Q: I was wondering what brought your attention to this particular role.

A: Well, they just sent me the script and I really liked it. Kyra Sedgwick had been a friend of mine for a while. I did a TV movie with her called Losing Chase several years ago that her husband Kevin Bacon actually directed. And I like the show, "The Closer." And I thought the character was a real unique pair of high heels to fill for me.

Q: What was it like walking a mile in a woman's shoes?

A: Let me tell you something, it was brutal. I'm never again going to complain to my wife to hurry up, you know, when we're late trying to get somewhere and she's got her heels on. That's not going to happen.

Q: Why do you think people continue to tune in and watch "The Closer?"

A: Well, I think the stories are good. It always starts with the play, you know, Shakespeare said that a long time ago, the play is the thing. And I think they've got a good team of writers and a wonderful group of actors. And I think that's probably why.

Q: So I was wondering what about this role appealed to you?

A: Well you know, probably in the beginning, the uniqueness of it. The fact that it was a person who had gone down this path of having a sex change. You know I really - I have a great respect for people who have the courage to go down that path. It's not an easy road. I had done a play written by Jane Anderson several years ago called "Looking For Normal," and in that one I played a guy who was contemplating a sex change and had ended up with him being wheeled into the operating room to have the operation. So during that experience I had meet a lot of people who had had a sex change operation and began to understand a bit about how challenging that is. So this gave me another opportunity to examine that, you know, that course of action and to represent it to people who maybe don't know too much about it and to honor those folks who have gone down that path.

Q: And is this just going to be a one-time thing? Or is there any chance that this is going to turn into a reoccurring role?

A: Well, it felt like - I mean at the time it was suggested to me as a one-time thing, but they didn't kill me off, so you never know.

Q: There's quite a bit leap from Dick Buick to your current character in "The Closer." What do you think Mad Dog would have to say about this character?

A: Well, I think you know maybe there's some parallels there too because Mad Dog was a - he was a real brave guy. He lived on the edge. He wasn't afraid to try something that, you know, was a bit edgy for the rest of society. And I think that could be said for George/Georgette, my character here. So they would have that in common. And they're both kind of fearless.

Q: In "The Closer," they kind of the tow the line back and forth between humor and drama. Now, do you approach this role, you know, after what you were saying about how you came to a greater understanding about people that have had a sex change, do you approach it, the role, with any type of humor at all? Or do you play it more just straight?

A: Well, I really always enjoy humor in any role that I take on because as an audience member, I love to laugh. So if there's a good laugh there I usually go for it. But I didn't want it to be at the expense of someone who was a person who had gone through a sex change because I know how profound that is. So any of the humor, I think, in this show, hopefully will come out of the relationships of the people, because my character at one time was a best buddy of G.W. Bailey's character, Detective Provenza. And so a lot of the humor comes out of Provenza's attempt to get used to his old buddy as a woman. And I think there is some humor in that. It's tough but there's some humor in it. And I think they did a good job in the screenplay of honoring someone who would go through this situation but at the same time having a place for humor in it, which is always a good thing, I think.

Q: Besides having to put on those high heels that were so uncomfortable, I know you're an actor, so it's easy just to go into roles, but in a role like this, does it give you kind of an innate sense what people must be going through who feel compelled or opt to, or whatever the terminology would be, to go through this process?

A: Well, when I was preparing for this - I think I mentioned I was in this play called "Looking for Normal" written by Jane Anderson - and this involved a person who was contemplating a sex change and then at the end of the play is wheeled into the operating room. And so in preparation for that play I spent time with folks who had gone down that path. And I found that like most people when you – you can't really fit them into a niche. I mean, they really run a whole spectrum there of different types of people who have gone down that road on the opposite ends of the spectrum.

I met one woman who had had the operation, began her life as a man, and she was very feminine, quite beautiful, really done up, heavily made up, coiffed and all of that - beautiful clothes, very, you know, every bit of her feminine and very comfortable in her skin. And then I also met a woman who as a man had been a fire chief. And she had no makeup, long beautiful hair, but very kind of natural looking. Her handshake was very firm, but she also very comfortable in her skin. And after she had her operation, all she did was just move stations and she's still the fire chief. So I was kind of - it kind of left me off the hook because I realized that the realm of experience is pretty wide with folks who have gone down that journey. They come from - they're all types of people that do that. And each one is an individual. So it left me some room to interpret it the way I would. And I also believe that most men have female kind of attributes inside us and probably most females have a masculine side in there somewhere.

Q: Right. Yes.

A: And you know, I love women's clothes. For instance, I pick out all of my wife's clothes. So it was fun getting into the costuming of this woman.

Q: Well, maybe this will give you new insight when you go shopping for her.

A: There you go.

(Links)