Jorja Fox

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Jorja Fox
Born Jorja-An Fox
July 7, 1968 (1968-07-07) (age 41)
New York, New York, USA
Other name(s) Jorjan Fox
Years active 1989-present
Official website

Jorja-An Fox (born July 7, 1968, in New York, New York), is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her work as Sara Sidle in the hit CBS crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and for starring in two other successful television dramas, ER, and The West Wing.

In 2003, she was ranked #80 in Stuff magazine's list of the 103 sexiest women. She is annually nominated for PETA's "World's Sexiest Vegetarian".

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Fox is the youngest child of Montreal-born parents, and was raised on a narrow barrier island in Melbourne Beach, Florida. She describes herself as being overweight while growing up, with a prominent gap between her teeth.[1] By her twenties, neither her wisdom teeth nor braces had appreciably helped, and Fox said "forget it."[2]

After attending Melbourne High School[3] for two years, she began a modeling career after winning a local contest. She subsequently enrolled as a drama student at the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York, under the tutelage of actor William Hickey.

[edit] Career

After appearing in several minor films and TV series, including a 1993 episode of Law & Order, Fox entered the limelight in 1996 when she joined the hit NBC television series ER, as the no-nonsense vegetarian and lesbian medical intern Dr. Maggie Doyle.

Playing up that fame, Fox appeared on the coming out episode of Ellen ("The Puppy Episode Part 2," April 30, 1997).

In 1999, she was cast as Secret Service Agent Gina Toscano on NBC's series The West Wing, where she starred for one season.

Fox has appeared in the films Velocity Trap, Food for the Heart and she also appeared briefly in Memento, playing Guy Pearce's wife.

In 2000, she became one of the characters on the CBS series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, in which she portrayed a Las Vegas forensic scientist named Sara Sidle. She announced that the show's 2007-2008 season would be her last. On November 15, 2007, the episode "Goodbye and Good Luck," marked the character's final regular appearance in an episode of CSI.

Fox on the set of CSI, March 2004

She and CSI co-star George Eads were fired from the show in 2004. Fox had allegedly failed to submit a letter to CBS confirming that she would be on time for shooting. The disputes were resolved in just over a week, and the two were rehired by CBS; however, neither actor's salary was raised, in spite of other cast members receiving raises. It was also reported that of the two, Fox was approached first to resume her contract with CSI, but she refused until Eads was rehired as well.[4]

On April 18, 2007, TV Guide began reporting that Fox may not be returning for the eighth season of CSI, having not yet signed a new contract.[5] The season finale turned out to be a cliffhanger involving her character, Sara Sidle.[6] The New York Post reported that Fox did not show up to film the finale because of ongoing issues over her employment.[7] Neither CBS nor Jorja's agent have confirmed the allegations.

In September 2007, after rumors emerged about Fox's departure from the show,[8] an online forum called "Your Tax Dollars At Work", that has about 15,000 members, started a campaign to keep Sara Sidle on CSI, the campaign (called Dollars for Sense) includes mailing the show's producers a dollar so as to keep Fox on the show. With the help of donations, the campaign also organized plane flyovers, on Tuesdays and Thursdays of October's two first weeks, over the Universal Studios, in California, where CSI is filmed. The banners read "Keep Jorja Fox on CBS".[9][10]

On October 15, 2007, Fox told Entertainment Weekly that she left CSI, saying that she wanted a break "from the commitment of a weekly television series."[11] At her request, the money collected during the "Dollars for Sense" campaign will be donated to CASA, an organization dedicated to aiding foster children.

On leaving CSI, Fox has produced the musical Stay Forever: The Life and Music of Dusty Springfield starring Kirsten Holly Smith, about the tension between the public image and private life of bisexual musician Dusty Springfield,[12] which played at the Renberg Theatre in the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center.

In May 2008, Fox agreed to return for CSI's ninth season as a guest star.[13] for three episodes [14]. After coming back for the 1st, 2nd and 5th episode she returned for Grissoms last episode "One To Go" in the last scene when Grissom turns up in the jungle, surprising Sara and the episode finishing with the two sharing a kiss.

She is the co-founder of Honeypot Productions, an independent avant-garde theatre company in Los Angeles that has produced five original plays. Her friend and HoneyPot co-founder Heather Reid wrote Dear Bernard, which Fox helped produce.

Fox is also a musician: she plays guitar (badly, she says) and recently purchased a drum kit. She also sings and writes songs, most notably the song "Lullabye" for the movie Traveling Companion, as well as the song "Satellite" which she published on her official web site. Jorja and CSI co-star Marg Helgenberger sang "Stand by Me" as a duet for What a Pair 4!, an annual charity event to raise money for breast cancer research.

Fox will also guest-star in the upcoming Lifetime TV series Drop Dead Diva which starts July 12. Her episode, set to air on August 16th, has her playing a soccer mom with a criminal past.

[edit] Personal life

Jorja Fox's advert for PETA

Fox currently resides in Los Angeles. Her friends include Emily Procter, whom she persuaded to join CSI: Miami.

Her name is pronounced as "Georgia". She is most often credited as Jorja Fox, but has also been credited as "Jorjan Fox."[15]

In 2001, Jorja claimed to be "Involved, but not married." [16] However by 2003, she was again single. [17]

[edit] Activism

Fox is a supporter of the Human Rights Campaign[18] and has been a dedicated vegetarian since the age of 19, working with PETA to help promote vegetarianism [19] and also working with ADI [20] to bring light to the suffering of animals in circuses. She has a purse named after her by the Montréal company Matt & Nat, which designs vegan purses. [21] Fox attended and read at the Los Angeles book launch of Karen Dawn's Thanking The Monkey, and can be seen on Access Hollywood discussing how being vegetarian helps the environment.[22] In 2008 Fox volunteered her time to film a Public Service Announcement for the New York-based non-profit Orangutan Outreach ~ redapes.org. The 30-second clip was shown on Animal Planet during the award-winning series Orangutan Island.

[edit] Partial Filmography

Show Character Year Notes
The Kill-Off Myra Pavlov 1989 As Jorjan Fox
Summer Stories: The Mall Diane 1992 As Jorjan Fox
Happy Hell Night Kappa Sig Girl 1992 Uncredited
Dead Drunk Maggie Glendon 1993 As Jorjan Fox
Law & Order Paula Engren 1993
Missing Persons Officer Connie Karadzic 1993
Dead Funny Fate 3 1994 As Jorjan Fox
The Jerky Boys Lazarro's Young Lady 1995 As Jorjan Fox
Alchemy Josie 1995
Velocity Trap Pallas 1997
Ellen The Attractive Woman 1997
House of Frankenstein Felicity 1997
How to Make the Cruelest Month Sarah Bryant 1998
ER Dr. Maggie Doyle 1996-1999
Forever Fabulous Liz Guild 1999
The Hungry Bachelors Club Delmar Youngblood 1999
Memento Catherine Shelby 2000
The West Wing Agent Gina Toscano 2000
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Sara Sidle 2000-2008 Guest stared in 3 episodes in season 9
Drop Dead Diva Soccer Mom August 16, 2009 Guest starred in one episode

[edit] References

  1. ^ Stuff magazine, 2002
  2. ^ People magazine, 2003
  3. ^ Coconut, Commander (8 May 2001). "Tuesday Column". Orlando Sentinel. http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-8353112_ITM. Retrieved on 13 April 2009. "Jorja Fox, who plays Sara, went to Indialantic's Hoover Junior High and then Melbourne High School" 
  4. ^ "CSI Rehires Fox; Eads Waits to Hear"
  5. ^ Ask Ausiello
  6. ^ "Channel your energy for what May come during television sweeps month"
  7. ^ New York Post
  8. ^ Ausiello Report Blog | TVGuide.com
  9. ^ http://www.dollarforsense.com
  10. ^ MSN TV Blog: Want to Keep Jorja Fox On 'CSI'?
  11. ^ Lynette Rice (2007-10-15). "Jorja Fox makes it official: She's leaving 'CSI'". Entertainment Weekly. http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2007/10/jorja-fox-makes.html. Retrieved on 2007-10-15. 
  12. ^ Julio Martinez (2008-02-10). "Stay Forever: The Life and Music of Dusty Springfield". www.variety.com. http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117936161.html?categoryid=33&cs=1. Retrieved on 2008-02-28. 
  13. ^ '24' and 'CSI' casting news!
  14. ^ Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on 'The Office,' 'Supernatural,' 'HIMYM,' 'Bones,' 'Heroes' and More!
  15. ^ Evelyn Teo (2005-09-04). "Procter prospers". www.star-ecentral.com. http://www.star-ecentral.com/news/story.asp?file=/2005/9/4/tvnradio/11909399&sec=tvnradio. Retrieved on 2007-11-24. 
  16. ^ "Online extra: Q&A with actress Jorja Fox of "CSI"". www.usaweekend.com. 2001-06-17. http://www.usaweekend.com/01_issues/010617/010617jorja.html. Retrieved on 2009-06-01. 
  17. ^ "Hey There, Jorja Girl". www.people.com. 2003-05-26. http://wiki.jorjafox.net/wiki/People_Mag._(26_May_2003). Retrieved on 2009-06-01. 
  18. ^ jorjafox.org
  19. ^ GoVeg.com
  20. ^ [1]
  21. ^ matt & nat
  22. ^ Interview with Access Hollywood

[edit] External links

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