraid if I watched it I wouldcarry the tone of the show with me, which I thought would be a mistakesince I was supposed to be from somewhere else.

It was great--they made me feel really welcome right away. In fact bythe time I was shooting [my second or third episode]. I felt like I had toremind myself that Lindsay was new and that Lindsay probably wouldn't feelas at ease as I felt by that time. It's really a great group. You spend somuch time together that when it's not a great group it becomes so muchharder to do the work, but <font color=yellow>Gary [Sinse</font>, Mac Taylor] is a great role model, and so is <font color=yellow>Melina[Kanakaredes</font>, Stella Bonasera]. They both work really hard, andthey show up and they're professional.

CSI Files: What's it like working with Gary and Melina? Had youever worked with them before?

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To read the full interviews, please click here.<center></center>
 
Thanks, abc! :cool: I think Anna really shed some light on Lindsay and what makes her tick, which I enjoyed hearing about.
 
For the actors, you're not in every scene of the day. So we usually get a much easier workday than the crew, who have to be there start to finish everyday, five days a week. They work really hard.
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Color me SHOCKED! An actor who admits the crew works much more than they do? This might be a first! They're usually bitching about how they have to work 12+ hour days when really, actors don't work that hard. That was nice of her to give props to the crew.

Great interview! She sounds really friendly.
 
^I know, you've got to love that! It's nice when people acknowledge how hard the crew work. Deb Fujiwara mentioned that in her interview, too, when she was an extra on the show. The crew for NY sounds awesome. It's nice that Anna mentioned how they're always working when the actors do get downtime.
 
^What, you don't want to hang with Carmine, too? :lol: ;)

That bungalow sounds like so much fun! I bet they do have a blast in it. I bet Hill smashed the guitars after a while though. :lol:
 
Not unless he's there with a mop and a dust buster. We'd need someone to clean.

I love how Hill put in a word for her. Hill is made of awesome.
 
Carmine, cleaning? :lol: :lol: :lol: Like he'd ever condescend to that himself. :lol:

I think that was sweet of Hill, too. Did anyone see them on The Handler? I'm totally wishing I had watched it now. Same with Medical Investigation. I liked what Anna said about not liking the character she played on Medical Investigation and then by the end of the season coming around and liking her after all. I think that's cool, and as a viewer, I love it when that happens with a character--that you go from hating the character to loving him/her.

I only saw the first ep of MI, and I actually quit watching for two reasons: one, I hated the lead guy (Neal McDonough). His character was an ass--House without the humor. The other reason was that I didn't like that Anna's character, Eva, basically used her sex appeal to trick a journalist into the garage so he wouldn't sniff out a story. I thought that was beneath a professional head of PR for a hospital. I kinda wonder now if that bugged Anna, too. I wish I'd watched MI later in the season. I kinda hope it will come out on DVD.
 
midnight_tiptoes said:

I love how Hill put in a word for her. Hill is made of awesome.
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Hill is so awesome! I loved how he did that. Perhaps he is the one that has the power to get me on again. ;)
 
I started watching Medical Investigation once, but then I screamed, "no! no!" in horror and hid behind the couch for a couple of hours. When I came to I had no recollection of what'd actually taken place that night.

Horrible, horrible writing.

Funny, I wanted to watch it because I love Neal (Band of Brothers, represent!), but yeah, it was pretty bad. The acting? Oh, man.

I think I actually made it halfway through the episode before my seizure, though. I don't remember Anna at all, though. Never saw The Handler, either. Hill!
 
midnight_tiptoes said:
I started watching Medical Investigation once, but then I screamed, "no! no!" in horror and hid behind the couch for a couple of hours. When I came to I had no recollection of what'd actually taken place that night.

Horrible, horrible writing.
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That's the same reaction I had. It was so cliched. And just nowhere near as interesting as I expected it to be. Such a cool concept. I guess House came along and got the formula right.

Funny, I wanted to watch it because I love Neal (Band of Brothers, represent!), but yeah, it was pretty bad. The acting? Oh, man.
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I loved Neal from Minority Report, but man, his character turned me off right away. I really couldn't stand him. It's funny because he really was a proto-House, and my love for House knows no bounds.

I think I actually made it halfway through the episode before my seizure, though. I don't remember Anna at all, though. Never saw The Handler, either. Hill!
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I didn't see The Handler either. For some reason I think it was on Friday or Saturday night. Joe Pants (Pantalino or whatever) was in it, I remember that much! Again, I hope it comes out on DVD. Anna made it sound like a cool show.
 
*remembers the Handler*

There were a few good episodes, and Joe Pantiliano's character was good. Truth be told, Hill is doing a much better job on CSI then he did on The Handler.I remember Anna, too! She looked like she was a teen then! :lol:
 
^I wish I'd seen it--it sounds like Anna took on some very interesting personas in it! I can see Hill as a bad boy, but I'd love to see Anna in a bar fight! :lol: I bet that would be fun to see.
 
That was a great interview!!! It was refreshing to see an actor being so honest and straightforward about her roles and that the crew works harder than they do!!!

At this moment I am sooooo jealous of Anna Belknap because she gets to share a bungalow with our NY men.
 
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