She’s candid, approachable and humble. One might nary guess her lengthy career in Hollywood by the amicable voice that flows from the mouth of ex-soap star Liz Vassey.
Vassey got her start in TV when she was basically just a kid with dreams to sing on Broadway.
"I was nine years old and I saw my sister in a play, in Grease, and I though it looked fun and I wanted to audition for the next play that theatre company was doing," she says on her walk into the role of thespian. "It was Oliver. I nailed the vocals and I got [the lead]."
Vassey went on to perform in tens of theatre shows throughout Florida before she auditioned for the soap All My Children at age 15, landing the role that would change her path.
"I had to sing on the show which was great," she recalls. "It’s not where I saw myself really at all. TV is pretty seductive so I stuck with it."
After two years of playing the role of Emily Ann Sago, the self-professed theatre geek went on to make cameos in some of the biggest hits of ’90s television: shows like Married with Children, Murphy Brown, Quantum Leap, Wings, and ER. She played Captain Liberty in the 2001 series The Tick, a role she is surprised never landed her in a convention previous to this year’s expo in Calgary, and more recently the character Wendy Simms in roughly 78 episodes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
She says fans who are eager to meet her have been tweeting her photos of their Captain Liberty costumes.
"Cons weren’t as big a deal then; they were big but not this big," she says on not having been invited during her Tick days. "[Calgary is] getting my Con cherry – I’ve never done this in my life."
Vassey says she has asked friends what to expect, and was looking forward to being at the same Expo as a Breaking Bad star, a series of which she cites herself a huge fan. She would likely have also had fun sharing the experience with longtime friend Kristin Bauer, if scheduling conflicts had not prevented the latter actress from appearing.
"Kristin Bauer is one of the funniest people I know," Vassey says. "I’m so happy for everything that’s happened to her with True Blood; [she] couldn’t be more deserving."
Vassey and Bauer met roughly 15 years ago on the set of Fantasy Island on an episode aptly titled Estrogen. Vassey played Brenda, a man trapped in a woman’s body, and crazy-eyed for Bauer’s character.
"I had all these scenes gaping at her and following her on a beach, and trying to hold her hand," Vassey describes. "So we got to be friends in Hawaii."
Despite the lengthy friendship that ensued the two have never worked on a show together, barring Vassey’s first episode of CSI during which they were never on the same set at the same time.
"We’ve talked about writing together but haven’t worked together," Vassey says, at least not behind a camera. However, "horrifically drunk on martinis ten years ago", the two did scheme up a humourous t-shirt business. Glibbing wouldn’t it be a heck of a lot easier if guys had all their insecurities already written out on a t-shirt, the two decided to create some.
"Somebody wore one to a premier and people took pictures and they liked them," Vassey recalls. "We ended up in eight stores."
She laughs.
"Thankfully we both got too busy to keep up the t-shirt business."
Now it is writing that keeps Vassey busy.
"I’m actually more into that than acting right now," she states.
Vassey began writing for TV while working on CSI.
"In the tenth season they let me write an episode and since then I sold four pilots," she describes. Along with working on the TV show Maximum Bob and meeting her husband, camera operator/cinematographer David Emmerichs (while chasing fires in a dusty warehouse on the set of the Tommy Lee Jones film Man of the House), Vassey says this opportunity was one of her top three career highlights.
Writing affords the actress the ability to work when she wants, not on the timetable of the industry. She says the most challenging aspect of being an actress has been "waiting for someone to give me permission to act."
"Sometimes there are long pauses between jobs," she explains, or you’re auditioning or not finding the right thing. She likes writing because you can "sit down and do it whenever you want".
Vassey just sold another pilot to a cable channel and is developing another show through Krysten Ritter’s (of Breaking Bad fame) production company.
She says that while she loves writing for TV, writing a film might be fun too.
"I wrote an hour-long show that I love that was based on something that happened in my life," she says.
Though she never attended university to write, she said it is a passion she has always enjoyed since a child; something she knew she might do one day, and has taken related classes along the way.
She adds that being married to a director of photography is helpful for writing scripts "because then I can get people to come shoot it."
"I started acting when I was so young and this is something different in the same field and it feels really nice," she says.
Thankfully she has never had to deal with a really crazy fan, though she did get some strange recognition when she was on All My Children.
"When I was on the soap ...people would come up and yell at me for what I was doing on the show," she says. "I was really young, so that was weird."
She says she also commonly gets mistaken for actress Lindsay Price, who has played on some of the same series.
As to how the actress still looks so good, she says her regimen is simple.
"I’m a huge runner; I run pretty much every day. My husband calls it my coffee. I’m a different person if I don’t run."
To fit into a tiny costume she had to wear for CSI she did 500 crunches a night, but that isn’t her usual routine. She also keeps a vegan diet, making exception only for fish.
"So I stay pretty lean," she says.
As for being at the Calgary Expo, her nerd flag was allowed to fly unhindered. Alongside portraying Wendy on CSI, who is a bit geeky herself, Liz has nerd cred in her guest spot on Joss Whedon’s cult classic Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, where she played a super villain in the Evil League of Evil.
Not only that, but she came up with the character herself. Her friend, who got her a spot on the three act show, said she needed to provide a costume, and she brought her wedding dress.
"I was gonna be followed around by radioactive doves, and I was gonna have cohorts – Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue. And I was going to have incendiary rice."
Despite her friend telling her that Joss Whedon wanted her for the part, she soon realized in the first introduction that he had no idea who she was. Laughing, she recounts the story, and admitted to her own adoration of Joss.
"My friend just got me to do it out of pure love for Joss, and I’m so happy I did it – but he got me there through false circumstances. But it was fun."
Despite filming her part in about thirty minutes – she had a great time. "I got to meet Felicia Day, which was great. She was awesome in it."
