HILL HARPER - DR. SHELDON HAWKES

On the most memorable episodes in season three:

 HH: I like stories that deal with my character’s back story. There is one in particular entitled “And Here’s To You, Mrs. Azrael,” where I have to solve a crime that happens in a hospital and you get to see my past career as a surgeon come to light. The other episode “Raising Shane” includes me getting framed for murder. Shane Casey played by Eddie Furlong frames my character and it looks like I am in big trouble.

On “Hung Out to Dry” Episode #304:

 (A serial murderer who leaves his victims in coded t-shirts is on the loose. The team struggles to decode his mythological clues and put their main suspect behind bars.)

 HH: In this episode, you find out that a serial killer is after Hawkes. This raised the stakes for my character. I was used to being the person that tracks criminals down and tries to help someone else; here I was the target, which was an interesting switch. Now, I know what it is like to be the victim, which will change the empathy level that Hawkes has for the people he protects.

 That was one of the best episodes we have ever done. It sets up Eddie Furlong’s character setting up my character later on. That episode is the most gruesome episode ever; there was a head chopped off and then railroad stakes through another person’s eyes. I loved the storyline.

Why does the audience love the gory effects?

HH: Viewers like to be surprised and you can do it through comedy, gore and certain types of relationship stuff. Gory stuff like Dawn of the Living Dead is very old, but CSI: NY is a show about evidence and catching the bad guy and unfortunately murderers do gruesome things.

On “Raising Shane” Episode #311:

 (When Hawkes is framed for shooting a bartender and then later sent to prison, the team takes to the street to set their investigator free. A surprise visit from Shane Casey later explains the death of a man at a peep show and Hawkes’ compromising situation.)

HH: What’s nice about Raising Shane is that it continues the storyline of “Hung Out to Dry.” Shane frames me and I end up in prison with no way to turn, and there is nothing I can do. This episode allows the whole team to fight for me, which shows how dedicated they are. It also allows my character to be vulnerable. Usually, you think that the leading characters always have the answers, and it’s nice to have an episode where it is evident that we don’t know the answers and it looks like we might have made some mistakes.

How did you prepare for “Raising Shane”:

 HH: I prepared for “Raising Shane” by going out and getting arrested. No, just kidding. I did a movie called The Visit and I played a man who was dying of AIDS in prison. While doing the research for this film, I met with a great number of men that were incarcerated and men that had AIDS. When you have AIDS or are in prison you feel helpless. I knew that there were people outside the cell that were fighting for me. We fight for each other.

On “Here’s to you, Mrs. Azrael” Episode #309:

 (After a night of heavy partying two underage girls make the reckless decision to drive home. In route, the girls get into an accident and one of them dies instantaneously. The other is sent to the hospital where she is smothered to death. The team unravels the sordid case and arrives at a shocking discovery.)

 HH: We see Hawkes back in the hospital in this episode and we see where Hawkes could have been headed, which was to be a surgeon. For him to walk away from that is pretty amazing. In that episode, we realize that he is. There is a wonderful scene in the locker room between myself and Carmine where he says to me “Are you still a doctor?,” and he doesn’t know if he is. But, in the end that question is answered when Hawkes saves a life.

 What makes the show great is that you have the procedural and character acting. The ability of the cast to master these procedural elements and make the audience believe that these people are crime scene investigators.

 The comfort level in the field is nice. I bring experience from being a doctor and former medical examiner and now that I’ve been in the field for a while we don’t need to write in the fact that he is new. We can just play stories now.

On Mac’s love life:

 HH: Since my character has not yet gotten it on with anyone, I’m envious of anyone getting it on with anybody. It’s good that Mac is presumably getting some with Peyton. Any character having a love interest is a good thing. I would love my character to have one.

On his education:

HH: Dr. Hawkes is the most intelligent character on the show. He’s smarter than all of the other characters. Being educated helps with that. Being a person that has been though a lot of school helps me to play a character who has been through a lot of school.

What have you learned from the show:

HH: Recently, I learned a lot about snakes and snake venom while we were shooting an episode entitled “Sweet 16” where the team finds a man dead, the result of a snake bite, behind the wheel of a new Mercedes which is the gift he planned to give his daughter for her sixteenth birthday. We were working with a real dead Cobra and we had to be careful with the mouth of it because even a dead snake, if you prick its tooth, can put venom in you.

What is the best thing about being a part of the show:

HH: The best thing about being a part of CSI: NY is that I work with a great cast and crew. The tone is set from the top down. The executive producers and writers are great. Oftentimes you work in an environment where someone is negative; bad weeds don’t grow here because the soil is pure.

His exposure as an actor:

 HH: I’m proud that African American women watch our show a lot. I know that that is my core audience and that they are watching to see me. What I like about the show in general is that it’s exposed me to a wider audience. I’ll have more white people coming up to me saying “Hey, you are Dr. Hawkes?” It’s also nice to be exposed to an international audience.