michelle ryan

LOS ANGELES - It's already a phenomenon despite the fact that NBC's new sci-fi drama "Bionic Woman" hasn't yet hit the small screen. Wenesday night though, all that is about to change as British actress Michelle Ryan leaps into the role of scientifically altered Jaime Sommers in NBC's "Bionic Woman."

Take one devious car crash and several experimental surgeries later and Jaime Sommers is the latest bionic model human. With super-powered limbs, Jaime quickly finds out she has to protect herself from the first bionic woman ― Sarah Corvus (Katee Sackhoff), who is pissed off and out of control ― all the while still looking after her younger sister Becca (Lucy Hale). Did we mention the agency who put her together wants a part of her, too? Oh and of course there's a romance ― with Will Anthros (Chris Bowers).

Prior to joining the cast of "Bionic Woman," Ryan was best known for starring on British television screens in "EastEnders," playing Zoe Slater, the youngest sister in the Slater family. While "EastEnders" saw her character schooling and scheming, Jaime Sommers is pure superhero.

In Michelle Ryan, NBC has found a potential breakout star for its new series Bionic Woman, which kicks off at 8 tonight on Channel 2. The show also gets a great villainous turn from Battlestar Galactica's Katee Sackhoff.

As for the series itself? It has some great promise, but like the bionic parts that make up much of Jaime Sommers' body, it hasn't all been harnessed yet.

This update of the 1970s series follows the same basic template of the earlier Bionic Woman, with a young woman getting portions of her body replaced after a horrific accident and going to work for the people who fixed her. In this case, Jaime (Ryan) is a student/bartender who's in a hesitant relationship with Will (Chris Bowers), one of her professors, and trying to look after her teenage hacker sister (Lucy Hale).

Driving home from a date with Will, their car is broadsided by a tractor-trailer. Fortunately for Jaime, Will just happens to be in the employ of a shadowy group that's experimenting with a highly advanced form of artificial body parts, and she wakes up with new legs, a new right arm and a fresh eye and ear.

The group running the show, however, is far more sinister than the old show's OSI. Led by an appropriately menacing Miguel Ferrer, the organization has experimented with bionics in the past, and the result has not been pretty: Sackhoff's Sarah Corvis has gone rogue and is none too pleased to find out that both Will and Jaime survived their accident. Jaime, too, is not exactly a willing patient, bristling (understandably) at the responsibility Ferrer and Co. want to put on her shoulders.

Ryan, who starred in the British soap EastEnders for several years, handles the disparate elements of her character pretty well and seems to grow into the role over the course of the pilot. As the "original" bionic woman, Sackhoff gets the swagger and a couple of the choice lines, but by the end of the episode Ryan is more than holding her own.

The two share a fantastic fight scene on a rain-soaked rooftop, which points to one way the new Bionic Woman has it all over its predecessor. Special effects and stunt work have come a long way in 30 years, and they're both pretty great here. The show pays homage to the familiar ch-ch-ch-ch sound effect that signaled bionic action in the '70s, but Jaime's new abilities are visually realized in much more exciting ways.

Some of the other elements, though, don't quite mesh. The love story between Jaime and Will is pretty much a non-starter, and the world in which Jaime's benefactors move is pretty murky. Just who Sackhoff's Corvus is working for is unclear ― it somehow involves Will's father, who invented the bionic technology, but that's about all we know after one episode.

Bionic Woman feels like a show that hasn't quite figured out what it wants to be. That could be a result of several behind-the-scenes changes on the series: Laeta Kalogridis is credited as the writer on the premiere, but she's no longer with the show. Jason Smilovic (Kidnapped) also worked on the pilot and remains as an executive producer with Battlestar's David Eick.

On the plus side, Bionic Woman comes pre-sold to a certain segment of the audience, which will probably buy the show a little time to find its footing. That, along with the presence of Ryan and Sackhoff, will probably be enough


Access Hollywood sat down with Michelle to find out how things, including all her super-powered fight scenes, are going.

Do you enjoy the physicality of the role of Jaime Sommers?
I have to admit I love it. I think Katee and I are in competition to see who can be the most (physical). I got cuts from fighting with (Chris). This one today, I got fresh from a gun sort of being smashed into my arm.

How did that happen?
I think sometimes when you rehearse some of those people come in too close and it was already at my arm before I had a chance to move. But I have to admit I love it all. We were fighting yesterday and doing all these sort of flying spinning kicks in this really confined space. (I) used to dance so I can pick up the routines instantly ... I'm really enjoying it.

Are you excited for the premiere? Do you feel pressure for the show to do well?
All of those things. I'm excited that there is so much awareness because when you work really hard, and everyone has given 110 percent to this project, you want people to watch it. But I know the expectations are so high so you hope that the show meets expectations.

You're English. How hard has it been to do an American accent?
It's not too bad actually. I did an accent on the soap "EastEnders," (which) I was on for five years in England, and I worked with a dialect coach for an American accent a good few years ago, so I was familiar with it. I guess by osmosis I've just kind of absorbed it. Now, when I come to do it, it's not too difficult, and I think the longer I spend working on the series the easier it becomes.

How did "EastEnders" help you prepare for you for a role on a show like this?
I started the show when I was 16 and I spent five years on "EastEnders," so I felt it was a real apprenticeship. I learned so much about myself, about the industry, about life, everything. I felt it was like a great grounding for "Bionic Woman" really.

Slide show

The week in celebrity sightings
"Heroes" star Hayden Panettiere is in vogue, Richard Gere says gracias, Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin share a Dream, more.

How have you overcome the challenges to be comfortable with your body image?
I think it's just growing up really. You grow up and sort of grow into your own skin really. Then you become more confident and that's how I feel with Jaime. All the time I'm sort of learning about myself and learning new things. You just become more comfortable with yourself.

Was there ever a point where you thought about leaving acting?
Yeah. I started so young so there were moments when you feel 'I'm not sure if I actually want to do this.' Then ... I sort of found (out) this is exactly what I wanted to be doing. This is like a dream role ― to do all the action sequences, to be up on big locations doing all the different stunt sequences, (to) be leading the show? It's manic and it's fast moving but I thrive on that. I love that and just playing such a strong empowered character? It's great really.
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 5/1/07 ― Played by actress Michelle Ryan, the re-imagined bionic woman is far from a kindred spirit of the original. This bionic woman has a new millennium twist - she is a stronger, more self-aware character who is reflective of today's new crop of powerful, uncompromising females on and off screen.


Ryan expressed her enthusiasm about the message that the character, Jaime Wells Sommers and the show on a whole will portray to audiences this fall.


"As a young actress, I always am drawn to strong female actresses. When you see, Angelina Jolie in "Tomb Raider" and you see her sort of kicking butt, you are like, 'I want to be like that. I want to be strong, and I want to be confident and empowered.' And, I think that's a really great message that "Bionic Woman" will hopefully bring out there," Ryan said.


"Our heroine is faced with a choice about whether to embrace the thing that she's become that makes her super, that makes her, other than human, it makes her unique, or embrace the things that make her a human being, that make her a family girl, that make her a big sister. And it seemed like those allegories were very prevalent and very rich and resonant right now like those allegories were in the old show. And so that's really the reason for the attempted remake and the title. It just felt timely," said David Eick, "Bionic Woman" executive producer.


Joining Ryan on the show will be Lucy Hale, Mark A. Sheppard, Will Yun Lee, Molly Price, Chris Bowers, and Miguel Ferrer. With a strong cast signed on, the executive producers of the show are confident that the show will have depth in dimension and appeal to audiences on a number of levels.


"Every element that exists in the show, whatever is required is what's going to be there. If the scene is emotional, we're going to be emotional. If the scene is driven by action, it's going to have a lot of adrenaline in it. If it's a dark scene, it's going to be dark. And if it's a funny scene, it's going to be light. We're going to find a lot more levels as we move into the series, levels that might not have been explored in the pilot because of where we came into the pilot during this character's genesis," said Jason Smilovic, executive producer.


The show will apparently put "Bionic Woman" in a different aesthetic context for viewers as well.



"The aesthetic approach to the show is just a modern one. The tools that we now have as filmmakers and as storytellers, whether it's CG or advance composition or motion capture. There are a lot of tools that you can use now to create the illusion of a super human being that, in those days, you didn't have. And her unique abilities are intended to accentuate who she is and what she's going through emotionally, not just to give viewers a candy," Eick said.


Audiences will also see a very familiar face on the show as Isaiah Washington, ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" cast-off, has signed on to appear in five episodes of "Bionic Woman" this season.


On the show, Washington will play a mysterious person who is brought into the enigmatic scientific organization that is responsible for creating the bionics that turn Jaime Sommers into the "Bionic Woman." His agenda is unclear as he instructs Jaime on how to handle her new abilities.


Under major scrutiny in recent months for having called a former cast mate a "faggot," Washington landed this role shortly after he was asked to leave "Grey's Anatomy." Producers insist that this role was written long before Washington was asked to guest star on the series and that they simply picked the best actor for the job.


"That character already existed prior to getting Isaiah Washington onto the show. So we just found the best actor for the role. The role was not conceived for Isaiah Washington, nor was it re-tooled for Isaiah Washington," Smilovic said.


Executive producers of the show also offered an appeal to critics of Washington who might be inclined to boycott the series due to the actor's presence on the show.


"We are not here to make judgments. You know, when somebody does something wrong and you have a systemic problem, the best way to change that problem is not by casting them outside of the system. It's by allowing them to make amends, allowing them to make reparations and to do the right thing. So rather than excommunicate someone, we felt that it was better to give him a second chance," Smilovic said.


It seems that this show has generated a lot of excitement from everyone involved as well as anticipatory audiences. Tonight at 8 pm, we will be able to decide for ourselves how well this "re-imagining" was executed.


Is playing this role a sort of vindication?
Yeah I think, I think it does, just to sort of have a strong young female character. She's unapologetic about who she is and she's learning and growing about herself.

It's great to play ― to have such a young female character that is so strong and smart and feisty. And she has her vulnerable moments. She makes mistakes but she learns and she wants to do the best by her sister and she sort of owns up to her responsibilities. Yeah it's great to play a character like that. I think it's a great message.



Do you have any advice?
I think it's just accepting who you are. As you grow up you realize nobody is perfect and there is no such thing as perfection. To actually just be healthy and to be strong is a great thing. I still have my days when I don't feel so great but you just work through it and learn to get over that because it is not just about that in life. There are so many things to sort of concern yourself with. I think it's just a case when you're really young you just, you feel self conscious and then you sort of grow into yourself really.

What was it like working with Isaiah Washington, who joined the "Bionic Woman" cast?
Really, really easy. Will and Katee (Sackhoff), myself, Isaiah are all sort of very sharp and quick when it comes to learning (the fight moves). It is moving so fast so it is sort of in on the day, learn the sequence and then do it. He's easy to work with and very giving and sort of careful not to hurt one another even though we are sort of going at it. He is focused and yeah, it's been great.

Copyright 2007 by NBC. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.