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Actress Wendy Davis got the call in Houston while waiting for a connecting flight to her parents' home in Florida.
Producers for the Lifetime show "Army Wives" wanted the Joppatowne native and Los Angeles resident back in L.A.; they had reconsidered her for one of the show's main characters and wanted her to audition again the next morning. Landing the role would mean the biggest break of her career for the actress, who was a regular on the 1996 ABC drama "High Incident" and has appeared on "Cold Case," "Grey's Anatomy" and "Martin."
Davis managed to book the last flight back to L.A., and grabbed her bags from the Houston flight moments before it took off. Then she approached another passenger waiting for the same L.A. flight.
"Would you go over my lines with me?"
The impromptu rehearsal helped Davis land the role of Lt. Col. Joan Burton on "Army Wives," the most successful series in Lifetime's 25-year history and cable's top-rated drama series for women ages 18 to 49.
Set at fictional Fort Marshall in Charleston, S.C., "Army Wives," now in its third season, offers a rare glimpse into the lives and struggles of women in the military.
Davis, who initially balked at auditioning because she thought the show would be an Army version of " Desperate Housewives," says she regularly receives kudos from military women for the show's realistic portrayals.
A Joppatowne High graduate who earned a degree in theater at Howard University in Washington, Davis plays a character who endured Chicago's mean streets to become the first African-American woman to be named lieutenant colonel in Fort Marshall's history.
Davis recently spoke about the role and her career in a phone interview from Charleston, where "Army Wives" is shot.
Question: Among the many shows depicting life in the military, what is the appeal of "Army Wives"?
Answer: "This is the first show that deals with what happens in the wake of these wars and what effect it has on our families. My character, Joan, is a mother and a soldier. No one has ever looked at the cost of being a wife, a mother and a soldier. When she's deployed to Iraq, there are interesting issues to deal with: You have this woman, a leader of men, going to a place where women can't walk down the street without a male family member. A lot of interesting stories there have never been considered."
Question: What kind of preparation did you do for the role and what did you draw from your own life?
Answer: "I've been married and divorced, and I have a 6-year-old daughter, so the married part wasn't a stretch. The soldier part, early on, was a stretch because it was a very specific protocol. I did a lot of research, and I went to Fort Bragg, N.C., for several visits. Growing up, I was an athlete; I played center field in softball and forward in basketball. That's what pays off with this character, a certain kind of physical confidence a female athlete possesses."
Question: When did you first get the acting bug?
Answer: "It wasn't until my senior year in high school that I found acting. I was a stage manager for a play - 'Annie Get Your Gun.' I was in charge of the props. Our high school performance was pretty bad, but it was probably the first thing that caught my attention. I had an opportunity to watch the acting process. And then I chose Howard because it has a fantastic acting program. I really dove into it."
Question: Which current Hollywood actors and actresses were your classmates at Howard?
Answer: "I was there when Isaiah Washington ["Grey's Anatomy"] was there. He was a guy who was really working hard because he was paying for his own tuition and books. I had a chance to do an episode of "Grey's Anatomy" with him. We said, 'Remember at Howard, how broke we were?' But I was just broke until I called my parents. Anthony Anderson [ "Law and Order"] was goofy and fun, always funny. Wendy Raquel Robinson ["The Steve Harvey Show"] was there, and people constantly compared us because both of our names were Wendy and the theater department was very small."
Question: When did you land your first break in Hollywood?
Answer: "The first professional acting I did was on a series called "The New WKRP in Cincinnati." It was a recurring role, and it was great money. I remember looking at the check, this huge amount of money, and the first thing I thought was: 'I can get paid for this.'"
Producers for the Lifetime show "Army Wives" wanted the Joppatowne native and Los Angeles resident back in L.A.; they had reconsidered her for one of the show's main characters and wanted her to audition again the next morning. Landing the role would mean the biggest break of her career for the actress, who was a regular on the 1996 ABC drama "High Incident" and has appeared on "Cold Case," "Grey's Anatomy" and "Martin."
Davis managed to book the last flight back to L.A., and grabbed her bags from the Houston flight moments before it took off. Then she approached another passenger waiting for the same L.A. flight.
"Would you go over my lines with me?"
The impromptu rehearsal helped Davis land the role of Lt. Col. Joan Burton on "Army Wives," the most successful series in Lifetime's 25-year history and cable's top-rated drama series for women ages 18 to 49.
Set at fictional Fort Marshall in Charleston, S.C., "Army Wives," now in its third season, offers a rare glimpse into the lives and struggles of women in the military.
Davis, who initially balked at auditioning because she thought the show would be an Army version of " Desperate Housewives," says she regularly receives kudos from military women for the show's realistic portrayals.
A Joppatowne High graduate who earned a degree in theater at Howard University in Washington, Davis plays a character who endured Chicago's mean streets to become the first African-American woman to be named lieutenant colonel in Fort Marshall's history.
Davis recently spoke about the role and her career in a phone interview from Charleston, where "Army Wives" is shot.
Question: Among the many shows depicting life in the military, what is the appeal of "Army Wives"?
Answer: "This is the first show that deals with what happens in the wake of these wars and what effect it has on our families. My character, Joan, is a mother and a soldier. No one has ever looked at the cost of being a wife, a mother and a soldier. When she's deployed to Iraq, there are interesting issues to deal with: You have this woman, a leader of men, going to a place where women can't walk down the street without a male family member. A lot of interesting stories there have never been considered."
Question: What kind of preparation did you do for the role and what did you draw from your own life?
Answer: "I've been married and divorced, and I have a 6-year-old daughter, so the married part wasn't a stretch. The soldier part, early on, was a stretch because it was a very specific protocol. I did a lot of research, and I went to Fort Bragg, N.C., for several visits. Growing up, I was an athlete; I played center field in softball and forward in basketball. That's what pays off with this character, a certain kind of physical confidence a female athlete possesses."
Question: When did you first get the acting bug?
Answer: "It wasn't until my senior year in high school that I found acting. I was a stage manager for a play - 'Annie Get Your Gun.' I was in charge of the props. Our high school performance was pretty bad, but it was probably the first thing that caught my attention. I had an opportunity to watch the acting process. And then I chose Howard because it has a fantastic acting program. I really dove into it."
Question: Which current Hollywood actors and actresses were your classmates at Howard?
Answer: "I was there when Isaiah Washington ["Grey's Anatomy"] was there. He was a guy who was really working hard because he was paying for his own tuition and books. I had a chance to do an episode of "Grey's Anatomy" with him. We said, 'Remember at Howard, how broke we were?' But I was just broke until I called my parents. Anthony Anderson [ "Law and Order"] was goofy and fun, always funny. Wendy Raquel Robinson ["The Steve Harvey Show"] was there, and people constantly compared us because both of our names were Wendy and the theater department was very small."
Question: When did you land your first break in Hollywood?
Answer: "The first professional acting I did was on a series called "The New WKRP in Cincinnati." It was a recurring role, and it was great money. I remember looking at the check, this huge amount of money, and the first thing I thought was: 'I can get paid for this.'"
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