Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: The Unofficial Companion (27 page)

BOOK: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: The Unofficial Companion

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Adam Beach is a rising star who just never fully clicked with
SVU
viewers. For one thing, the presence of his character seemed designed to muscle out one of two longtime favorites—either Ice-T or Richard Belzer—and that did little to endear him to the audience.

Still, initially it seemed as if all would go well; Beach told
Andpop.com
in 2007 that he felt the part would be good for his career: “That role is definitely laying the groundwork to say, ‘You know what, there’s nothing bad we can say to Adam. He not only did it on a feature film level but now he’s doing it on a hot TV show. And he’s on one of the top TV shows as a regular!’”

And, he added, it should be good for all Native Americans: “This is sending a message every week that we are a part of society. It’s going to open the doors of, ‘Wow, Adam is really doing good for that show, now we need another Native American in one of our shows.’”

Unfortunately, his “dream role,” as he called it, was not meant to last. Notes showrunner Neal Baer, “We felt there were too many cops, and we were getting deluded in how we were playing Ice-T, (Richard) Belzer, and Adam. We wanted to bring the focus back to the main characters. And Adam had lots of things he wanted to do, movies. It was a very amicable departure.”

Beach’s final comments on his exit were simple and to the point: “I very much enjoyed my year on
Law & Order: SVU
,” Beach told
The Hollywood Reporter
in 2008. “Now I’m looking forward to new adventures.”

Chris Orbach (Det. Ken Briscoe, 1999−2000)

Originally From:
New York City

Other Wolf Films Associations: Law & Order
(Finkle, “Securitate,” 1993; Jason, “Matrimony,” 1997; Augie, “Ambitious,” 1999)

Selected Other Credits:
(Film)
Clear Blue Tuesday
(Dave the Picard Fan, 2008),
Blue Moon
(Frank Junior, 2000); (Music)
Secession
(album, 2008)
Safely Through the Night
(album, 2004)

Just the Facts

About Orbach:
The son of the late Jerry Orbach (Det. Lennie Briscoe,
Law & Order
) got his feet wet early in the franchise’s history, with small roles in three separate episodes on the Mother Ship. But his heart really lies in music (he records his own songs and performs live in New York City), while his paycheck comes mainly from voice-overs for clients like L’Oreal.

About Briscoe:
Ken is the nephew of Det. Lennie Briscoe, and largely serves a background function of fetching files, along with a little investigative work. After eleven episodes in the first season of
SVU
, Ken just vanishes.

Chris Orbach (Det. Ken Briscoe)

The Rest of the Story

It’s hard to tell the story of Chris Orbach and
SVU
without weaving his father into it. It got even harder in August 2008 when a
New York Post
reporter published a personal letter Chris had sent to his widowed stepmother, Elaine Cancilla-Orbach, that excoriated her for donating his father’s eyes post-mortem and laid bare some financial details from Jerry Orbach’s will that had previously not gotten much public airing.

But to go back in time: Chris Orbach had wanted to be an actor for many years, and had many discussions with his father about it. “Acting was something he’d been through the wringer with for decades,” says Chris. “When it came to my songwriting his reaction was nothing but unabated joy.”

He’s frank about the genesis of his role on
SVU
: “I got the gig because of my old man, and the thing is it put me in a weird position—I thought I was up to the task,” he says. “But the feeling I got was that everybody knew that and nobody liked it. Especially Dick Wolf; I felt like the guy couldn’t stand the sight of me. What I thought was going to be a fun gig was needlessly loaded.”

Since he had the voice-over work and his songwriting, Orbach turned to those skills once a second season failed to materialize. He recorded an album in 2008, and says, “I always keep thinking I could act again,” but it doesn’t seem a serious pursuit: “My relationship with acting has always been, ‘If someone asks me. If someone has a play reading or a low-budget film.’”

PROSECUTORS
Stephanie March (ADA Alexandra Cabot, 2000−03; 2005, 2009-Present)

Stephanie March (ADA Alexandra Cabot)

Originally From:
Texas

Other Wolf Films Associations: Conviction
(Bureau Chief Alexandra Cabot, 2006)

Selected Other Credits:
(TV)
Grey’s Anatomy
(Jane, 2007),
Death of a Salesman
(Miss Forsythe, 2000); (Broadway)
Talk Radio
(Linda MacArthur, 2007),
Death of a Salesman
(Miss Forsythe, 1999),
The Treatment
(Julia, 2006)

Upcoming Project:
(Film)
This Side of the Truth
(2009)

Just the Facts

About March:
Texan Stephanie March connected early with the theater crowd, and after a few feature films,
SVU
turned out to be her first-ever television appearance. “It’s an old-fashioned story,” she says. “It was really just by the book. I’d never done anything but theater, and I was right off the street.” March played the series’ first regularly appearing ADA, but after five seasons she departed for the feature world. The L&O universe doesn’t let go easily, however, and March returned to the new Wolf Films show,
Conviction
, reviving Cabot for thirteen episodes before NBC canceled the show in 2006. Additionally, March (as Cabot) returned to
SVU
in 2009 for several episodes.

About Cabot:
March didn’t even know her character’s name until two days before she began working on the show. Her glasses were courtesy of the actress’ own poor vision and inability to wear contacts. Cabot is unmarried and childless on the show, and in season five enters the witness protection program when a felon makes the case personal by trying to shoot her. After living in Wisconsin as “Emily,” working in an insurance company and dating a claims adjuster, she emerges in season six to help with a case related to her previously feigned demise.

How she ended up back in the DA’s office on
Conviction
, however, was never fully spelled out before the show got the axe. “She’s very much a work-first kind of person, and she would be tough to be in a relationship with and tough to be best friends with,” March says. “But you would always want her on your side. And I bet she’s really good at tennis. I always thought she’d be a tennis player.”

The Rest of the Story

Not only had Stephanie March not appeared on TV before she was hired at
SVU
, she really didn’t watch much TV—and that included any of the Law & Order shows. When she got the job, though, it was time to do a little research. “It was so violent!” she recalls. “I was terrified. I thought, this is morbid. It is better than playing somebody’s stupid girlfriend, but still . . . I thought, ‘There’s no way this show is going to last very long.’”

Beginners’ luck later, she had the role of Alexandra Cabot. March trailed the head of the Manhattan DA’s genuine sex crimes unit and author Linda Fairstein to get a sense of how Cabot’s real-life counterparts would behave, and says what she learned most from those days was an understanding of “gallows humor. That’s how you deal with (the horrible things that happen). You have to make it funny, or you cry.”

Shortly after March began, Neal Baer joined
SVU
as showrunner, and she had reason to be excited about her character’s future. “Neal said (to me), ‘I can’t wait to write for your character,’” she recalls. “And it was a much better show after that.”

That said, March slowly realized that while Cabot may often do more than just present cases, there wasn’t likely to be much exposition of her as a person, or her backstory. Such is a pitfall of not being familiar with the Law & Order universe ahead of time. “It’s very plot driven, it’s not overly emotional, and its longevity is based on the fact that you don’t suddenly turn it into a soap opera,” she says. “But as a performer—this is part of the reason I left—after three seasons you start to feel like a hamster in a wheel.”

In the end, she realized she’d come to the end of where Cabot was likely to develop, and decided to get out. “When I got the job I wasn’t even old enough to have graduated from law school; it’s so funny,” she says. “The guy I questioned in my first question-the-witness scene was supposed to be a kid—and he was a year older than I was. I really enjoyed my time there. I just felt from an acting standpoint that that’s all there was, or ever was.”

Fortunately, the series opted not to kill Cabot, just safely tuck her out of the way until she was needed again or until March agreed to return, which she did for a single episode. She recalls that her send-off was amazing, complete with a cake, a party, and people flown in from California just to wish her well. “It really was a wonderful experience,” March says. “I don’t have enough wonderful things to say about it. I had just come to a place in my life where it was over for me. And they understood that and couldn’t have been more accommodating.”

Few exited characters get an epilogue the way Cabot did; she made one more appearance on
SVU
, then showed up as a bureau chief on
Conviction
. She says she was promised more to do on
Conviction
, and that there would be an emotional backstory for her to play. “It was an interesting challenge,” March recalls, “and one you don’t often get. So when it didn’t materialize and the show was canceled, I was like, ‘Enough.’”

Today, March is making films and the occasional TV appearance, but her heart still lies in the theater. But when
SVU
comes to call, she seems to be ready to answer. In the middle of the tenth season, March returned as Cabot while the show’s resident ADA Kim Greylek (played by Michaela McManus) went mysteriously AWOL. “Neal (Baer) called my agent and said the show was kicking around some ideas to excite the second part of the season, and would I consider a nice, juicy character arc,” says March.

Whether this latest return will last was not determined when this book went to print. But as March says, “If the timing is right, if the planets line up, if the money is good and you are desired somewhere, it’s foolish not to consider it.”

Diane Neal (ADA Casey Novak, 2001−08)

Originally From:
Virginia

Other Wolf Films Associations: Law & Order: Trial By Jury
(ADA Casey Novak, 2005);
Law & Order: SVU
(Amelia Chase, “Ridicule,” 2001)

Selected Other Credits:
(Film)
Dracula III: Legacy
(Elizabeth Blaine, 2005),
Dracula II: Ascension
(Elizabeth Blaine, 2003); (TV)
Ed
(Vanessa, 2001)