Re: Sofia Curtis
Thanks,
LSB!
Louise was included as part of the cast interviewed in
this article at the Channel5 website, and here is what it said. It's really interesting!!
Louise Lombard
Plays Detective Sofia Curtis
“Brits can do American accents better than Americans do British.”
Louise Lombard is a more recent addition to the CSI cast. But she’s probably the most instantly recognisable face for us Brits, despite a blonde look and an accent shift. She’s best known for Chancer and The House Of Elliot in Britain, but has now turned her attention to working in America, appearing in such films as Hidalgo and My Kingdom.
Detective Sofia Curtis started her career as a CSI, but after a stint working in the lab with Grissom and co, she’s begun working closely with Jim Brass as a ‘tec.
So what brought you to America?
I was coming backwards and forwards, mostly because of TV pilots – I’d done a pilot with Jeff Goldblum and I’d done movies such as Hidalgo. I just hadn’t really got to the point where I was living here. And then when I was offered this, it kind of flipped it over. And I had a baby and that helped!
How was it joining an established cast?
I said, “You have to be joking… Why would you add a character to a show that’s working so well as it is?” But they were committed to the idea of that. But I was nervous coming on for those reasons and I’ve done fairly long running TV shows in England, I know how tight that family can be. And the idea of an outsider coming in, and that outsider being me... it was a little bit nerve-wracking. But I had no need to worry. They’re wonderful. That might have had something to with the fact that I was pregnant and waddling about and they felt sorry for me!
Do people in England know you’re over here starring in a huge TV show watched by millions?
Well, I’d done a fairly good job of staying under radar at home, so it’s pretty much even more so here. But it’s fairly successful at home.
But you do such a good accent...
(Laughs uproariously) Yeah, thanks! Moving swiftly along… Brits can do American accents better than Americans do British, but being in the firing line, I’m not really supposed to comment! You can get away with it on the BBC, but here you have to raise your game! It’s glasshouses and stones.
As a character actor, is it ever frustrating to be on a show that’s so heavily focused on the procedural?
I thought it would be. Because the audiences don’t like it when it gets too personal. So I thought that might be limiting, but personally, I’ve had some nice, really personal stuff to do. And I’m getting to interrogate people! And that gives you a challenge to play.
Here comes the science bit…CSI is loaded with technological terms that the cast have to trip off their tongues at speed every week. How do you handle it?
I hate it! They tell me what it means and two weeks later I can’t remember! It comes up every episode. All the CSIs have all the stuff down and I was beginning to get some of the forensic stuff down, but then I was moved over to being a cop and I’m back to square one.