MARG’S A WOMAN OF MYSTERY
unknown Australian magazine
2002
by April Smith
‘CSI: Crime Scene Investigation’ star Marg Helgenberger easily handles gruesome TV homicides and the real challenges of being a wife and mother
Those of us who’ve seen even just 10 minutes of ‘CSI,’ have most likely ridden a laser beam, sped through a blood vessel or followed the spiralling trajectory of a bullet through the human brain.
At the centre of this TV juggernaut is 44-year-old actress and mother Marg Helgenberger, who says she finds it “endearing” that families sit down to watch her show together. “It’s appointment television for a lot of people,” Marg explains. “And that always touches me.”
Marg’s on-set quarters are outfitted like an elegant apartment, complete with a wide-screen TV, leather couches, gold-brocaded walls and crystal lamps. Thanks to a scented candle, the place smells of earthy cloves and pine. There’s also a bedroom and a study, but we settle in the kitchen. Snapshots of Hughie, Marg’s 12-year-old son with husband Alan Rosenberg (who stars in ‘The Guardian’), adorn the refrigerator.
“People have always liked a good mystery,” the actress says of the Nine Network show’s remarkable success. “The public’s fascination with forensic science came to a head in the ’90s with high-profile cases such as the O.J Simpson trial. But the reason people stay with it – if I may be so bold – is the show is damn good.”
A working actress since 1982, Marg is by no means an overnight sensation. She has appeared in diverse projects in film and TV, from soap opera ‘Ryan’s Hope’ to movie blockbuster ‘Erin Brockovich.’ And ‘CSI’ isn’t her first groundbreaking TV series – in 1990 she won an Emmy as K.C. Koloski, a drug-addicted prostitute in ‘China Beach.’
All the same, it’s the role of Catherine Willows that’s made Marg a household name. When asked how she got by in Hollywood with such an unusual name, she laughs. “No-one’s ever asked me to change it,” she says.
Marg knew she wanted to play Catherine the moment she read the pilot script. “I thought, ‘Wow, damn, there’s a lot to play there,” she says. “Catherine’s path could not have been easy. It took a lot of courage, discipline, focus and commitment.” So Marg called the show’s producer, Jerry Bruckheimer, directly and was offered the part without an audition. Since joining ‘CSI,’ Marg has climbed through landfills, acted in a tank of cold water, witnessed autopsies and researched execution chambers (while the show hasn’t taken a stand on capital punishment, the actress hopes the series “got people thinking”).
Although her role as Catherine often demands that she remains unemotional, Marg admits being “unsettled” by the number of female victims graphically killed each week. “There is an overabundance of women as victims on our show,” she laments.
Despite her passion of her job, Marg maintains she doesn’t “ever want my career to completely consume my life – but it’s right on the border.” She’s quick to credit “a wonderful woman in our lives” named Carole Garcia, who cares for her son when she and Alan are off shooting. Hughie, she notes, doesn’t come on set as often as she’d like – but when he does, “I always allow him to bring a couple of buddies,” she says. “The thing they enjoy the most is the prop truck. It’s filled with whack stuff, like boxes of condoms,” she laughs. “But as far as the boys are concerned, the condoms are more about water balloons.”
Although the movie-star lifestyle is clearly not a priority, Marg takes some pleasure in the opportunities ‘CSI’ has afforded her. She giggles when recalling the entourage of make-up artists who attended her when she appeared on late-night TV last year. “It wasn’t like the old days,” she says, “when it was just me, a tube of mascara and a blow-dryer!”
The assistant director calls that the crew is ready to start shooting again, so Marg turns up the collar of her black jacket and heads for the red lights of the emergency vehicles. It may always be night on CSI – but for Marg Helgenberger a new day is dawning.
*Special thanks to Kelly Willows for transcribing this article*