Eva La Rue

Eva La Rue rose to acclaim while playing "Dr. Maria Santos Grey," on the ABC soap opera, "All My Children," from 1993 to 1997. She returned to the show and played amnesiac "Maureen Gorman," from 2002 to 2005. She received a Daytime Emmy nomnation in the category of "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series," for her performance. Following her depature from the soap, in 2005, she became a member of the cast of the highly successful CBS television series, "CSI: Miami," as forensic scientist, "Natalia Boa Vista." She is also involved with a number of notable charities where she is using her fame to accomplish great feats for afflicitions such as autism and breast cancer.

SNK: Congratulations on your role on CSI: Miami as forensic scientist, Natalia Boa Vista. I know the role is different from ones you have played in the past. What differences, either production or acting wise, have you found?

ELR: From the soap?

SNK: Yes.

ELR: It's like night and day. On a soap opera, we do a one-hour show in a day. On CSI: Miami, we shoot a one-hour show in nine days.

SNK: Oh, wow!

ELR: On a soap opera, an average day would be like 25 pages of dialogue memorized, and on a tough day it would be 50 pages of dialogue memorized, to the point where you can't even remember your name. Ha ha. So, CSI: Miami is like this incredibly fabulous job to have, it's so much easier. The hours are easier. It's great, it's amazing.

SNK: It sounds like it. I know, since I am a huge soap fan, and I've heard other soap actors say, how the schedule is absolutely grueling.

ELR: It is. The interesting thing about it is that when you're in it, you don't realize how hard you're working because it's what you know. But, when you get out of it, you're like, "Ah, I cannot believe I kept up that pace for that many years."

SNK: Oh, boy! I don't suppose you could slip me some inside scoops on CSI: Miami's current season for our readers?

ELR: Ooh, we actually have some really good stuff coming up with David [Caruso, who plays Horatio Caine] and his son. There's some great internal affairs investigation stuff going on, I really can't tell you about. And I'm having trouble getting my gun license. I'm not a good shot, I'm more of a brainiac and not such a great shot. But that's going to come into play later on.

SNK: Great, thanks for that.

ELR: There's a bunch of other stuff that I can't tell you about. Secrets I would get fired for if I told you.

SNK: Oh no, I wouldn't want you to get fired just to satisfy our readers.

With this new role, have you found it at all difficult to juggle work and your home life with your daughter, Kaya?

ELR: It's so much easier to juggle this schedule than it was with the soap schedule. I really felt like when I was doing the soap, that I missed the first couple of years of her life. This is just so much easier to juggle being a mom, because it's not like there's just two of us on the scene, there's seven actors so we don't all work everyday, and it's like an average of three or four days a week. It's just so much easier.

SNK: It sounds like it. I read that you recently won a Gracie Allen Award from the Foundation of American Women in Radio & Television. What was it like to be bestowed with such an honor?

ELR: Oh, that was really incredible. It was exciting. My friend, Kelly Ripa, gave me the award. She was the one who presented in that category. So, it was just a fun night for both of us. We got to be kidless and have a grown-up, dress-up night, kind of a girls' night out. It really is an amazing event. I know it's not a very well known one, but it is in New York, because it's a lot of journalists and newscasters and television women in business. It's a really empowering women event in New York.

SNK: It sounds fascinating. I'm sure it was a treat for you to have Ms. Ripa give you the award.

ELR: Yeah, that was very fun.

SNK: You also co-hosted the Style Network show, Modern Girl's Guide To Life. When did that show wrap, and how did that come about for you?

ELR: That show really came about purely by accident. They called me at my last year at All My Children, and I'd done a lot of hosting, off and on throughout my career, in between acting. I worked with a great group of girls. It was a really fun show; I learned so much, just tidbits about stuff. You know, everything from how to make your mascara last longer; you put a couple of drops of witch hazel in it. It's like all those kind of things, you know, like wrapping, gift making and party throwing, and how to hang a picture better, and barbecuing, and which beers are good. Though I don't really like beer, but what beers are good girl beers, just like everything. I was so sad when they stopped doing it, because it was a really fun show and, I thought, an informative show. And people would come up to me on the street, even after I started CSI: Miami. We have like 20 million viewers. The people that came up to me on the street, I don't know what the Style Network gets in terms of viewers, but it's certainly not 20 million, it's probably like 10, I don't know. But, so many people, it seemed like more people were stopping me on the street for the Modern Girl's. They were like, "Oh, my God. I love that show. I loved what you did about the blah blah blah."

SNK: It sounds like it was a great experience for you. Do you know when that show ended?

ELR: It ended, not this last summer, but the summer before, that was our last year.

SNK: Okay, and I also read on your official web site, that you were in a New York production of Women of 9. How was that experience, and would you like to do more stage work in the future?

ELR: Yeah, I feel sort of unfinished in New York, even though I spent so many years there. I think it's because I never got a chance to do any Broadway, or even off-Broadway. I would love to do that and I haven't given up on that...on that thought in the future.

SNK: I also read on your web site, and please correct me if I mispronounce this, the Bah