It seems as though Barrett Foa controls the entire city of Los Angeles with a couple of mouse clicks and a few keystrokes. But his character, techno-wizard Eric Beale, is always in a time crunch to help agents fight the bad guys on NCIS: Los Angeles.
AH: You have to be thankful that NCIS: Los Angeles is one of the top-rated shows on television. How gratifying is it that you're part of a show that millions of people watch a week?
BF: It's really crazy. I have to put it in terms that I'm used to, which is theater terms. It's weird to think that I've been working as an actor my whole life, on stage since I was in high school and college and summer stock and Broadway shows. And it's weird to think that in all those performances, all the people in the audience don't equal one week's worth of an audience of NCIS: Los Angeles. It doesn't even come close. That's an insane feeling, but it's a great feeling.
The other side of it is after a show, I get to go out stage doors and there are fans everywhere. "Oh, we'd like to meet you. We just saw the show. Thank you for your performance." And I thank them for coming, and there's interaction after that show. But after NCIS: Los Angeles is over, people just turn their television off. They get to see me, but I don't get to see them.
So it's almost like as if it all happens in a void and I almost forget that I'm on television still sometimes. I was in a museum with my parents and the security guard was like, NCIS: Los Angeles! You know, trying to be quiet in a museum. It's kind of fun. I'm like, oh yeah, that's right! Yes! Of course!
AH: Are you able to learn more and more as an actor hanging around such an accomplished cast?
BF: Yeah! The cast is pretty eclectic. We have a lot of people from a lot of backgrounds. I think that's great. The more I really look at it, and I never even thought of it like this, it's pretty darn eclectic. We have this movie star in Chris O'Donnell. We have this huge music mogul in Todd (LL Cool J). This Oscar-winner character actress, Linda Hunt. We have this Portuguese soap star who's done a ton of television and she's only in her mid 20s, Daniela Ruah. And Eric Christian Olsen, who's been on every television show and in every movie for the last 15 years.
And then me, who's been singing and dancing on Broadway and doing dramatic theater as well, and moves out here and gets a television show. It's such a crazy melting pot, but somehow it all comes together and makes this great show. The characters are all so different, and so are the actors playing them. We make this fun, messy group of characters that the audience seems to love.
AH: Were the cast additions and subtractions difficult, and do you feel the show has hit a groove since?
BF: Oh my gosh. Absolutely. I really feel like we're hitting our stride this season. Those cast shifts were rough for the audience, but they were also rough for us. We didn't really know it at the time, but now that we're in such a groove, and it feels so good, we were like, "Oh. That was kinda rocky back then."
It wasn't something you could put your finger on—oh, this person's here, now they're not. Oh, this person's here, now they're not. It's hard to get your footing. I wonder if that translated to the audience. Or maybe it puts everyone on their toes that are watching. We don't know who's safe and who's in danger. To a certain extent, that goes for the actors, too. We want to stick around too! We want to be part of this amazing, amazing show. It's an exciting time right now in the show. The addition of Nell is helping with that.
AH: How specifically has bringing Nell into the mix helped your character?
BF: You know, Eric was starting to bear a large load of information. There was a lot of exposition that needed to get out, and he was the only mouthpiece to get that information to Callan, Sam, Kenzi and Deeks. There wasn't a lot of room to play, because there was just so much information to get out. So with the addition of Nell, it splits that up a little bit so it's not Eric talking for ages.
We also get to play within the information we're giving out. Is it that we're flirting? Is it we're in competition? We're trying to figure out what that dynamic is between Eric and Nell, but whatever it is, I think it's super-exciting. I, for one, love it. I love the addition of someone else at the office. While the four agents were fightin' crime on the streets of L.A., the only people back at the headquarters were Hetty and Eric. There's only so much you can do with that dynamic.
You kinda know it's not going to be a sexual thing. So someone who's Eric's partner-in-crime and his age [pauses] — although I don't want to rule out a romance between Eric and Hetty.
AH: Age is just a number, you know.
BF: Exactly.
AH: Did you hit it off right away with Renée [Felice Smith], who plays Nell?
BF: Absolutely. When she did her screen test, everyone was like, oh my gosh, that's the girl. I got to read with her, and she was so fantastic and so quirky and in-the-moment and adorable to top it all off. She's from New York, I'm from New York. We're both theater-background people, so I love that. We have a lot in common.
AH: What do you remember most about getting the Eric Beale part?
BF: I auditioned for a different role on the show, and I didn't get that role. I went to the network and the studio, and I didn't get it. I was totally heartbroken. And then a week or so later, Shane [Brennan, series creator] calls up: "We'd like to offer you a role that we're basically creating for you."
In the pilot episode, there was a part that was written and it was called, "Technical Operator." And it had like five lines. He was like, we're going to give that part a name, and we are going to flesh it out a little bit more, and we're going to give you some more stuff to do. And the name's Eric Beale, and you're going to play him. Suddenly, I was this recurring guest star on the show. Then, after 12 episodes, they made me a series regular. Awesome!
AH: It's weird, because I always thought you were a series regular, but you weren't.
BF: There was no breakdown for Eric. There was no casting call for Eric. Eric didn't even exist. I went in for this other role, didn't get it, and I guess they were like, we like that dude. And they created this character for me. That's a dream. That's like a Hollywood dream come true. That does not happen every day.
Alex Hoffman - Alex Hoffman is a graduate of the University of Kansas' journalism school whose credits include Midwest Commercial Journal, Lawrence ...
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