Network 24/So You Think You Know Dana Walsh?

"So You Think You Know Dana Walsh?" is the sixteenth blog post on Network 24. It was posted by Geoff Aull, on March 15, 2010, at 7:43pm CST.

The blog was a series of video interviews with Katee Sackhoff.

Blog

Meet Dana Walsh. Also known as Jenny Scott.

This season has a new fan-favorite. It’s Katee Sackhoff, formerly Starbuck of “Battlestar Galactica.” Katee is a gracious and spirited actor, who prefers doing her own stunts and enjoys the challenge of playing a woman with a complicated back story.

We had the chance to sit down with Katee for an informal, behind-the-scenes chat in her trailer while the crew was on location.

Playing complex women on both 24 and Battlestar Galactica.

[video transcript]

• Katee Sackhoff: When I first found out the role was available and sat down with the writers and producers they gave me a pretty good idea of where she was going to go. She has so far exceeded that, but I knew that she was going to. Pretty much everything up till 16 I kind of knew. I didn't know how it would happen, but I knew it was coming. It was a blessing and a curse from what I understand from other actors that have been on the show because to not know what you're going to be allows you to fully commit to where you are at the moment. You have a lot more layers to sift through to figure out what you're doing and make sure it's committed to that moment. I like complex characters, I can't imagine ever playing someone that isn't crazy to some extent. If they weren't I'd probably make them a little bit nuts. It's just more fun to come to work and play one thing but be thinking something differently. I approach pretty much every role I play the same way. I figure out my back story before and then I never think of it again. I just play the moment and make sure that I trust my instincts. As long as I can play the realism of a moment and the simplicity of a moment and not over think it then I think I've done my job.

When we first meet Dana, she appears to be an ever-innocent, type-A, powerhouse overachiever intelligence analyst at CTU and not a paroled ex-con with a stolen identity. But she’s got a hidden past that includes Kevin Wade, the dark horse ex-boyfriend from Arkansas who Dana used to run with. Now he’s resurfaced and he’s creating havoc in the new life she’s made for herself.

Katee Sackhoff talks about some of the physical roles she has done on the show

Strangled twice and guns are awesome!

[video transcript]

• Katee Sackhoff: 24 is different than anything I've ever done before because... our shooting schedule is very interesting. We shoot two episodes at the same time, then we'll block shoot, so everything in CTU will happen in two or three days so it takes eight or nine days to shoot an episode, so sixteen days [for the two episodes], and I'll work maybe three of them. That's when you're in both episodes. So you have a lot of down time which I'm not used to and then when you do work its like, "go, go, go, go, go". It's intense and I'm pretty banged up. I've been strangled twice... it's awesome. Love that. And I have guns. So I'm happy. It's great. The crew's fantastic. It's very interesting, when I first got here everyone welcomed me with open arms because they're used to it. They have new characters every single year. They take you in, and hope you don't die, and know that you probably will.. something like that.

Katee’s daily on-set snack rituals. Plus, stealing muffins…

[video transcript]

• Katee Sackhoff: My favourite snack... every single 3rd AD and PA knows that I eat vegetables with humus every day at eleven o'clock. Sometimes I put some ketchup in there. I know - I wasn't allowed a lot of ketchup when I was a kid so now I eat it on everything. I put it on my cereal: some people would vomit if they saw me. Then what else do I have? The green tea. I'm obsessed with ice tea. This kid Koche whose one of our PA's is constantly running up with new iced teas for me. I eat the rice cakes. I know, very exciting. I eat rice cakes with sea weed on. I'm trying to think of one thing that's bad for me... the dried fruit. I eat the dried fruit a lot which is not very good for you. My favourite thing from catering are their muffins in the morning. I steal the muffins then I freeze them in my freezer then I take them out at night and I put them on the counter and in the morning they are nice and room temperature for my boyfriend. That means I don't have to cook muffins anymore. So, they have pumpkin today... I'm very excited, very festive!

External links

• "So You Think You Know Dana Walsh?" at Network 24.