Helgenberger: I Never Lose Sight Of How Fortunate I Am

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation‘s leading lady Marg Helgenberger spoke with The Early Show about playing Catherine Willows for the past ten years and being an advocate for breast cancer awareness. (Embedded video after the jump!)

Helgenberger has been with CSI since the show began a decade ago. She is glad to still be a part of the series after all these years. “I never lose sight of how fortunate I am to have this job, and not just in this economy, but just as an actor,” the actress said. “This is one of these jobs that very few actors get the opportunity to be on—a show that’s had this kind of a run, but also still maintained its quality. And that I attribute to a wonderful group of writers, directors, crew, cast—just the sum of its parts. And we all still care about it, sincerely care about it.”

Helgenberger was excited to have Laurence Fishburne join the cast as Dr Ray Langston during season nine. “I’ve been a big fan of his for a quite a long time,” she said, adding that the actor was not daunted by the task of filling the hole left in the wake of William Petersen‘s (Gil Grissom) departure. In fact, Fishburne put in a lot of hours to get caught up on CSI when he came on board. “He’s seen every single episode,” Helgenberger explained. “Actually, he watched every single DVD collection—I can’t claim that. And he’s just fun, and easy, and cool, and all that.”

As for the budding romance between Catherine and Detective Vartann (Alex Carter) that was teased in “The Panty Sniffer”, Helgenberger doesn’t expect to see the relationship turn into a big deal on the show. “We do things in a very subtle way,” she said. “I could be wrong, but I’m thrilled that we have a love interest on the show. I’ve sort of been begging for one for a few seasons now. They were finally like, ‘Okay, we’ll let you have a little fun.'”

In her off time, Helgenberger is an advocate for breast cancer awareness—a cause that is very close to her heart. “My mother, Kay Snyder, is a 30-year breast cancer survivor, and I’ve done so many charity, fund-raising events for the past 20 years,” she shared. “On May 8, I’m co-hosting the Revlon Walk for a Cure in Los Angeles. I think the one in New York is this weekend. It’s kind of a big deal throughout the country, so I encourage people to go out and participate.”

You can watch a video of the interview below:

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