Actress Shannon Esra arrived on the scene as lawyer Sam Mazur in the second season of The Lab and she's sent Mingus's world into chaos as a result.
I caught up with her for us recently to snoop out as much as I could:
Sexxx, drugs and public places
Tashi: What's been the funnest thing about being the new babe on The Lab?
Shannon: That Sam does absolutely everything in the show. I get to take copious amounts of drugs, have sex in random places and be as naughty as the character allows. It's been very liberating for me as someone who's never had sex in a public place or taken a drug in their life - it was all very free'ing.
And no, I didn't do any research.
Tashi: How did you know that would be my next question?
Shannon: It was what I expected - but I did have to ask my one friend if I could watch them while they all tripped themselves out on coke. It wasn't very enjoyable at all.
Tashi: And the sex in public places?
Shannon: Ja no, that was charming.
Tashi: Did you manage to find anyone doing it to watch?
Shannon: No no no, no - it's just a park scenario. Also the publicness of Sam and Mingus's relationship - I make it a point never to date anyone I'm working with.
Daniel Day Lewis
Tashi: Is being an actor living dangerously through someone else?
Shannon: No - there's a process involved in the job. You arrive on the set and you go through a whole bunch of things before you even become that person.
You become the character for moments at a time until the scene is done and the rest of the time you spend hours waiting for your next scene. I think someone can get caught up in it - someone who's not very sure who they are - they'll live vicariously through the elements of the person they're playing but I really think there's a very big difference between the acting and your real life.
Tashi: Unlike Daniel Day Lewis - I'll never forget reading that for My Left Foot he literally didn't walk around for months before the movie - I was like: "Why don't you just act?"
Shannon: Yes that very first scene in the movie where he puts the record on with his foot, it took him months to master that and I understand that - it's not something they could CGI in and you would want to do that. Daniel Day Lewis is an extraordinary actor but he's also a bit of a hermit and he's very strange.
For me life is all about balance, when people say: "Urgh, I work so much I can't have a social life," - I think that's complete and utter nonsense.
Tashi: I agree, he needs to calm down.
Shannon: Look he's a two-time Oscar winner and that's great. Meryl Streep's won a number of Oscars - she doesn't involve herself in the process, everyone really has a different process.
On-Set
Tashi: What was filming The Lab like?
Shannon: It was very tough, there were lots of delays on things. It was one of the hardest productions I've worked on - it was challenging in terms of what we had to accomplish because it's such a big show and there was a lot to do so we worked against the clock all the time.
Paparazzz - E!
Shannon: So many people think that actors have such a glamorous job but you're just an ordinary person doing an extraordinary job. There's nothing glamorous about it - it's long, hard hours, it's blood, sweat and tears some days because you're working against so many factors.
It's funny when people go "Oh my goodness, what shows have you been on?" it's just like "I don't ask you what's on your CV, why ask me what's on mine?" - it's just a normal job for me. I hate the way that people are like "Ooh goodness, people in the industry, actors, they're so special." No we're not, we're not any more special than anyone else - we're just doing a job that we're passionate about.
I wish we could all forget about how public the job is or how you become high profile - I'm talking extremes like Hollywood and stuff. Leave it alone and let them get on with it. Provide entertainment, that's what we do - it doesn't make us anymore special than anyone else.
Tashi: When you see too much of someone - on E!, over and over again for instance, outside of their acting, it breaks the illusion about them I find - like what happened with Tom Cruise.
Sharon: It totally does, I don't want to know about someone's private life, I really don't. That's why when You magazine have said: "Can we take pictures of you in your home?" I'm like "No," because that's not my job. My job is to do the work I do and then I go home to be with my family and friends and do my thing.
What makes people believe in you as an actor is if they don't know you that well - the minute they know more about you as a person it makes the job way harder. Also, I'm a very private person, there are things I hold sacred that I won't speak about.
Salam-E-Ishq
Tashi: Last year you made history by being the first caucasian actress to play a lead in a Bollywood film - talk to us about that for a bit.
Shannon: That was very tough. It was months in India, I couldn't eat any of the food - I'm allergic to coriander, I don't eat cumen so food was a big problem and I was all alone for the first five weeks. I lived on boiled chicken and boiled vegetables and when I started looking like I was losing weight I was like "Okay I cannot eat this any more."
A taste of home
Shannon: When I went back I took my uncle with me to keep me sane - to keep me company and play cards with so I didn't just sit in my trailer alone.The first five weeks - it was split - I was there for five weeks from the January and then another three weeks from the August.
What I didn't get initially in the first part was that I was one of the stars and didn't have to be a walkover. As South Africans we're so humble and want to impress people because for us here, if we don't want to do something, they'll go "Okay fine but there are five other people waiting for your job so they can have it."
When I realised it was different there, my life was a lot easier when I went back the second time, if I said "No," they wouldn't push me. Something that I battled with, I didn't cry over it or get upset I'd just say "No," and they'd go "Okay, let's do it another way."
I wasn't a prima donna or diva like some of their actors are but I exercised a bit of "I will not be a doormat. Also being a white person from a foreign country and being a woman, I worked very hard to get respect.
Fashion shows & dyed hair
Tashi: How did you get the role?
Shannon: I auditioned. They had a South African stills photographer Genie working for the company for three years. She needed to come back to South Africa to fix her work permit and the film's director hadn't found his Stephanie so when Genie came to South Africa he asked her to see if she could cast it.
She didn't know who to speak to and it just so happened that a friend of hers was a friend of
Ed Jordan's so he suggested she phone Moonyeen, who's my agent. She phoned me, I auditioned on the Monday and on the Tuesday the tape had gone through and I was there by the Friday.
I stayed for five days getting to meet everyone which was quite extraordinary. I went to some fashion shows and it was really wow. Then I was there three months later, then six months later.
Tashi: And The Lab, how did that happen?
Shannon: Again I auditioned.
Tashi: So it wasn't a case of you getting the role as a result of
Hard Copy?
Shannon: No, to be honest the SABC were not very happy to have me on. They had to fight for me to be on, they were like "You've been on Hard Copy, we can't have you on the show, too similar." - so I dyed my hair.
What makes South Africa very different from LA is that if you're on one show there they want you on every show - they're not scared of exposing you. The more exposed you are the more likely it is you are to make money for the show whereas here they're like "Oh my God - you've been on one show, you can never be on the SABC3 again." Eventually they took me on and it was all fine.
Born between: 23 July - 22 August
Tashi: Sam's had a failed marraige that she never talks about - what impact has it had on her?
Shannon: She's very choosey about who she wants to be with. The moment she sees something in someone she doesn't like, she runs. It's given her a "get out of jail free card" and the excuse to run.
Tashi: Tell us something about her no-one will ever know, even after watching every episode of the show.
Shannon: She's a Leo. Leo's are very fiery, tempestuous, very focused. I've always liked the star sign so I think it's cool that she's one.
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