Lisa Edelstein @ The Party to Launch Absolut Stella (2002)
Lisa Edelstein from Celebrity Sleuth Vol. 14 Bo. 9, 2002
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS,
MARCH 3, 2002
Playing a free-spirited New Yorker on NBC’s “Leap of Faith” isn’t a stretch for actress Lisa Edelstein. “I’ve never been a commitment kind of gal,” says Edelstein, who co-stars as Patty, a copywriter at a New York advertising agency who prowls for men inside and outside of the office. The midseason comedy, from writer Jenny Bicks of HBO’s “Sex and the City,” stars actress Sarah Paulson as Faith Wardwell, Patty’s co-worker. The series airs Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. after NBC’s “Friends.”
Edelstein’s character has been compared with “Sex and the City’s” sultry Samantha Jones, played by Kim Cattrall. Bicks argues the point. “Samantha has a much less romanticized version of what she wants out of life,” Bicks says. “I think that Patty is somebody who does want to be in love. She’s not as hardened.”
Along with being commitment-phobic, Edelstein says she and her fictional other half each have made New York their stamping ground. In the 1980s, long before she landed the role in NBC’s pivotal new comedy, Edelstein was known as Lisa E. among regulars at New York dance clubs. As an 18-year-old aspiring actress and drama student at New York University, she divided her time between classes and long nights at Danceteria, the Palladium and the Pyramid Club. She became a darling of the paparazzi and gossip writers, who sometimes compared Edelstein with the late singer/socialite Edie Sedgwick, who was a favorite of the late pop icon/artist Andy Warhol. Edelstein says she enjoyed the publicity and nightlife for two years, until some of her friends began dying of AIDS. She wrote a musical to commemorate them, “Positive Me,” which ran for two years Off-Off-Broadway. “The single life can be really exciting and really tragic,” the actress adds. “There’s both pain and joy and excitement when you live your life so fully.”
After the play closed, Edelstein joined cable’s MTV as a veejay, later moving to Los Angeles to pursue her life-long ambition of acting. “I started warning my mom when I was only 2 years old that I’d be an actress,” Edelstein says. “I don’t know what inspired me. As a child, I just started reenacting everything I saw. Acting was all I ever wanted.”
Her first TV role was as a lesbian, Rhonda Roth, on ABC’s short-lived series “Relativity” in 1996. Since then, she’s played a call girl who seduces Rob Lowe on NBC’s “West Wing,” spurned sports anchor Bobbi Bernstein on ABC’s “Sports Night” and one of Jason Alexander’s girlfriends on NBC’s “Seinfeld.”
She’ll also return to play Lauren, the woman poised to break up Ben and Felicity on the WB’s “Felicity” this spring. “I’ve always tried to do shows that I thought were interesting,” says Edelstein. “I’ve hopped around a lot, but the best part of that is I’ve gotten to be on a lot of good projects.”
On “Leap of Faith,” Patty is an adventurous rebounder who tries to help Faith get over her guilt at cheating on her fianc by wisecracking that at least she could return a lot of tacky bridal shower gifts. Off-screen, Edelstein says, she’s never come close to getting married, although she is dating monogamously at the moment. “I had an anxiety attack once when my boyfriend’s parents met my parents,” the actress says. “I literally stopped breathing for a minute. I have parents who wonder why I’m not breeding yet.
Lisa Edelstein @ NBC’s 75th Anniversary All-Star Party, 2002
Lisa Edelstein @ various events in 2002
