Thursday, 10/22/98, 11pm eastern

(Raven is) a new way of telling the Highlander story, through the eyes of someone we can identify with, which is why I took the role.

I didn't audition, but was asked by Peter Davis and Bill Panzer and Marla Ginsberg, who said they wanted a man to balance the new series, playing off Amanda.  They'd seen demo tapes and asked for a meeting.  It was more a social affair, not an audition.

Although I feel a bond with the original series, it's important to take on a new direction.

Not married, no wife.  Like Nick, I'm searching for more than an average woman, more than an average relationship.

Nick should know who he is and what he's doing in life.  I've made several questions to the writers asking the same questions.  I would like to have some ideas in a lot of ways, I don't know where.

I would look forward to having something happen onscreen with Adrian Paul and Elizabeth Gracen.  It would create a nice love triangle, an interesting drama.

Favorite TV show?  I like, you'll think I'm nuts, you'll think I'm boring, Politically Incorrect, and Larry Sanders and Southpark.

Do you ever read through the Highlander Forums?
I made that mistake once. And I was blasted by some of the diehard Highlander fans.

The premise  is such an age old idea, of immortality, from Dorian Gray and Anne Rice books.  It's a fascinating subject.  And it creates and interesting debate.  I'm sure people have strong ideas about it.  I mean, Ponce de Leon discovered Florida looking for the Fountain of Youth.  It's been around a long time, this subject.

I was a fan of the movies.  The Highlander concept I think is fable, it's of legend, it's another way of distracting ourselves from our own feelings of impermanence.  Like everything else, I think about it, but I never would have allowed to take the job on the series had I been asked to be an immortal.  From an acting point of view, I want to try something new on the series, I want to bring the human touch to it.

Is Nick an immortal?  It would have to be some great distance from where we are right now with this series and format.  That's not in the plan so far as I know.

Favorite part of being an actor?  The 15 seconds of displaced reality that I get.  You can have a 5 minute scene, but only 15-45 seconds of that scene are you going to have magic, that feeling that you are living and breathing someone else's reality.

Any previous roles prepared you for this?  My last 4 or 5 jobs have all had to do with some sort of spirituality.  On the series Dharma & Greg, I played guru.  On Players, the Iced T series, I played a self-help, Tony Robbins type character.  In the movie Wishmaster 2, I played a Russian Orthodox priest.  On 7th Heaven, I played a Protestant priest.  And in Wes Craven's Carnival of Souls, I play St. Michael.  So all of my projects have been pushing me in this direction of spirituality, lost or gained.  It seems to be my calling these days.

(question)  I live in Toronto.  Are you guys the ones who are always tying up traffic on Richmond St. East and Adalaid St.?
(answer) Yup, that's us.

November 6 is the first day of shooting in Paris.

Elizabeth and I have a very professional working relationship.

I live 3-4 months a year in NYC, Murray Hill district.

Another Highlander movie and will you be in it?
Yes and no. (no meaning the TV stars will not be in the movie because) they're going back to the original feelings and moods of the original Highlander movie.

(the Highlander saga) goes on so long as there's a solid fan base.  I don't even know how long I'm going to be a part of this show.  If my character stops becomming interesting, or the show becomes repetitive, I'll want to go and do something else too.  But right now we're having a great time.

The sword in this show belongs to Amanda, but I have a background in Shakespearean combat fighting from my starving actor days on the stage.

Could Xena kick your ass?
Naked, a bottle of Mazola oil, and I'll give her a chance.

When I'm not acting, I'm writing, I'm directing.  I spend most of my time with my dog Damascus.

Can you dance the macarena?
I'll leave that to Al Gore.

Other projects?  I directed a film called Conversations in Limbo that I premiered in LA last Tuesday night, and I've been hired to write two scripts that I'm trying to finish.  I got into acting through writing.

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