Glee's Jessalyn Gilsig on Real Life, TV Death, and the Anti-Gossip Girl

Jessalyn Gilsig's first big break came in 1999, with a guest-starring role on The Practice. So impressed was creator David E. Kelley with the Canadian actress with the large, expressive eyes, he created a part specifically for her on high school drama Boston Public. Later came roles on some of television's most passionately followed series: shows like NYPD Blue, Prison Break, Friday Night Lights, and Heroes.

Most memorably, though, she played Dr. Christian Troy's nymphomaniac love interest Gina Russo on five seasons of Nip/Tuck. It was a part that required her to submit to some of that frequently outrageous show's most over-the-top scenes -- who could forget her gang-bang conception party in Season 2? -- but through it all, Gina was always somehow believable and surprisingly sympathetic. When she plunged to her death off a balcony after Christian thrust a little too enthusiastically during make-up sex, the feeling of loss was unmistakable: there splatted one of the best TV characters of the decade.

Gilsig now finds herself back in homeroom, playing the wife of a history teacher (Matthew Morrison) who takes on the high school's glee club on Ryan Murphy's new series, Glee. (A preview airs tonight on Fox at 9 p.m.) The show is Nip/Tuck's diametric opposite -- a bouncy and upbeat distraction for our troubled times. Movieline talked to Jessalyn about reteaming with Murphy, letting Gina go and her tuneful new primetime showcase.

You've been on so many hit TV shows. How do the different sets compare -- because each I'm assuming has its own culture and dynamic? Which was the most tight-knit family?

Friday Night Lights. I was doing Friday Night Lights and Nip/Tuck simultaneously one year. Friday Night Lights shoots in Austin, and Nip/Tuck shoots in L.A. So I was literally splitting my week back and forth. Those two sets are really different. For starters, the Lights's cast is all out there in Austin together. But more specifically, it's because of the shooting styles. They shoot all handheld, no rehearsal, you never go back to your trailer, everything is on location, and if you're moved to say something, or do something, or leave, or literally cook bacon -- you just do it. There's no wait for set up. When they would "turn around," so to speak, it was just three cameramen scooting around on these stools, and we'd just do it again. Performance-wise, that was the closest thing to theater that I'd done on camera.

On Nip/Tuck, I really loved working with Ryan. He is so specific, and so stylized, and the lighting is so deliberate. You could wait 20 to 45 minutes until they lit in a different direction, or switched something up. So they were the opposite ends of shooting styles. And culture-wise, Nip/Tuck was maybe more what I'm used to. But in Lights, it had literally become an extension of the show. There was a real life intimacy to the cast and the crew.

Was it hard to switch back and forth between the two characters?

They were very different, but to your original question, the environments did most of the work for me. On Nip/Tuck , I came and went over so many years, and I would walk back onto set, and immediately feel as though I'd been absorbed into the world as if I'd never left. And on Lights, they're so adept at the style of shooting, that you basically just run to catch up. You have no time to reflect on how you're doing, because they're just so good at it.

Did Gina ever seep into your day to day life?

[Laughs] You'd have to ask my husband. I don't think so. I always felt that Gina was sort of amazing because she was never shy about expressing her needs, as she experienced them. And that's not me at all. She was like, "I'm cold!" "I'm hot!" "I want you." "I don't want you." She had no censor. That's kind of exciting to play, because it's so different from me.

When you first read her, did you have any hesitations?

When I got the pilot, the show hadn't aired yet. I think my first episode was the third of the season. And I remember getting the pilot, and said to my husband, "Well, this show is way too cool for me." It seemed so original, like nothing that ever came before. As an actor, sometimes you get sides, and you're like, I don't care what happens, I just want to read this. I want to play this part, if only for an audition. She was so well-written. But there was no part of me that was like, this is mine, it's totally in the bag.

But nothing about it said to you that it might not be the smartest career move, or that it might push you to do things past your comfort point?

Well, I've never really thought about "career moves." I need to work. So, it was a job, and it seemed like a really interesting job. I'm not exactly the person who hangs out with their friends and makes crazy sexual jokes. That's not me. So if you told me that I was going to do all that stuff that I did on that show, I'd be pretty surprised. The thing about that show, though -- and part of the reason I'm so happy to be working with Ryan again -- is that I've never worked with someone who has such a deep respect, appreciation and enthusiasm for everybody that works on the show. I don't even want to suggest this is just for the actors. The culture that Ryan sets, and he sets it for the entire crew, is that you cannot fail. And it makes you braver. There was nothing that I was asked to do, that if I said I wasn't comfortable with it, that it was a problem. There was a couple times when it was more nudity than I thought I could handle, and it was always, "No problem. No problem. How do you want to shoot it? Any way you want to shoot it to make you more comfortable." Julian was unbelievable, so respectful, always concerned for my comfort and so prepared for what we were doing.

In some ways I felt more taken care of than on projects that maybe didn't involve nudity but did involve something that was emotionally exposing, and you feel like you're hanging there naked. But Ryan sets a tone at work that I think is ideal for every member above and below the line, that makes them feel like they can't fail, and no one's going to be left with egg on their face.

Can we talk about the death of that character? What did it mean for you to say goodbye to her?

Well it's funny you say that, because I have died a lot, on television. I always thought in the back of my mind that Gina would die. That that was an inevitability. Not because of the AIDS. I just always thought that she was this person that was going to combust some day. I kind of guessed it, though, after they brought me back to do a couple of episodes. I just blurted out, 'Am I going to die?' And everybody sort of got quiet, and I sort of knew the answer to that. And I'm sort of embarrassed to say this, but I guess I'm not: I cried.

Because she was really real to me. You know, people would say, "She's so crazy. She's so out there." A lot of us go through life thinking, you look at somebody, and you think, why do they keep running the same pattern? She keeps ending up in the same place and she can't see it. And I just found that so much more human than so much television and film, where people "grow." I don't think there's as much growth as we'd like to think. Because there's just a lot of running into the same wall and feeling like you're making progress. To me there was something just really humane about that. I just felt really protective of her, and I felt like she made sense. There was something about her that just seemed, independent of me, like a real person who was really struggling, and not really getting anywhere. I was sad.

And the actual scene? What was that like, shooting that?

It was hysterical. The other thing that would happen on Nip/Tuck all the time, was that because I'd go long periods without working on it, I'd speculate, "Gina should do this, and Gina should do that." And invariably, I'd get a script, and think, "Well, I'd never have thought of that!" And I'd never have thought of her dying this way. I found it pretty sweet that she was able to tell Christian she loved him. She was really trying to show him that they were two sides of the same coin: "I know who you are, and you can't fail in my eyes. Because I know who you are." And she was sort of hoping that she could connect with him, and maybe she was going to.

And you know, accidents happen I guess. Be very careful.

Let's talk about Glee. This is obviously a huge departure from Nip/Tuck. What can we expect?

It's kind of hard to describe. I guess it's sort of this -- not new, because other shows have done it, like Degrassi -- but that feeling in high school that you had that there's something that you love to do, and you feel like yourself when you're doing it, but you're totally persecuted for it. And that what the glee club is for these kids. When they're in glee club, they feel like they're exactly where they're meant to be, and when they're in the halls, they're ridiculed for this passion, and yet they can't resist. It's that fight to find some kind of identity that feels natural to you, and will help you find acceptance. It's really funny, and sweet, and heartfelt, and then there's a lot of sort of dark, subversive humor and the intrigue and twists and turns that Nip/Tuck was so good at that.

How much controversy will Murphy court with this? How far does he go?

I don't know! Because in some ways I think our show is a lot more tame than a lot of the high school shows. When I see Gossip Girl, I'm like, what? They're drinking, and having sex, and doing drugs -- our show isn't like that at all. They're underdogs. I think he's done a really beautiful job of making these kids very well defined. So they're not the kids getting into big trouble; they're the kids just trying to navigate the hallways, so they can get into glee club so they can finally relax. So I think it's a more typical high school scenario than things that are maybe a little more sensational.

How does the music fit in?

It's part of the plot. There's no walking down the hallways and they break into song. There's rehearsal days, and performances, and different ways of justifying it. And the music is all existing music, so it's all songs people will know. We have Beyoncé, and Amy Winehouse, and Journey. There's no original music, it will all be familiar to the audience.

Do you get to sing?

Not yet! I keep hoping. But no. These kids are the real deal. And Matthew Morrison is straight from Broadway. And Lea Michele is straight from Broadway. A lot of these kids -- it's jaw-dropping when they start singing. It's so beautiful.

It must be a pleasant set to be on.

It is! It's like what you were asking about earlier. It's just so nice to come to work where you get to be funny, where you do something that makes everyone laugh, and things are kept light. And a lot of the cast haven't worked a lot, so they're really excited, and this is just a huge opportunity and experience for them. And they are just so devoted. I mean, if they're not shooting, they're at dance rehearsal or recording a song. They are just so busy all day. It's just so sweet to see how enthusiastic and excited they are. ♦