On TV's '24,' cherchez la femme
By Bill Keveney
USA Today
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Last year's mole, Nina (Sarah Clarke), has returned, and the president's scheming ex-wife, Sherry (Penny Johnson Jerald), reappears. Here's a look at some of the women who provide "24" with some of its finest hours.
If terrorists, a nuclear bomb and staff deception weren't enough to upset David Palmer's day, the "24" president encounters another challenge: his shrewd, scheming ex-wife, Sherry.
Jerald, who plays the formidable Sherry, is happy to see the return of the supportive spouse whose chilling evolution earned her the nickname Lady Macbeth.
When she got the role last year, "I was definitely not thinking of that. I thought of her as a very powerful, mentor type of a woman, with strength, confidence and sensuality. Of course, she became this conniving person" who drew comparisons to Shakespeare's calculating lady, Jerald recalls during an interview at Behind the World Productions. She runs the in-home studio with her husband, musician and professor Gralin Jerald.
Executive producer Robert Cochran credits the Juilliard-trained actress, a veteran of "The Larry Sanders Show" and "ER," with helping shape her character.
"We knew we wanted her as Palmer's wife, but we didn't have any idea of the story lines we would develop. But watching the way she played things and seeing how great she was at certain types of scenes, we thought, 'Hey, we've got to write to that,' " Cochran says.
Jerald, 41, says Sherry has redeeming qualities, including toughness, intelligence and even a conscience. But last season, another side became apparent as she not only lied and stole to cover up her son's involvement in a killing to not only protect him but to calculatingly shield the candidacy of her husband (Dennis Haysbert). Later, to gain control, she tried to manipulate her husband into an affair and she put her White House ambition ahead of the safety of CIA operative Jack Bauer's daughter.
The split Palmers' relationship is compelling because of the "great chemistry" Jerald says she feels acting with Haysbert. The pair worked together in "Absolute Power" and in a 1994 German miniseries where they played a couple "who were very much in love."
Jerald, who grew up in Baltimore as one of seven siblings, says she shares some traits with her character. She feels protective of her husband and 19-year-old daughter, Danyel, likes to get her way and can be "a drill sergeant" when producing plays for the couple's theater company, Outreach Christian Theater Company.
But Jerald doesn't want people to think she's Sherry Palmer, either. She remembers being a bit taken aback when a fellow churchgoer said, "I'm trying to figure out how could this nice lady I know, Mrs. Jerald, be this nasty woman on television?"
Reiko Aylesworth
Assignment: Playing Michelle Dessler, a tech-oriented agent who has been a member of the Counter Terrorist Unit for six months.
Dossier: This 29-year-old Chicago native is dying to have a long-term role on a TV series. So far, she has tried and failed a few times, including featured roles in Fox's "American Embassy" and UPN's "All Souls."
Background check: "Who's going to remember someone like me, who's had big parts in very small movies and small parts in big movies?" asks Aylesworth. "Like in the Harrison Ford movie "Random Hearts," I play the secretary of Harrison's dead wife. I got to cry in some scenes with Harrison."
Obstacles: The toughest thing she has had to go through on the show was getting this role.
Last year, she tried out for the part of crooked agent Nina Meyers but lost out to Sarah Clarke. This season, she read for the part of Kate Warner, the sister of bride-to-be Marie, which went to Sarah Wynter.
But the producers, convinced that Aylesworth would make an ideal Michelle, offered her that role.
Sarah Clarke
Assignment: Last season, Clarke's character, Nina Myers, served as the chief of staff in the Counter Terrorist Unit and was actually a mole feeding information to the other side. This year, we get to figure out Myers' connection to the dark side.
Dossier: Clarke, who was born and raised in St. Louis, graduated from Indiana University with a degree in Italian but moved to New York to study acting at Circle in the Square, appearing in a few small-budget movies before landing the role of "24's" consummate bad girl. "I'm not as ruthless as Nina," Clarke says. "Playing her is all about ambition, greed and protecting herself. She pursues what she wants, but I'm not that way."
Background check: If you didn't recognize her from the film "Pas de Deux," you might have spotted her in her breakout vehicle — a 1999 Volkswagen Jetta TV commercial. "I drove a Jetta all through college, but then I got into this horrible car crash. I was fine, but my little car was totaled, and I never got a Jetta again," she says. "Two years later, cut to me in New York, not needing a car anyway, and getting the Jetta commercial."
Obstacles: She may play one of the show's most cunning characters, but Clarke also found love on the show.
In September, she married co-star Xander Berkeley, who plays George Mason, the head of Los Angeles' CTU bureau.
"It was nonstop from day one. I got cast on the show, I met Xander, and all of a sudden I'm living in Hollywood," Clarke says with a laugh.
Elisha Cuthbert
Assignment: Last season, Cuthbert's character, Kim Bauer, daughter of counterterrorist agent Jack (Kiefer Sutherland), was kidnapped, and then dealt with the death of her mother. "This year, Kim is a lot more mature but still dealing with a lot of issues related to the death of her mother," Cuthbert says.
Dossier: Cuthbert, who was born in Calgary, Alberta, and raised in Vancouver, started modeling at age 7. By 15, the former Nickelodeon star was the host of "Popular Mechanics for Kids," which earned her face time with first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Background check: Playing Jack Bauer's troubled teenage daughter is certainly Cuthbert's claim to fame, but you might have glimpsed her in the 2001 drama "Believe" and the 2000 TV movie "Mail to the Chief," co-starring Randy Quaid.
Obstacles: This season, Kim deals with even more upheaval — a new boyfriend.
Michelle Forbes
Assignment: Playing Lynne Kresge, a special assistant to the president, who's in hot water for not alerting the Counter Terrorist Unit about a bombing plot. "When you play a character, you love and hate things about that person," Forbes says. "What I like about Lynne, who's driven by this intense loyalty to the president, is that she accepts responsibility for a bad judgment call that wound up killing a lot of people."
Dossier: The 37-year-old native of Texas has returned to series TV after the cancellation of "Wonderland" more than two years ago.
Background check: She's best known for her two years as a forensic pathologist on "Homicide: Life on the Street."
"I love being identified with that show, which was so good."
Obstacles: Forbes got off to a frantic start on "24." The producers called her on a Friday about working on the show — which she had never seen. She had to start the following Monday, without an audition, portraying a character she knew nothing about.
Laura Harris
Assignment: Playing Marie Warner, the rich young woman who, on her wedding day, discovers that her Muslim fiancé may have terrorist ties. "She's this well-educated, high-strung, lovestruck daddy's girl," Harris says. "She's a work in progress who can go in a lot of different directions."
Dossier: The dream of this 26-year-old Canadian isn't what you'd expect. She wants to be a puppeteer, to both work the puppets and do the voices. Sounds as if she has done this before, but she hasn't. Turns out this yearning to be a puppeteer is based on her obsession with the Muppets.
Background check: "People who saw (the horror film) "The Faculty" — people with very good memories — might remember me as the girl who turned into an alien," Harris says.
Obstacles: Harris is worried about having to leave the show if her character gets killed. Before she reads a new script, she has a panic attack, then breathes a sigh of relief when Marie doesn't get the ax.
Sarah Wynter
Assignment: Wynter plays the polished, professional Kate Warner, who suspects that her sister Marie's fiancé, Reza, might have terrorist ties. "That's how I meet Jack Bauer and get involved," Wynter says. "It's nice to play Kate, because she is very strong and not being victimized by the circumstances."
Dossier: The Australian moved to New York at age 17 to study drama. "No one discovered me on a bus or anything," she says. "I just always wanted to act."
Background check: Wynter made her U.S. television debut playing a bitter British journaliston the series premiere of HBO's "Sex and the City" in 1998. Since then, she has paid her dues with supporting roles in such flicks as Arnold Schwarzenegger's "The Sixth Day" and Winona Ryder's "Lost Souls."
Obstacles: Wynter's character, Kate, has let her concern for her sister cause a rift in her family. But the actress has no such problems. And still can't believe her good luck. "I feel like I am so fortunate, that I'm living the classic immigrant's dream."
