Anna Belknap, a successful actor on the popular CBS television series CSI:NY playing Crime Scene Investigator Detective Lindsay Monroe Messer, is back in her hometown of Damariscotta celebrating the Christmas holiday with her friends, family, and parents Louise and David Belknap.
It’s been five years since she landed the plum role. In 2005, she was only in her mid-20s and was a newlywed. Today she and husband, writer/actor Eric Siegel, have two small children, Olive, 4, and George, 2, and she’s celebrating the program’s seventh (her sixth) successful season.
Belknap has changed little in appearance since 2005 when she chatted amiably at a café in Damariscotta. Now, however, she’s a successful actress, experienced mother, and she exudes a quiet and relaxed self-confidence that comes with maturity and hard work.
Belknap spoke briefly of how the show is doing, and of CSI:NY’s time change from Wednesday nights, to Fridays. “It’s not great – being on Friday nights at 8 [p.m.] but it sure is better for people in Maine,” she said, smiling at her mother. Louise agrees – she really enjoys the earlier time slot.
Anna acknowledges the Wednesday time slot at 10 p.m. was a great one, since many viewers are home mid-week, “but, we have a solid audience, and hopefully they follow us [to Friday nights],” she said.
Five years ago, Anna talked about “living her dream; being a working actor,” and while she is continuing on that road today, there’s much more personal conversation about family as well as career.
When speaking of her kids, it’s plain to see the Siegel children are the apple of their parents’ eyes, not to mention their grandparents, Louise and David.
“They [Olive and George] call her ‘Grandma Oui,” Belknap said, referring to her mother, and she praises her mother’s way with her grandchildren. “She’s firm, but kind,” she said, then of her own upbringing, “she’s a great mom.”
Being able to see her own daughter on a weekly television program Louise said, “We have the most fun. They are way out there [in California], and I can see her every week.”
Understandably, Anna likes Lindsay, her CSI character. “She’s smart. She’s always trying to figure out how to do her job better. After all, she’s a scientist,” she said. With a laugh Anna said, “There’s a joke on the set that ‘yet again, Lindsay solves the case.’ I might be in there only a few minutes, but I solve the case.”
According to Louise, Anna’s personality is very similar to Lindsay’s. “When I’m watching…that’s Anna,” she said. “Except for the science thing,” Anna quips.
As Anna explains it further, there are also big differences between the actor and her character. “I would not be in a lab, and the civil servant thing…I’m an actor,” she said.
“She’s made me cry a couple of times [as Lindsay],” Louise said, and she recognizes Anna’s qualities while she’s in character. “She’s just very natural; she just plays herself…a very natural actor.”
The Belknaps are now used to seeing Anna on TV, but in the beginning when she set out to become an actor, they were nervous for her.
Louise said it was Anna’s dad, David, who was very worried. “He worried about her having a life; making a living,” she said.
After graduating from Lincoln Academy in 1990, Anna set off for Middlebury College in Vermont, where the theater bug bit her. With her eyes still set on the stage, she earned her Master of Fine Arts degree from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, where she met husband Eric. The couple later married in 2004.
Belknap racked up stage credentials after graduation, acting summers with the Williamstown Festival in Williamstown, Mass., and moving to New York City, she auditioned and cut her teeth in regional theatre throughout the country.
Needing to make a living, she headed to Los Angeles to audition for the pilot season. Louise remembers counseling Anna when trying out for roles, to “go out there and sell yourself.”
Thinking of Anna’s very first television role in 1996, Louise said, “She had a bit part on “Homicide” [“Homicide: Life On The Street], and she was on there for all of about 20 seconds. We were so excited. David and I didn’t think they put her in there enough.”
Anna is now a working mom, comfortable juggling home and career. She just beams when speaking of her daughter Olive being in pre-school but acknowledges her CSI:NY acting schedule though conducive to family life, can be exhausting.
Her shooting schedule is flexible since according to a given script, her character may be featured a little or a lot in any given episode. “It’s ideal in some ways,” she said, but also admits it is back to the CSI:NY set once Christmas is over.
On average there are 22 to 25 episodes per season. The next installment, “To What End?” scheduled to air on Wed., Jan. 14 at 8 p.m. is episode 11, and by that count, Anna Belknap has more than a half season more to shoot.
In mid-December 2010, CSI:NY celebrated its 150th episode, in itself a testament to its popularity. Anna’s honest reaction to learning the fact is completely disarming. “Really? Wow, that’s great. I didn’t know.”
Stay in touch with Anna Belknap’s career through the CBS Broadcasting Network website at www.cbs.com/primetime/csi_ny/ or TV Guide magazine at www.tvguide.com. Become an Anna Belknap fan through www.fanpop.com, or visit www.Anna-Belknap.org. CSI:NY is also on Facebook and Twitter.
