Working not for the money

MANILA, Philippines - When you ask actors in Hollywood what they love most about their jobs, the common thread of their answers boils down to almost just one thing: The “work.” More than the money, more than the accolades, all actors are in it for the craft and the joy they get from just being able to act.

Take the case of Taye Diggs. Ever since he starred opposite Angela Basset in the hit movie How Stella Got Her Groove Back in the late ‘90s, he hasn’t stopped working. Aside from the movies, he has done theater and TV. But his TV success did not come that easy. He spent years and two failed series that didn’t even make it to a second season (a mark of a TV success) before he finally hit the mark.

“I’m happy. I’m happy to have a job,” he says. The good-looking actor is in the cast of the hit medical drama Private Practice, which is now on its second season. Thank you.

The first season enjoyed high ratings until it was abruptly halted by a prolonged writer’s strike during the early part of 2008 and was only able to air nine episodes; not enough, they feared, to allow the show to build a stronger relationship with the audience.

“To be able to continue working is a great privilege and honor. And I was just curious to see where the character was going to go. You know what I mean? To get another chance to play a new character for me, I thought, was a fun opportunity. So it was fun this time around, and I’m hoping to be back. We’re all hoping, I think, to be back for another one.” The actor plays Sam Bennet, an internist whose self-help books have made him the “common man’s medical guru.”

Private Practice, a spin-off of Grey’s Anatomy, chronicles the move of renowned Seattle neonatal surgeon, Addison (Kate Walsh), from the Seattle Grace Hospital to Oceanside Wellness Group, a private fertility and wellness clinic in Santa Monica. Addison leaves behind a thriving career to reset her life in sunny California after going through a devastating divorce from Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd and a scandalous affair with her ex-husband’s best friend, Mark “McSteamy” Sloan. Both are the resident hunks of Grey’s Anatomy, and why they are called such is another story in itself.

“I think, (the strike) has been good for everyone, the writers included,” says Chris Lowell. “I think we’ve all just had a lot more fun this time around, really getting to dive in. It’s been a nice experience. Hopefully we can keep going.” Chris portrays office manager/nurse William Dell Parker who dreams of becoming a midwife. He was the love interest in the hit series Veronica Mars.

The two actors, along with fellow cast member Amy Brenneman, met with The Philippine Star in Los Angeles recently during the junket organized by ABC-Disney for the international markets airing Private Practice. In the Philippines, Private Practice airs Monday nights on Studio 23.

The current season picks up from the storyline established in season one but with unexpected twists and a “surprise” midway through when the cast of Grey’s Anatomy crosses over to Private Practice to help solve a medical emergency.

 “It was a lot of fun,” says Taye when asked how the Grey’s crossover episode was. “I’m a huge fan of the show and of those actors and the characters; so it was great just seeing — it was like a sleepover, going to your friends’ house and seeing what they had to eat and the games that they play. So it was fun. And it was fun to see — you know, as a fan, as a viewer, to see what I looked like on Grey’s Anatomy. I could say that I was on Grey’s Anatomy. It’s corny, but I like it.”

The crossover episode occurs when Addison’s brother, Archer (Melrose Place’s Grant Show, who appears in several episodes this season) suffers a seizure and the practice calls on the help of Addison’s ex-husband Derek.

Amy, who is famous for her title role in the hit TV series Judging Amy, plays a psychiatrist in the series. Her character, Dr. Violet Turner, is the type who is able to deftly advise her patients on their relationship issues but becomes intense, determined and unwilling to let outsiders see that inside her is a woman still crumbling with depression after a bad breakup with her ex.

“Well, I think the floodgates sort of opened.” Amy reveals that in the current season her character goes through some changes. “She was very isolated and then, I think, the floodgates opened — she’s such an extreme person, you know, pining after her ex, she did it in a stalker way, like she does it full-on out. And then once she gets a sex life, it becomes excessive and sort of out of control. And she’s very — she’s sort of very committed, and she doesn’t do things halfheartedly. And that is a really fun thing to play.

This character arc was supposed to have played out in the first season and was one of the unfortunate casualties of the strike. “I think we didn’t get to see that last year because she was so hung up on her crazy ex. But obviously she’s a very sensual, passionate vibrant person that we didn’t see.”

As an actor, Amy considers herself “to a certain degree have a lot more balance” in her life than her character. She considers marriage, family, and work as the kind of stuff that keeps one rooted in a certain way. “What I love about Violet is kind of whatever she’s doing — she’s doing it 1,000 percent. And she’s very committed, and she doesn’t do things halfheartedly. And that is a really fun thing to play.”

“I was really lucky in that I had the experience of working like a dog when my daughter was born. And, you know, the agony isn’t in the working or the not working, but it’s in the balance, like what everybody talks about. But it’s really no joke. And I think, for me, during those four years, the balance was so off. I was working so much. So then it was interesting when Judging Amy went down and I had my son. And then I kind of never thought I would work again.”

But it was not for long. Amy, who has been in the business since she was a child, couldn’t resist the lure of the business and decided to return when her son turned two. “I think that natural impulse to go back to work is like, you know, in the Violet parlance, I would say it regulates me. It’s regulated me since I was 11 years old.”

“When I don’t get to act, I’m a little bit of a bitch; so it’s really best for everybody that I get a job.” Be warned.