In her eight years working the Las Vegas graveyard shift, Sara Sidle faced more than her fair share of heartache, which eventually resulted in her leaving Sin City for good. Actress Jorja Fox recalls her time on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and reveals why it was the right moment for her to leave the show.

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When it comes to Sara Sidle, it’s definitely a case of gone but not forgotten for the show’s millions of fans. And that goes for Jorja Fox too. Several months after bidding “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” farewell for good, the 39-year-old actress explains what attreacted her to the character in the first place, and reveals what she misses most about working on the series. She also talks about “that” bedroom scene…

“The Official CSI Magazine:” Looking back, what do you recall about landing the plum part of Sara Sidle?

Jorja Fox: I remember it fairly well actually. I had been working on “The West Wing” at the time. I kept getting calls from friends asking, “Hey, have you heard of this show? They are adding this character at the last minute. You should check it out.” I was really happy on “The West Wing.” I didn’t pursue it at all. I was like, “No thank you, but thanks for thinking of me.” Then finally, a script came from my agency and it was the show my friends had been calling me about/ Probably five pages in, I fell into a trance, knew I had to go meet everybody, and that if I was lucky enough that they were going to case me, I was going to have to take the job. It was this magnetic pull and I couldn’t stop it anymore. There was a little byline for the character, Sara Sidle, and it said she was from San Francisco, was coming in to help on an internal case in Las Vegas, that she was going to be a love interest for Grissom, was really tough, had poor social skills, and could drink anyone under the table. It has been pretty consistently like that for seven years so they were right on. I went in, met everybody for the first time - I had been run over accidentally on “The West Wing” a month or two before so I was limping around. I thought there was no way they were going to hire this actress with these crutches. They brought me back and who knew? I ended up getting it so I was thrilled.

In the beginning, Sara ruffled a few feathers, especially Catherine’s. Were you concerned there would be this continuing tension?

They had written some stuff very early in the show for us, and Marg [Helgenberger] and I both sat down together and didn’t really want that to happen, primarily because we were the only two women on the show. We talked about it, then took it to the writers and asked if we could not do that. They could butt heads but we didn’t want them intrinsically at odds. The writers were kind enough to amend that.

Sara’s past comes back to haunt her when it’s revealed that her mother murdered her father and she was then taken into foster care. How did that tragic past shape who Sara was?

Again, that was something the writers had decided early on, that a traumatic event in Sara’s past had led her to where she was, led her down this road of working forensics. Nobody knew what that looked like completely until close to that episode, “Committed”. We talked about it it, had thrown ideas around, so I always knew there was something she had, was protecting or hiding, and something that made her job extremely personal for her. That was wonderful thing to play and it raised the stakes even more. So many people have to work on professional detachment in order to go to work everyday like firefighters, cops, people who work in emergency rooms, and obviously crime scene investigators.

In “Bloodlines”, Sara was picked up for a DUI. Did that make sense to you?

Like many of the personal storylines for Sara, that came completely out of left field. Surprise. There was a little internal struggle for me because there was a part of me that didn’t want that to happen to Sara. I am very protective of her so I felt that would never happen, that it was terrible, and this is Vegas where you can take a cab. I didn’t want her to be seen as that vulnerable and yet at the same time, I did believe it could happen to her. It is a really human thing and nothing anyone is proud of. It is a moment in a person’s life where they take a fall. Looking back on that tiny little character breakdown from season one, it was very much in like with something that could happen to her, although at the end of the day, I do think she is slightly smarter than that.

How was it having the CSI team split into the day shift and night shift?

For the writers, going into that season, it was obviously something they could do that would be different and interesting. How would the dynamics develop between all the characters? On a personal level, I was just sad I wasn’t going to see George [Eads], Gary [Dourdan], and Marg a lot that season. I love working with everyone and there is no scene partner I don’t adore so I was bummed.

**During that period, Sara took Greg under her wing and they seemed to develop a strong bond. Was there a romance brewing between the two investigators?&&

There is always a possibility of a relationship there. Greg is Sara’s best friend outside of Grissom but he was probably too young for her. I think she saw him much more as a little brother or friend. It has been awesome watching Eric Szmanda, who is the youngest guy on the show, and outside of work is one of my best friends, go from 24 to 33. Many, many many moons later, if things really fell apart between Grissom and Sara, I do wonder if there would be a time for Greg and Sara. I think Greg is completely over Sara but she holds a certain torch for him.

Originally, Sara was supposed to be a love interest for Grissom but they only seemed to commit to that recently. Did all that speculation and dancing around ever get frustrating?

No, not at all. That is one of the cool things about getting to do something over a long period of time. When they decided to bring it back, I had almost decided the audience was sick of the idea of Sara and Grissom. There had been this weird dance that had played out over a couple of seasons that had really led nowhere it seemed. For Billy [Peteresen] and I as actors, coming into season one, because it was on the page, we started the show playing it. It was the producers’ decision to pull back on it. There is some truth to the idea that when they realized the show might be on the air for a while, they didn’t want to play all their cards in the first seasons. For me, there is a wonderful feeling that viewers still want to know more about these characters.

Things finally heated up in the sixth season finale when Sara strolled out in a bathrobe…

That was interesting because there was a different ending planned for the show, a cliffhanger, and we had already started shooting the episode. I got a phone call in the afternoon from Carol Mendelsohn and Ann Donahue together and they were like, “What do you think about this?” That’s another great thing about working on “CSI” - the writers will actually call you up and ask you what you think about a storyline. They were definitely giving me the option to say I didn’t want to do it. So I was completely surprised and quickly said, “Yeah!” It was very last minute and I thought it was an amazing Grissom scene. We rarely hear his innermost feelings. The show is so dark and the characters are so driven, they all seem slightly alienated and lonely by nature of what they do. To know there is this little light burning somewhere in their lives was amazing payback and what Sara and Grissom really deserve.

What was your take on doing an ongoing arc like the Miniature Killer storyline?

I loved the fact that we were going to take on a story that would go the whole season. I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of becoming a victim of the serial killer, though. Maybe I wasn’t completely listening because Carol and Ann did mention something to me about how this thing would go all season, that there would be something between Sara and the serial killer, but when push came to shove, I wasn’t really for that at all. I was extremely protective of the character. I felt Sara had been victimized as a child, and had gone through so much, and had made such a heroic stand at not being a victim anymore, which is partly how she ended up at the crime labs. But it makes excellent drama and speaking of the season eight premiere, it was fun to shoot it. I am really glad I did it and have no regrets

The eighth season premiere “Dead Doll”, had Sara in pretty dire circumstances. How was it filming that wet, deadly trap?

There was a lot of water involved. I am a bit claustrophobic and I’ve also been hurt a couple of times doing stunts so I’m pretty much the wimp of the cast. I’m the last one in line to do anything dangerous and would much rather sit in the lab with a microscope. Again, I was like, “Why me? Please. Eric, George, and Gary love to do that!” I had a few things working against me in terms of the physicality of the stuff. The cool thing about water and me is that I’m an avid surfer and I love water. The water stuff is fun; it was the two tones of steel hanging over my head that gave me the creeps.

When rumors started circulated that you could be the killer’s next victim, there was a ‘Save Sara’ campaign. It must be gratifying to know your fans are so loyal.

It is amzing to me that after seven years, people would still be invested enough to take the time to actually write those leters or send those emails. It is almost intangibly flattering. It is hard to communicate how meaningful that is. If you don’t mind printing just a huge “Thank you” and “I love you” to the people who have been kind enough to check out what I am doing - I am sure it is the reason I am still doing it.

There have been so many bloody and gory episodes. Is there one that really disturbed you?

If I was speaking personally about going to far, I’d say most of them. I am so squeamish. I am a pacifist so every week I am like, “Ewwww … we’re doing that?” One of the worst ones for me was a long time ago and based on a true story. It took place in Texas and was about a woman who was coming home, ran a guy over, and he stuck to her car. She was on LSD, was a nurse, and just drove home with the guy on her car, and parked it in the garage. We changed the story a little but so it had been a lawyer who’d been drinking. At a certain point, the person became aware that the guy on the car was still alive but they made the conscious decision to leave him to die in the garage. That story really affected me profoundly as a story and there was something about the autopsy in that case. His knees were both shredded because he had been dragged.

That is pretty grisly … Lastly, what will you cherish the most about your time on “CSI”?

Oh my gosh. It would have to be the people I’ve gotten to work with … the seven years of William Petersen, Eric Szmanda, George Eads, Gary, Marg, David Hall, Paul and Wally. There are those relationships and the ones with the writers. I never, in a million years, would have fathomed that I would get to work with people over that love a period of time and go through the highs and lows with them. That is the thing I will cherish the most. I doubt I will ever be able to say that ever again, that I got to go on a journey like that, with such a special group of people, for that long.

Who Are You?  

Sara Sidle Profile  

CSI Sara Sidle has always led and eventful life. She first appeared on CSI as a replacement for rookie Holly Gribbs, who was murdered in “Pilot” (1.01), at which point Grissom was already referring to her as “a friend”. It would take six seasons for their friendship to blossom into the relationship Sara seemed to long for - and just one more for the crazed “Miniature Killer” Natalie Davis to use this as a reason to target her. (She had another ‘office romance’ during that time, with assistant paramedic Hank Pettigrew; they split because he cheated on her).

Born to hippy parents living outside San Francisco, Sara was taken into foster care after her mother stabbed her violent, alcoholic father to death and was institutionalized - as a result, Sara often identifies with victims of abuse. Despite her disruptive home life, she excelled academically and graduated from Harvard and Berkeley before training as a CSI in San Francisco, where she met Grissom at an entomology lecture. An intense CSI, she’s not always able to detach her emotions from her job - in “Bloodlines” (4.23), when Nick wins a promotion instead o her, Sara drowns her sorrows and is caught drunk driving; Grissom collects her from the station. When she’s suspended in “Nesting Dolls” (5.13) after rowing with Catherine then Ecklie over another domestic abuse case, Grissom visits her at home for an explanation. Telling her alcohol isn’t her problem, he asks why she’s angry and Sara tells him about the night her mother killed her father. Their subsequent relationship gave her the comfort and security she lacked and craved - but ultimately it wasn’t enough to keep her in Las Vegas, and she left the City of Sin for good in “Goodbye and Good Luck” (8.07).