N.J. native does double-duty on '24', 'Heroes'
Monday, March 5, 2007
By VIRGINIA ROHAN
STAFF WRITER
AP
In "24," Rena Sofer plays Marilyn Bauer, Jack's (Kiefer Sutherland, top) sister-in-law.
Imagine being married to two men at the same time -- in the same time slot.
Rena Sofer's simultaneous stints as Nathan Petrelli's wife on NBC's "Heroes" and Graem Bauer's spouse on Fox's "24" are perfectly legal forms of television bigamy, with a fortuitous added fluke: The two shows face off at 9 p.m. Monday.
"That was just the stars aligning for Rena Sofer," says the actress, who's now rooted in Los Angeles but spent a good chunk of her early years in North Bergen. "I get to be on these two great shows and to get a lot of press from the fact that they're on against each other. It's just been really fun for me."
On "Heroes," Sofer's Heidi Petrelli is a savvy political wife who's been in a wheelchair since a car accident. Her lawyer-husband, played by Adrian Pasdar, was at the wheel and, thanks to his secret superpowers, was miraculously unscathed. Nathan, a bit of a philanderer, is running for Congress, and Heidi's a big part of his campaign.
Over on "24," her Marilyn Bauer was recently widowed when Graem (Paul McCrane), the sinister brother of Kiefer Sutherland's heroic Jack Bauer, was murdered by the Bauer boys' father (James Cromwell).
The two women actually have something in common, Sofer says.
"Both of them are political wives, and both have put up with their husbands' antics, so to speak, as the dutiful wife," she says. "But I think Heidi actually really loves her husband. And she has a great passion for him as a human. I think he's her knight in shining armor."
As for Marilyn Bauer, Sofer says, "Her marriage to Graem is over now, and she's quite happy about that. ... She just really hated him. They hated each other."
She adds, "I think Jack is her knight in shining armor."
For that reason, as well as Papa Bauer's continued evildoing (he subsequently kidnapped and threatened to kill Marilyn's son -- his own grandson -- and tried to eliminate son Jack, too), Sofer's two-timing continues despite Graem's death.
Will we ever learn the back story behind Marilyn and Jack's unmistakable attraction?
"I don't know yet," Sofer says. "I'm in a few more of '24,' and then I have no idea how the season ends. They don't really tell you, and they don't hire you until the episode they want you to do. The same thing with 'Heroes.' " (The latter, by the way, has already asked Sofer to do more episodes that will run toward the end of the season.)
Ask Sofer about working with Pasdar and Sutherland, and she gushes.
"I could not have been luckier, getting to work with these two men who really have accomplished careers, and years and years of experience under their belts, and don't come off as cocky movie stars or have any attitude," Sofer says. "They're just these kind and decent men who want to do good work, and are excited about their successful shows and want to do what they need to do to make them more successful."
The daughter of an Orthodox Jewish rabbi and a psychology professor, Sofer, now 38, started taking acting lessons and going on auditions while she was a senior at a private high school in Paramus.
In 1995, she won an Emmy for playing Lois Cerullo Ashton on "General Hospital." Her prime-time credits include "Melrose Place," "Blind Justice," "Just Shoot Me," "Coupling" and "Ed." (Sofer's story arc as Bonnie Hayne on "Ed" brought her back to North Jersey, where that series was made.)
And now, there's "Heroes" and "24" -- which have driven home the benefits of working on TV shows with large casts.
"With '24,' even when I was heavily on it, I really only worked three, four days in the episode, because, don't forget, they're in the president's office, they're at CTU, they're on the street with Fayed. Same thing with 'Heroes,'
"It's so wonderful for somebody like me, because I get to have my days of just really working hard, and then I get to have my days where I'm just with my older daughter and with the baby."
Sofer has a 19-month-old daughter with director husband Sanford Bookstaver, and a 10-year-old daughter from her previous marriage to "General Hospital" co-star Wallace Kurth.
Right now, it's the middle of pilot season in Hollywood, so Sofer has been busy reading scripts for potential new series.
Would she ever consider doing one back East? Does she ever miss New Jersey?
"No," Sofer says, without hesitation, in answer to the latter question. "I mean, if a [New York-based] show has come up, and my husband and I have had to think about the possibility of moving, I always say to him, 'Well, you know, there are great homes in Jersey. We don't have to live in New York City.
"But we don't really entertain that, because we have such a life here. I take care of my father. I've got two children. My older daughter's father is here. My husband's career is here. And so, it doesn't make any sense."
Besides, in Los Angeles, she gets to do neat things, like appearing on two hot shows at once.
Says Sofer, "I'm having the time of my life. I really am."
E-mail:
rohan@northjersey.com
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Split screen
Rena Sofer appears on "24" and "Heroes" in pivotal spousal roles:
'24'
Role: Marilyn Bauer, wife of Jack Bauer's evil-doing brother, Graem.
Marital status: Newly widowed -- and happy to be free of her detestable spouse.
Future: Uncertain. Sofer has "no idea how the season ends," nor if the Jack-Marilyn attraction will be explained.
On running with Jack Bauer: "Never in my 20 years of being an actress have I done action like it. It's really fun and exciting."
'HEROES'
Role: Heidi Petrelli, wife of aspiring politician Nathan Petrelli.
Marital status: Still with hubby, and supporting her man of many secrets.
Future: Unclear. Sofer's been asked to come back for three episodes near season's end. Heidi, whose husband feels responsible for the accident that paralyzed her from the waist down, clings to hope that she'll one day walk again.
On "Heroes" as a showcase: "I've been recognized more from 'Heroes,' from the two episodes I've done so far, than almost anything else I've done in my career."
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