Q&A with Laura San Giacomo
You may know her as Just Shoot Me's Blush editor Maya Gallo or Julia Roberts' potty-mouthed best friend, Kit De Luca, in Pretty Woman. But these days you can find Laura San Giacomo on TNT's Saving Grace, playing forensic scientist—and Holly Hunter's BFF—Rhetta Rodriguez. She opened up about why she loves her latest alter ego.
Q: Saving Grace is pretty different than the last TV show we saw you on, Just Shoot Me. Do you like doing drama better than comedy?
A: I really like them both. I like changing up the tone and style of things I do. I'm really fortunate that I've gotten to do that in my career. It's like changing foods—like eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for years and years and then someone puts a salad in front of you and you go, 'Okay, yeah, I wanted a change.' It's fun to get really intense and emotionally detailed and complicated. Certainly situation comedy is harder than people who are good at it make it look, but it's fun to do something different.
Q: Is it different to be on cable rather than on network TV? There are so many shows on cable these days that are pushing the envelope and embracing really strong women in leading roles.
A: That is definitely one big difference in cable, and I wonder if the networks will follow suit. It really seems like there is an audience for women over 40. We don't turn off our TVs at 39, and all different ages enjoy watching, strong, interesting, complicated, crazy women.
Q: What do you love most about Rhetta?
A: Well, I certainly love the friendship and the relationship with Grace [played by Holly Hunter]. I also love the scientific aspect and her flair with science. It's not something I was ever really good at, but something I've been interested in all my life. So it's great to play with that and indulge that part of my affinity. I'm a bit of a layman physics junkie. I don't really understand it, but I love trying to understand it.
Q: Well, that's one of the great parts of being an actress, isn't it? You get to cater to so many different big dreams?
A: Exactly. When I was doing Just Shoot Me, I got to go to Allure magazine and be editor for a day. That was really cool. What I like about acting and the research that goes into it is that in a very short time you can delve in and become an expert on something—learning what the people are like who do it, what personality traits make them suited for the job, what it is that's exciting about it. It's like being a student of life, or of people.
Laura San Giacomo's favorite things
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