An Interview with Steven Culp
From the magazine "Backstage West"
"What I loved about him was that he was somebody who didn't seem to stop evolving,"
said Steven Culp about Robert F. Kennedy, whom the actor-a dead-ringer for
the famous politician-has portrayed not once but twice, first in the 1996 HBO
tele-film Norma Jean and Marilyn and then recently in the soon -to-be-released
film Thirteen Days, which depicts the Cuban Missile Crisis.
"Whereas JKF is sort of fixed in our mind, he was killed at the height of his
career, Bobby was still developing. He was always in the process of becoming,"
said Culp.
A similar sentiment could be said about Culp when it comes to his acting. As the
Los Angeles-based actor explained in a recent interview, his work has owed him to
continually grow as a human being.
"I really love this job. I love the way you have to think. I love the way you have
to use yourself. I love the parficular discipline it takes. It really sparks a
lot of things in me, and I find metaphors for growth in my own life through the
work that I do," commented Culp, whose film and television credits include
Nurse Betty, James and the Giant Peach, ER, Ally McBeal, Chicago Hope, Family Law,
and a recurring role on the CBS series JAG.
As a highly respected stage actor, Culp has performed in Tony Kushner's Angels
in America at American Conservatory Theatre, Raised in Captivity at South Coast
Repertory, If Memory Serves at the Pasadena Playhouse, Slavs! at the Actors
Theatre of Louisville, Light * the Sky at the Ahmanson Theatre, Highest Standard
of Living at Playwright's Horizons, Coastal Disturbances at the Circle in the
Square, The Mite Rose at the Old Globe, and Richard III at the New York
Shakespeare Festival. Most recently, he starred in SCR's production
of Yasmina Reza's Tony Award-winning play, Art.
Culp especially found his latest screen role in Thirteen Days, which co-stars
Bruce Greenwood as JFK and Kevin Costner as trusted presidential aide Kenneth
O'Donnell, to be a great opportunity to stretch himself. Not only was this his
biggest screen role to date, it was also one of the most com- plex characters
he's had a chance to play.
"This role is so rich, and there is so much to draw from," he said. "It's
like a great Shakespearean role. You could work on it all your life. It's
this huge vessel, and you'd never be able to fill it, but there's a lot of
room to run around." Little did Culp realize that all the research and
preparation he did for his small part in Norma Jean & Marilyn, in which he had
one scene with Mira Sorvino would pay off so greatly four years later.
"When I did Norma Jean and Marilyn, I remember I was sort of laughing to
myself then, because I did an inordinate amount of research for this three
page scene, but even for that I felt that I had to be Prepared. To ty to catch
somebody at a certain point in their life's trajectory and to try to be true to
the spirit of who he was at that point in his life's journey, you've got to
have a lot of stuff in you that becomes second nature."
"Even for this little scene in this HBO movie, I was watching tapes and
pouring through books. So you imagine how intense my preparation for
'Thirteen Days' was." In addition to further researching information
about the Kennedys and speaking with people who knew Robert Kennedy
personally, Culp spent a great deal of time practicing with a dialect
coach to master a Boston accent. The actor also worked with a physical
trainer to trim his body, so that he appeared more 'wiry," as Culp
described the man he was portraying.
Whether playing a well-known his- torical figure or a fictional role on film
or onstage, Culp feels a certain responsibility toward any character
he plays. He recalled, for example, his experience in "Angels in America",
in which he portrayed a Mormon who is in deep denial of his homosexuality.
"Doing that was great preparation for doing a role like Bobby. That's a play
where you have to have all of this stuff at your fingertips to even be able
to play the scenes, to even say the first word."
What's most telling about Culps respect for his craft is that, long before
he was offered the job in Thirteen Days, the actor prepared for his numerous
callbacks as if he had already gotten the part-not because he thought he was
a shoo-in for the job but rather because he wanted to walk away from each
audition with his dignity intact.
"I thought I was a real long shot," he ,admitted. "I thought, They're not
going to hire me to do this part. I'm not a big enough name. But I'm going to
go in there and blow them away, and maybe I'll get something else.
"You have to be in a place where you say to yourself, I'm really going to
work hard on this, and I don't care if I get it. You really do have to
love acting. In the last four or five years, I have tried to consciously
maintain this philosophy of going in there, knocking them dead, and forgetting
about it."
Culp said he has not always prac ticed such a healthy attitude. He recalled
a period during the 1980s in which he spent most of his time working in
New York and in regional theatres. Looking back, Culp believes he wasted too
much energy being frustrated with his career and jealous of his fellow actors.
Said the Virginia native, "I was doing very well in New York. I worked with
Terrence McNally, Pete [A.R.] Gurney. I worked with a lot of the best directors
in New York. But I was always frustrated. I was going, Why can't I have what he's
having? Why is it always so hard to get the next job? Why am I never seen for
movies? Why don't they see me for this TV series? I was angry a lot. I didn't
know how well I was doing."
Ironically, what turned Culp's attitude around eventually was working for
free as an actor in 99-Seat theatres in Los Angeles. After moving to Los
Angeles in 1990 with his wife, who works as a costume designer, he found
himself in a rut. "I had four or five years where I worked, but I actually
felt like, Well, it's over. I'm going to be this guy who does theatre for
free and gets the occasional television job to pay the bills, and this is going
to be my life. During this time, I was getting dragged into doing theatre by
playwright, actor, and director friends of mine, knowing that people in the
industry don't care about theatre here and knowing that it wasn't going to do
my career a huge amount of good.
"I was doing it for me, and tha's when I started to reconnect with the work
again and started enjoying, once again, doing the work for its own sake.
I thought, If my career comes around again, I am going to have a really good
time, and I am going to make a point to enjoy myself and to say thank you
for all the little things that come. And you know what? It just started
coming along again. All of a sudden I was doing great theatre again.
I was working at Louisville and up at A.C.T and down at South Coast. I got
this recurring role on JAG, which is delightful. I think it had everything
to do with my change in attitude," said Culp, who is currently a member of
the LA-based Interact Theatre Company, where he often participates in staged
readings when he's available. Indeed, things are looking up for this fine actor,
who, like his character in Thirteen Days, is still in the process of becoming.
By Jamie Painter Young