411mania Interviews: Sarah Shahi
Posted by Al Norton on 01.20.2011
411′s Al Norton sits down for an exclusive interview with Sarah Shahi, star of the new USA series Fairly Legal.
Sarah Shahi is a former NFL cheerleader with appearances on The Sopranos, Supernatural, Alias, and Dawson’s Creek on her resume, but she’s best known for her lead roles on The L Word and Life. She can be seen starring in the new USA series Fairly Legal, which premieres tonight at 10pm.
Al Norton: How did Fairly Legal come to you?
Sarah Shahi: It came to me originally as an audition. I was five weeks post-partum at the time
Al Norton: So you were clearly at your most confident?
Sarah Shahi: (Laughing) Right. Me at my most delusional, that’s for sure. I didn’t read the script I just read the sides and I figured it would be fun to go in and be the girl for about 10 minutes in the auditioning room and that would be it. I didn’t want to jump back into TV; I was a little hesitant. I went it and the only outfit that would fit me at the time was my husband’s white tee-shirt, a blazer, Nike running shorts, and heels. I could not forget the heels. By the end of the audition my boobs starting lactating so before I even finished the last line I basically ran out of the room.
They called my manager and said, “you know, we thought she was amazing but she’s really strange and she wore the strangest outfit we ever saw today. Can you please have her come in and look a little more lawyerly, at least put on a button down?” The only button down that fit me was a country western shirt from my husband’s cowboy Halloween outfit. Like I said, I was five weeks post-partum and at my most delusional, so I wore this country button down, that had tassels on it and the works, with the same Nike running shorts, a blazer, and my heels.
These guys thought I was fucking with them. I go in and do the audition again. They wanted me to test for it and I said, “look, I would love to be the girl but I’ve done the lead in a show before and gotten very little back in terms of love from the network or from the audience and we got cancelled, and I don’t have any interest in testing unless I can actually have some creative input, unless I’m the face of the show.” I wanted to be a lot more than an actor for hire.
I basically gave them every reason not to hire me and it turns out that’s exactly what they wanted to hear, what they wanted in the actress who was going to get the role, and that’s how I ended up playing Kate.
Al Norton: You’ve obviously more than carried your share of the load and then some on previous series but you’re in almost every scene in the Fairly Legal pilot
Sarah Shahi: Yes, that’s true (laughing).
Al Norton: Is getting a call sheet like that every day invigorating or at times possibly intimidating?
Sarah Shahi: Even though in Life Damian (Lewis) was the lead and I was the female lead, it was still a pretty heavy work load. Knock on wood, I’ve made a career out of episodic TV so if I wasn’t the number one I was aware of what the number one was going through, so it was never intimidating.
The hardest part about the whole series was the lack of free time. I had my son with me and every spare moment I spend being a Mom. Even for my lunches, with no exaggeration, if there wasn’t a script issue or a wardrobe fitting, I was chasing my son around the lot. On the weekends, when most actors sleep in or learn lines, I was being a Mom because that was the only time I could be a Mom.
Al Norton: Did you do any research into mediators?
Sarah Shahi: No. I didn’t think the show was procedural heavy and I thought it was more important to get this girl’s heart, to understand why she does what she does. It was more important to get her than to wonder if I was being true to what a real mediator was like. I am sure mediators across the world are going to hate my character (laughing).
Al Norton: That law firm set, where you office is, is incredible; is that a real place?
Sarah Shahi: No, they built it, the art department built it. Ricardo Spinace, the production designer on the show, is amazing. We shot some of that stuff in the pilot at the Vancouver Museum and then they replicated it. I believe they actually got the blueprints for the museum and did the exact duplicate. That’s all on a set, it’s amazing.
Al Norton: I ask this question with a big smile but USA has a fantastic track record for their original series the last few years, so are you at all worried about being the one to screw things up?
Sarah Shahi: I wasn’t ’till you just asked me. Thanks a lot. I am a bit nervous now. You can work so hard at something and still never know what the temperature of the audience is going to be when they see it, so that part is nerve racking because you’re not in control. I guess I am a bit nervous. Wow, thanks a lot for that (laughing).
Either way, I love USA, I love being on the network, and they’re invested in creating great characters and as an actor that’s what you want.
Al Norton: This isn’t really a question but I just wanted to tell you how much I loved Life.
Sarah Shahi: Oh, thank you.
Al Norton: The fact that everyone from the show has gone on to such success demonstrates how great it was.
Sarah Shahi: I got a show, Damian got a show, Donal (Logue) got a show, Adam Arkin has been doing tons of things. Life had wonderful actors and they would have found lots of work regardless of the show. It was lots of fun. I do love being surrounded by a bunch of boys, that’s for sure.
Al Norton: For most couples balancing a marriage and a baby is enough but you’re adding two Hollywood careers to the mix as well (Shahi’s husband is Steve Howey, best known for his work on Reba and currently being seen in Showtime’s Shameless). How’s that working for you?
Sarah Shahi: It’s good. Steve and I support each other a lot. We’re each other’s biggest fans and biggest critics. It can be great and be really crazy and also very vulnerable and we can fight with each other at the same time. Nobody knows me better than him, and vice versa, so if we do great work it’s like, “oh my gosh, that was so sexy, take me right now” and if we do bad work, or even just ok work, it can be, “what were you thinking? That was so false” and we can just go at it. There’s a lot of honesty there.
Al Norton: Your bio has a note about meeting Robert Altman in Texas and him encouraging you to go to Hollywood; what’s it like for one of the greatest filmmakers ever to encourage you to pursue your dreams?
Sarah Shahi: It’s amazing is what it is. I had no idea who he was at the time. I was a cheerleader for the Cowboys and the reason I even auditioned for them was that I heard that they were on Saturday Night Live back in 1995 and I thought it might be my way in. Robert Altman came to Texas to film Dr T and The Women. I didn’t know who he was and we were basically extras in his movie for two weeks. I just kind of buddied up with him and he took my under his wing. Towards the end of it he asked me what I wanted to do and I told him I wanted to be an actor but didn’t know how to go about it. He said, “I think you’ve got what it takes, I think you should go out to LA. I think you have something.” He gave me his office number and his mobile and told me to call him when I moved out because he wanted to help me.
The first three months I was in LA I called him while he was still in Texas but I still had no idea who he was. That first night after he told me I had what it takes I went home and googled him and the only movie I recognized was Popeye. I told my Mom, “the guy who directed Popeye is telling me I have a shot.” We played phone tag for a while but at that point people had told me who he was and I watched his movies and became educated about him and then I was too intimidated to call him back.
I just feel so fortunate that I have a story about someone who basically helped define an era of cinema, and is so revered among audiences and people in the business.
Al Norton: Give my readers a quick pitch on Fairly Legal.
Sarah Shahi: It’s like Sex and the City meets Law & Order, with a lot more sex than law. If that right there doesn’t get them, I don’t know what will.
Don’t miss the series premiere of Fairly Legal, Thursday at 10pm on USA
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Source – 411mania Interviews: Sarah Shahi – 411mania.com
