Guess who’s coming to TV dinner?

A guest role on a TV show can do wonders for a flagging career. Diane Holloway reports.

WHEN the Emmy nominations were announced recently, the names of Steve Buscemi, Polly Bergen, Robin Williams and Cynthia Nixon were not called out.

Yet they all received Emmy nominations for spectacular performances. And we probably won’t hear any of their names announced during the telecast awards show on September 21.

Why the lack of hype for these major stars? Because their categories of competition are “guest actor” and “guest actress”. For nearly two decades, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has been bestowing Emmys to guest stars. The nominees tend to be big-name stars, and their brief appearances on ongoing series generate heightened interest.

It might be an exaggeration, but some experts credit scandal-ridden pop star Britney Spears with saving the sitcom How I Met Your Mother. Her quick spot generated tons of publicity for the ratings-challenged show – and helped Spears make a well-groomed, mainstream appearance. She didn’t land an Emmy nod, but she had a major impact on the show.

Guest starring certainly seems to be a win-win prospect. Actors usually get juicy, against-type roles to play, and the shows benefit from the publicity and audience response.

One of the biggest headlines generated from the recent TV critics gathering in Los Angeles was the revelation that Katie Holmes will sing and dance on an upcoming episode of Eli Stone. Holmes, perhaps best-known as Mrs Tom Cruise these days, might be a wonderful hoofer and warbler, but we’ve never seen it. Her guest spot gives her a chance to do something different.

Holmes isn’t the only big name on the small-screen horizon: Michael J. Fox will appear in a trio of episodes of Rescue Me. And comedy-drama Chuck has lined up a long roster of guests, including Nicole Richie, John Larroquette and Michael Clarke Duncan.

As far back as The Love Boat, veteran stars have been reviving their careers with TV guest spots. Long-running dramas ER and Law & Order boast dozens and dozens of famous actors.

Dick Wolf, creator-executive producer of Law & Order, once bragged that he has hired every New York actor with a Screen Actors Guild card at least once. Broadway and off-Broadway stars play criminals, defence attorneys and judges. Tennis legend Billie Jean King popped up for about 10 seconds last season as a judge, and Oscar winner Julia Roberts played a supporting role a few seasons ago – back when Benjamin Bratt was on the show and she was dating him.

Obviously some of this is pure stunt casting, done less for dramatic or even comedic effect than for hype. Brad Pitt set off screams in the studio audience when he guest-starred with Jennifer Aniston on Friends. Elizabeth Taylor provided baby Maggie with her first and only word (”daddy”) on The Simpsons, which also has featured guest voices by Michael Jackson and at least a hundred others.

Some series, especially those that are long in the tooth, depend on guest roles to keep them fresh – especially when an actor can be cast against type. A prime example? Late in its run, Will & Grace guest-starred Bobby Cannavale, known for playing macho thugs and cops, as a gay guy.

Glenn Close found her Emmy-nominated experience on The Shield so enriching that she helped create her own starring vehicle, Damages. She just earned her second lead actress Emmy nomination for that suspense thriller show.

“We’ve got some of the best writing coming out of television,” Close said in Los Angeles recently. “Some people say we’re in a new ‘golden age’ of TV. You don’t get this calibre of writing in feature films.”

Other guest stars who have parlayed brief roles into starring vehicles include Elizabeth Reaser, who played the physically deformed Ava on Grey’s Anatomy and now heads into new comedy-drama The Ex List; Anthony LaPaglia, who somehow turned an over-the-top comic guest spot on Frasier (as Daphne’s drunken brother) into the steely faced lead on Without a Trace.

Some actors aren’t looking for full-time series work. They just want a worthy vehicle to test their acting chops and keep them in the public eye.

Oscar-winner Forest Whitaker took chilling turns in multiple episodes of gritty police drama The Shield and ER. Writers gave him a lot to chew on, and the actor turned in performances of sheer brilliance. Both shows, not coincidentally, saw spikes in the ratings results during his tenure.

These guests might not get showcased on Emmy night, but they’re welcome additions on lucky shows.

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Sam Waterston Bio

Samuel A Waterston was born on November 15, 1940 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His father was an English immigrant while his mother was a Mayflower descendent. Waterston grew up attending private and boarding schools. In 1958 he received a scholarship to attend Yale University and studied French and history. He graduated in 1962 with his Bachelor of Arts degree. He then received an honorary degree from Yale in 2001.

Following college, Waterston began studying acting at the Clinton Playhouse. He also studied at the Sorbonne in Paris as well as the American Actors Workshop. By 1967, Waterston had begun to make his way into films with his debut in Fitzwilly. Other films he has starred in include The Great Gatsby (1974), Heaven’s Gate (1980), The Killing Fields (1984) and Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989). Throughout his career as an actor, Waterston has won a Golden Globe Award, multiple Screen Actors Guild Awards, and has also been nominated for an Emmy Award six times.

Other than films, Sam has also landed starring roles in several Broadway plays including Abe Lincoln in Illinois, where he played Lincoln. His performance in the play won him a Tony award in 1994 for Best Actor.

Sam is perhaps best known for his role as Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy on the television series produced by Dick Wolf, ‘Law & Order’ which has been running on NBC for 17 seasons now. Other cast members on the show include Chris Noth, Mariska Hargitay, Fred Thompson, Vincent DOnofrio and Jesse L Martin.

Waterston is also the spokesperson for TD Waterhouse, the investment company, and has appeared in several of their television commercials. He has also worked on several other television shows including I’ll Fly Away, where he played D.A. Forrest Bedford. Waterston has also lent his voice as a guest star in an episode of Family Guy.

Aside from acting, Waterston is involved in donating his time and money to charitable organizations such as Refugees International, Meals on Wheels, The United Way and The Episcopal Actors’ Guild of America. He also sits on the Advisory Committee for the Lincoln Bicentennial, which is celebrating Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday.

From 1964-1969 Sam was married to Barbara Rutledge-Johns, with whom he had one son. He then married Lynn Louisa Woodruff in 1976, with whom he has three children. Currently Waterston, his wife, and four children live in Connecticut. Two of his children, Elizabeth Waterston and James Waterston, have both decided to follow in the footsteps of their father and pursue careers in acting.

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Steve Zirnkilton

Steve Zirnkilton is the signature voice of NBC’s critically acclaimed Law & Order franchise; which in addition to the “mothership” includes Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Now in its 18th year on NBC, Law & Order is the longest running drama currently on prime time television.

Among others, Steve’s credits include; NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, TLC, TNT, TBS, ESPN, MSNBC, Discovery and the Cartoon Network. His voice has been heard on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno as well as the animated series Family Guy and Duckman. He was also the voice of the reporter in the animated feature film Rugrats: The Movie. Baseball fans can hear him as the narrator on the documentary film Faith Rewarded, a film about the Boston Red Sox historic World Championship season.

Steve has been the live announcer for the Kennedy Center Honors and the Top Cops Awards in Washington, D.C.

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Jeremy Sisto

Most Recent Role: Det. Cyrus Lupo on Law & Order
Alias Name(s): Jeremy Sisto, Jeremy Merton Sisto
Gender: Male
Birthplace: Grass Valley, California
Birthday: 10-6-1974
Birth Name: Jeremy Merton Sisto

Jeremy Merton Sisto was born on October 6, 1974 to Reedy Gibbs and Richard Sisto. He was born in Grass Valley, California, and grew up in Chicago, Illinois. He has one sister, Meadow, who is also an actress. His mother Reedy is an actress too. His father is a jazz musician. Jeremy’s parents divorced when he was four years old. He became interested in acting when he was six. He started out doing plays at The Goodman Theater and also acted and directed plays in high school. His big break came when he was cast as Roberto in the film “Grand Canyon” when he was 16. Since his debut he has played numerous roles and recently even played the part of Jesus in the CBS mini-series “Jesus”. Jeremy is currently working on several film roles and also is a musician. His band is hoping to get an album out in the future.

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