Word play
Erin Daniels is Jewish and on the hottest lesbian show on television. An oxy-moron? She doesn't think so.

by Curt Schleier/Jewsweek.com
March 8, 2005

The New York Jewish Week

When the phone call comes in to her Los Angeles home, Erin Daniels was clanking around her kitchen making breakfast and trying to get her two reluctant dogs outside, even though it was raining.

Celebrity interviews have been postponed and canceled for reasons substantially less compelling than two scrambled eggs, an English muffin, and reluctant pooches, but not this one. On the contrary, Daniels is anxious to proceed.
When first approached about this interview, she told the publicist "I'm going to do it for my grandmother." Erin's grandmother is very active in the St. Louis Jewish community, so much so that she received "an award from the Conference of Christians and Jews. Religion was very important to both my grandparents. I remember when I was younger going to Friday night Shabbat meals at their house."

And if that wasn't sufficient impetus, when her mom heard about it, she insisted that Erin mention the congregation. The "congregation" is the Central Reform synagogue in St. Louis -- founded by Erin's mom and a college friend. It is where Erin was a bat mitzvah -- "by a woman rabbi, thank you very much," Erin notes -- and where she attended holiday services (and occasionally others when her parents "guilted me into it.")

Clearly, there have been a lot of strong women in Erin's life, which stands her in good stead in her present job. Daniels is a star of The "L" Word -- one of the hottest shows on cable, literally and figuratively.

In case you missed the omnipresent ads promoting it, the show (Sundays 10 p.m. on Showtime), which just began its second season, is about a group of very attractive lesbian women in Los Angeles. While it is very graphic at times, it is less about sex (though there is plenty of that) than how a group of young people who just happen to be gay deal with generational issues -- dating, marriage, parenthood, faithfulness.

Since they frequently hang around a coffee show, call it Friends on female Viagra.

Daniels, 31, portrays Dana, a top professional tennis player engaged to one woman and attracted to another. It is one of several racy storylines, seemingly unaffected by the decidedly conservative shift in American politics.

Daniels says that since the show is shot in Vancouver and the set is a "kind of microcosm of liberalism," her working environment hasn't changed that much. But, she adds that she "senses a different spirit in the whole world."

"We've always been concerned about what we're doing, because we're doing something that hasn't been done before. It's a little more important now, but it also has been important. I don't think that's particularly intensified. Remember, Bush was in office when we started the show."

Daniels, who is straight, is comfortable doing the intimate scenes. "Usually these things are very awkward, no matter what gender you're working with or what the sexual proclivity [of your co-star]. But it is easier when you're working with women who understand women's issues. If you're not feeling good about a part of yourself, they'll work around it."

Daniels wanted to be an actress from the time she was a child. "I started taking classes when I was little. I always was a clown and a goofball who wanted to be the center of attention when I was a kid," she recalls.

Her parents did not allow her to pursue a career then, a decision (in retrospect anyway) she agrees with. Daniels attended Vassar, majoring in art and after college settled in New York looking for jobs in the theater. She studied with William Esper, a protege of Sanford Meisner. She landed self roles off-Broadway, and came close to landing a couple on the Great White Way itself. "It was always me and the girl who got the part."

She went out to Los Angeles and landed a job on Action an ill-fated TV noir-comedy that received critical raves, but was apparently only watched by critics. It was, she feels, ahead of its time. She compares it, correctly, to Arrested Development and Curb Your Enthusiasm, two shows similar in tone that enjoyed success in Action's wake.

From there she went to another critical fave, Boomtown. Again the show, which told its cops and robbers stories from multiple points of view, failed to win the audience it deserved and was cancelled.

Enter The "L" Word. Erin auditioned for several roles in the drama, not landing them, but always being called back. "I knew they wanted to use me, but I didn't know where. I was really excited, because it is really a well-written show for women, which is rare."

It's opened doors to her; casting directors, who probably wouldn't have seen her before, now take a look. But more important, working regularly on a series has opened her eyes to non-acting opportunities in the business. On Action and Boomtown, both shot in L.A., she was around the set only on days when she was one the call sheet. But L is shot in Vancouver, so away from home and friends, she hangs around the set.

"I really get to see how the whole machine works. Before it was like an enigma. Now I can see myself part of it."

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Skrevet af Erna's skribenter, klokken 17:00: 2004

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