Kanakaredes' Daugher Knows Her Secret

Melina Kanakaredes was stunned a few weeks ago when her four-year old daugher Zoe came up to her to tell her a secret.

"My daugher comes to me, 'Mom, I know what you do,'" Kanakaredes told the syndicated entertainment show The Insider last week. "I said, 'you do?' She says, 'yeah, you're Stella Bonasera.' It's very funny. She knows my full name and I kind of was overwhelmed. I'm like, how did you know that, [and] what else does she know that I do? She's very precocious, and she sees the big billboards promoting the show, and when she goes by, I'm waiting to hear a comment, 'there's Stella.' Then she kind of gives me a funny look, and I go, 'you're right, there's Stella,' and she goes, 'I know it's you, mom.'"

Besides Zoe, Kanakaredes is also the mother of 20-month-old Karina, and she said that the most important thing as a parent is to be with her children. One way to do that is to bring her daughters to the CSI: New York studio. "We don't bring them on the set exactly - we have dead bodies hanging around. But have our separate little courtyard outside of the stages, where we get to hang out and have our little tea parties on the side, and it's cool."

When not with her children, Kanakaredes has also enjoyed spending time with one of her New York co-stars in particular: Gary Sinise (Mac Taylor), who shares her love of theater. "That's one of the fun things about working with Gary Sinise. He's such a plethora of information when it comes to all different playwrights."

In the full interview, Kanakaredes talked about her performance in last year's Broadway revival of Cabaret, as well as the "whirlwind" that her life has been over the past few years. You can find more excerpts and a two-minute video file by going to this page on the official Insider site.

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