1 Makeup by: Rea Ann Silva Styling by: Kelly Williams Hair by: Gloria Ponce
Becker, Jennifer
Gina Torres
Issue #31
The ‘impossibly tall’ actress thanks God for sci-fi and talks about her role in I Think I Love My Wife
By Sheba White
Published: March 1st, 2007 | 12:00am
Gina Torres is tall and voluptuous, and speaks with a smoky, trained mezzo-soprano voice that contains just a touch of irony and sarcasm. The 5-foot-10-inch Cuban-Bronx native’s commanding presence is probably one of the many reasons why she is chosen to play roles that emphasize her physicality. Yet, Torres says her physical assets aren’t always appreciated when it comes to casting.
“I walk into a room, and for this industry, I’m impossibly tall. When they find it hard to pair you up with the opposite sex, then what’s left for a woman? Either you’re the ball-buster or the not-so-attractive girlfriend standing by the lead,” Torres said during a mid-December phone interview from the Los Angeles home she shares with her husband, actor Laurence Fishburne. “I mean, traditionally not so attractive. Because you have your starlets and then you have their best friends who are these character actresses. When you fall within the cracks, you thank God for sci-fi, because they’ll give you a gun, and they’ll say, ‘Go over there and conquer that world. You kick some ass, girl!’”
Torres first garnered attention playing roles she describes as “wild, crazy fantasy and sci-fi,” where she was “dressed in leather and rubber and holding an enormous sidearm” — roles that earned favor with notoriously loyal sci-fi, action, and fantasy fans. Earlier in her career, she was the caustic, robot regime–fighting Helen “Hel” Carter in Cleopatra 2525; the Shiva-like destroyer-goddess Jasmine in the Buffy spin-off Angel; and the lippy, starship first mate, Zoe Washburne, in Joss Whedon’s Firefly. But she’s also had roles in NYPD Blue, Law & Order, ER, CSI, 24, Alias, and the last two installments of The Matrix trilogy, and has guest-starred in increasingly more dramatic roles since her introduction to TV from theater.
However, the 37-year-old expectant mother doesn’t shun the “action star” label that she is often saddled with erroneously. “I know this is going to sound cliché, but I’m just glad to be working,” Torres said. “I mean, like any actor, I’ve watched things that I’ve just done, and I’ll think, ‘OK, now why did I pick that? Why did I pick that take? I mean — Jesus — that sucks.’ Then five years go by, and I’ll trip over it on cable, and I’ll go, ‘Oh, this isn’t so bad,” Torres laughed. “All I can do is quote my husband who — when I was moaning and groaning one day about ‘I just want to be a girl in a dress. Why can’t they hire me to be just the stupid girlfriend in the dress?’ — said, ‘Because you have an innate authority. It’s hard to come by.’ It’s not hard to come by a stupid girl in a dress. With all due respect to all those lovely ladies in dresses, it is harder, apparently, to hire or find someone in Hollywood — a woman in particular — where their authority is unquestionable. For whatever reason, and quite unbeknownst to me, I seem to give that vibe out. I’m very grateful to that vibe because it’s kept me working.”
In 2006 alone, Torres worked as Special Agent Cheryl Carrera on the new FOX hostage-themed series Standoff, finished production on the lush crime drama South of Pico, and filmed the comedy I Think I Love My Wife with Chris Rock, who also directed and co-wrote the film, which is due in March. “Chris was great,” Torres enthused. “Although I’ve been on great sets before, I’ve never been on a set where it was: ‘We’re making the funny today! Here we are; we are making the funny!’ It was infectious, and it was fun, and he was wonderfully focused. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend my summer.”
Both films find Torres playing characters that may surprise her loyal fan base. But, Torres argued, “It’s really just a shift in drama. You go from a ‘heightened reality,’ to something that’s a little more ‘realistic.’ To go from doing stage plays and musicals to fantasy and sci-fi ... it’s wonderful, and all very valid, but there was still a piece missing. I’m just looking to fulfill that piece and to expand.”
Working on My Wife was an entirely new experience for Torres. “I got to be a wife!” she exclaimed. “That’s exactly what attracted me to it. I got to be something that I am, for a change. It was the closest thing to home that I got to do, ever. Because, that’s right, I do play the loner, ball-buster, who-could-handle-her chick. And I play somebody’s mother in I Think I Love My Wife, which was lovely. It was an opportunity to just be soft, to be somebody else.”
Asked whether she would ever go back to her previous roles — say if Firefly’s creators did a musical — Torres, with sultry laughter responded, “You mean if they gave Zoe [Torres’ Firefly role] a song? God, could I drink — before, during, and after? I don’t know about that one. I might have to see that one.” She paused just before dryly adding, “You might have to have a few drinks.”
Dress by Fremont; vintage white lace slip available at Swellegant Vintage in Newport Beach, California; Via Spiga black suede Mary Jane–style shoes ($220) available at the Via Spiga BH boutique (310.285.9880)
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