Canadian native, Tamara Gorski joined Angel in its premier season for the episode “Eternity”, and brought new meaning to the desire to ‘live forever’. But she’s no stranger to the world of immortal beings or vampires, having also appeared on the TV series Hercules, Highlander, and Forever Knight. When she’s not acting, she produces and directs her own independent projects and won acclaim at the Toronto Worldwide Short Film Festival with her experimental film entitled, Space. Fans were happy to resurrect her character of Rebecca Lowell and find out . . .

The first questions were how she enjoyed working with David on such an intimate level. “I didn’t realize that [Angel] really hadn’t had any girlfriends or too much of that romantic going on since Buffy,” she recalled, “So it was interesting to learn about that. And David and I were quite serious, although he offered up some banter but he would go off and do his Christopher Walken imitations and play with the lines and fooling around with things. But it was quite a serious show, you’re right about that and I remember also him saying to the producer, David Greenwalt, that he really wanted to come to the place in one of his scenes on the couch when he starts to talk about his life. [Angel] starts to reveal himself to me more and more, and you think that maybe they actually, genuinely do care about each other, except that Rebecca gave him this power drug. But as he’s talking about his past and how difficult it is to be who he is, [David] actually started crying and in several of the takes he was crying and he was saying, ‘This scene and this is something I’d really like to do more of, being more emotional.’

Tamara points out Rebecca's obsession with immortality

Genre films and television series offer up unique opportunities for actors, on Angel there’s always plenty of the red stuff around and Tamara remembered her experience with humor, “Working with blood is always fun. It smells great, it’s usually spearmint and it’s quite sticky. And it was very wet and a little bit cold. Those special effects scenes, as fun as they are, I do get into it and I do think about really what the story is and the fact that he just slapped me against the wall and he’s evil and he’s forcing blood down my throat. That’s one of the interesting things about being an actor, is that you have these opportunities to push yourself into places that you might only dream or nightmare about.”

Although there were not many females actress on the show the first year, Tamara and Charisma Carpenter got to do some quality girl bonding the best way how, shopping on the streets of Hollywood and getting paid for it. “Charisma and I, I would have to say, had a really great time with these scenes that we had to do in walking Hollywood boulevard. We had to be laughing and giggling in the scene but we were laughing and giggling all day and not even sure exactly what about. We eventually we would walk from our part at the top of the street near Vine towards Wilcox and then there was a second hand shop, and so we would walk through the scene and do the scene and cross our marks, past the camera where the scenes end, and then proceed straight into the shop. And I got two pairs of shoes for 10-bucks each!” she laughed. "This is my first convention and it's been really great talking to you all and I hope you have a great time visiting and running into each other.You might see me a little later at the festivities tonight and thanks for coming!"

Saturday afternoon found Keith Szarabajka, a performer of the Eugene O’Neil Theater Center, eager to make his first Con appearance before Angel fans and dispel all those nasty rumors that Holtz is an evil guy! But before he became the avenging Vampire Hunter, Keith was a regular on the hit TV series The Equalizer, starring Edward Woodward. With much Sci-fi experience under his belt by way of Star Trek: Voyager, Enterprise, Roswell, and The X-Files he had a wealth of creativity to draw from although Holtz may best be described by the simplest of forms: ‘You killed my daughter, prepare to die.’ And so the dispelling began. Keith quickly became comfortable with the audience and talked about his character, Daniel Holtz’ accent being close to home in nearby York, although he admitted using more of a mid-Atlantic accent rather than actual 19th century Yorkshire. “Actually there were a number of accents that they had me try out and not use,” he explained. “Not because I couldn’t do them but because it was too confusing. At one point they wanted me to do an Irish accent, another time they were thinking of a Scottish accent, then there was a York accent -- people in America don’t know what that is. And at one point it was even going to be Dutch and another point we were going to try Transylvanian German as his name was Holtz but naturally David Greeenwalt settled on a mid-Atlantic accent.” And thus a part of Holtz character was born.

“I actually do know how to sword fight taking extensive stage and combat training, and having a lot of fights, and I’ve been hurt in a lot of fights too.” Keith was a little disappointed he didn’t get to do more of his own stunts on Angel though, as he explained, “I’d have my sword in the air, breathing over someone and point it at their neck and they’d freeze it and say, ‘Okay cut! That’s great.’ I think the other actors were afraid of me, I’m a very method actor,” he joked.

Keith takes the questions to the fans

“I got a separated shoulder leaping through the Quor’Toth with the baby, on the first day I actually fell, but I did save the baby. We called it robo-baby.” There were actually three used on set, one doll, one real, and one 40-lb mechanical baby with a waving arm. A question that drew a large round of applause was if ‘Lilah and Holtz would ever make it together?’ asked by Stephanie Romaov. “Does the trailer count?” replied Keith, to which Stephanie laughed, “Ah-huh!” Keith admitted, “I was gonna ask her that question and I chickened out, that’s why she did that.”

When asked if he thought that Holtz actions were justified for his revenge on Angel or if Holtz was just evil, Keith responded with humorous yet deep insight. “I never thought Holtz was evil - let me put it this way, do you have a family, do you have a wife and children?” “No, just 2 sisters,” responded the gentleman questioner. “Well, let’s say that someone broke into your house and murdered your mother and murdered your younger sister and then made your favorite sister into a vampire. How would you feel? Yeah, so who’s the evil character on Angel really?” That’s why they had to got rid of me,” joked Keith, “I asked too many questions like that. ‘So I’m the bad guy? Let me get this straight . . . [Angelus] murdered and raped my wife, then ate my baby and then turned my beautiful 11-year old daughter into a vampire forcing me to kill her and - I’m the bad guy?” The fans responded with justified laughter.

Turning the tables on the audience, Keith took the opportunity to join the fans by stepping off stage and mingling down in the crowd which allowed for the unique opportunity of shyer fans who couldn’t get up to the mic to ask him questions. A simple hand raised would bring them face to face with the infamous vampire hunter. “What’s on your mind? Capt. Holtz wants to know!” Keith happily announced placing the mic before an unsuspecting fan. He closed out his session by fulfilling a fans request for a song by singing a few lines from, “I want to be loved by you, just you and nobody else but you,” bringing about the crowd’s applause. And finally, Keith genuinely admitted, “It was really fun for me [playing Holtz] and I thought it was a really well written character, I thought it was multi-dimensional. I actually really liked everybody in this cast.”

Fans Bring It to Nicole and Clare

Doing double duty where two beautiful ladies not to shake a pom-pom at! When it came to the Q&A panels they were the first to say, “Bring it on!” Okay, it’s obvious the pun here is that both Nicole Bilderback and Clare Kramer (along with Buffy co-star, Eliza Dushku) both stared in the smash cheerleader hit movie, Bring It On. But there’s more to these lovelies than just cheer, Nikki (to her friends) wet her feet not in acting but in dancing at Kitty Carter’s Dance Factory in Dallas. When she finally ventured to L.A. she quickly landed in the classic pop film hits, Clueless and Can’t Hardly Wait, which stared Seth Green and also a small appearance by Amber Benson that was later cut. Nikki extra’d on Buffy before landing the role on Brin, Jessica Alba’s genetically engineered X-5 sister on the TV series, Dark Angel. No stranger to Angel fans, Clare gave the onetime love of Angel’s life a run for her slayer’s money as the Hell Goddess Glory, the Big Bad of Buffy’s fifth season. Germinating from the stricter school of stage work with her Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute lead in Light Up The Sky, Clare parlayed her talents before the film cameras with The Rules of Attraction. Having a nice following of fans from her appearance on Dark Angel, Nic was happy to profess that she did all her own stunts. “I did have a stunt double but that was just for safety and security. I personally have a lot dance experience so I walked into it have a lot of possibility and technique. We had it choreographed and we rehearsed and blocked it, but I did it all.” “She also did all her own stunts in Bring It On,” offered up Clare. “We both did,” as Nic tossed the props back.

One fan pointed out that their collaborative film, Bring It On is seen as a gay teen icon in some circles and this please both ladies as Clare commented first, “Oh you know what, that’s very nice to hear.” Nic agreed, “That’s actually great to hear. I’m glad you’re point that out.” Clare offered up her personal opinion as she’s “someone who believes like the more you put stereotypes out there and talk about it, the less they become. And I think that movie’s the perfect example of it. Everything’s just thrown out there, you’ve got the whole sexuality issues and the race issues and it’s all just put out there in the form of a physical comedy so I’m glad that came across.” Nic as well expressed her feeling, “For me personally I think it’s great that for the character Les, for him being gay the fact that it wasn’t a main issue, it was just him. It wasn’t like the ‘gay’ cheerleader, it was just in the storyline as a part of it and we could joke about it. There’s no offence but it’s very casual, thrown in there with all the others; the good time tramp, the black joke, the white joke, the bitchy joke, all just thrown in together and meshes so well.” Clare just had to point out that may their characters had an unannounced subplot as she joked, “I think there was a point where Courtney and Whitney, are we or aren’t we? Personally, I had no idea if the movie was going it be successful.”

“Well, I’d make my husband [a vampire] of course, and my two dogs, Elvis and Gracie.” ~ Julie Benz

Nic concluded that was the shock of all involved. “When we were shooting it we were all like, ‘Oh my god, we’re in a movie about cheerleading.’ Let’s just do it, for the money, we made friends, we had a blast. Next it comes out, it gets released, it’s number 1 at the box office in America. We’re like, ‘Yeah, we’re in that movie!’ I’m telling everybody. But we have no idea.”

Getting into character can be a daunting aspect of a role, but Clare used the opportunity to her advantage not being a hell-God in real life. “The thing about getting to play someone who’s self-centered and a little bitchy if you will,” she began, “is that you get to take all the times you actually feel that way in life, and you get to put it out there for work and you actually get paid to do it. It’s more like you don’t have to control yourself as much if that makes any sense, you can take situations in life that make you angry or wish you could tell certain people certain things and you can just translate that into the character which is basically what I did with Glory.” When it came to torture and mayhem Clare got to experience some interesting situations. “Actually I didn’t mind torturing Spike at all,” she laughed. “It was kind of fun. I didn’t mind it because the actors who I worked with, including James but also the knight and the other people, they were really nice and I made sure to tell them, ‘ okay, this is just acting,’ you know, not really doing this. So they wouldn’t feel uncomfortable, I would feel comfortable, it was actually a very easy situation and it was fun. But again that’s something I would never normally do.”

Asked if she ever took Glory home and use her power skills in her own life, Clare admitted, “There were times, yeah, nothing dramatic or major, but I feel like when I was compromised I was more confrontational with people. Instead of backing away from a situation I may confront it, but not exactly as would obviously,” she laughed. “I love Glory’s wardrobe, most of the time. I did like wearing heals and wearing the dresses, there were a couple of outfits where I was like, ‘I will never, ever, ever wear that.’ But for the most part they were nice and I very careful that my character was stylish and fashionable and sort of had a human look to her as opposed to prosthetics and other things. So over all I was happy, but unfortunately I didn’t get to keep any of those clothes.” In regards to embarrassing moments, Clare confessed, “Most of my embarrassing situations come while actually filming. There was a time on Buffy, when I was fighting, it was in the hospital and I went to throw a punch and the strap on my dress broke, and my dress fell down. And that’s probably the most embarrassing thing that’s happened to me, ever!”

Out of the W&H suits and into the leather for Stephanie

Holding solo court without Daniel Dae Kim able to be present for the weekend, was Stephanie Romanov (no longer a Con virgin), who felt right at home joking with the audience straight off the bat to get everyone relaxed and eager to ask herself -- as well as her alter ego, Lilah -- the really big questions. With a European modeling career prior to her entering into acting, Stephanie brought beauty, brains, and talent to Angel, but not before she wowed audiences with her portrayal of Jacqueline Kennedy in the blockbuster film Thirteen Days. “Hey! How are you guys doing?” Stephanie shouts, taking no time to get the crowd up and cheering for her talks. Everyone wanted to know her reaction when finding out that the key-girl of Angel’s menses was going to be axed, and literally. “I was very shocked,” Steph admitted, “to find out that I’d lived through four seasons and then they were going to kill me, because I’m [baiting] this vampire who’s already dead and then when they kill you, you’re still dead. But I expected it much sooner because, as you know, all the lawyers get killed in Wolfram & Hart.” But she confessed, “I loved the whole way they did it, it was a fun year and you’re never really dead.”

Stephanie offered up her most memorable moment while playing Lilah. “I think I liked the “Billy” episode, plus it’s the only episode where Lilah was actually the hero. So I thought that was very cool, she actually did something good, even though I like playing her bad. Just that one moment made it a lot of fun because it was the opposite of what you expected her to do.” Having such a sweet personality in person, Steph was asked what she must possible tap into to bring the ‘evil, bitch’ out. The question got a laugh from the audience as well as Stephanie’s answer. “It’s fun because in life I get to be nice, and as Lilah I can say things I have never in my like said to another human being, so it’s very freeing. I think true evil is something that is disguised as something else so if you’re just playing as something that is evil it’s not as frightening as a woman who’s not afraid to put on the makeup, doing the hair, be funny and then watch out. I like it just because it’s so opposite of anything I’ve done in my life, ever! I find it’s a great release to play someone’s that bad, it’s more fun.”

Juliet Landau is mostly recognized for being the daughter of renowned actors, Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, it was being a classical ballerina that drew Juliet’s focus as a career path until she landed the part of the young Lilly Dillon in the dramatic film, The Grifters in 1990. Following a verity of roles she met Joss and helped to created what would soon become the most classic vampiress of dementia, Drusilla, on the Buffy series. Not to be out done by the obsession of Angel’s depraved mind, Julie’s own character of Darla was the first face seen when Buffy the Vampire Slayer premiered and the last seen on the Angel spin off of its premiere season; doing what had never been done before by bringing a vampire back from the dust! Julie has also had an extensive background with sci-fi, with a recurring role on Roswell as well as appearing in the Spielberg miniseries, Taken. Keeping the ghoul in the family, she fell in love and married the Crypt Keeper, John Kassir who also entertained at the convention to the delight of fans.

"Look at all the lovely people? Are they nice people?" ~ Juliet as Dru

Finding herself solo on stage Saturday afternoon, Juliet was eager to see all the fans who turned out. She was happy to quench all their inquisitiveness about Spike, her working with her father, the origin of Drusilla’s accent, and about taking risks with her acting roles, but first she greeted everyone by stating, “I’m so excited to be here, it’s been so much fun so far. And it’s great to see a lot of people that I actually got to see in London and Belfast and to come back again, thank you so much.”

For the curiosity of one young fan, she picked out certain episodes that she really enjoyed working on. “There was an episode on Buffy, when my character first gets strong in season two. The first episode with James Marsters, and some of the flashbacks, actually the big crossover episode where James kills his first slayer, or our first love scene, that was fun.” Juliet followed up with, “And then when Darla and I team up in Los Angeles on Angel for “Reunion”, I had a great time on that episode as well.” There’s always a creative challenge for an actor when given a roll such as Drusilla and Juliet recalled, “The thing that’s so rewarding about working on the part is that there are so many different elements and colors and it makes for more like the human being although not totally. And so that part of it was what really appealed to me because you’ll get writing for a character, a villain that’s very kind of one dimensional, ‘okay, I’m evil all the time all the time,’ and nobody thinks that they’re evil. That’s not the way that someone’s who’s evil goes about thinking, they think what they’re doing is good. So when I’m feeding on people, that’s a good thing,” she explained with a laugh.

On Sunday Julie Benz joined Juliet on stage for more laughs and mutual appreciation. Again Juliet opened with thanking the fans. “I just want to say also to all the people who have drawn me pictures and given me poems and given me gifts it’s been so sweet, thank you so much, I really, really appreciate it. Meeting everybody was so cool, everyone’s been great.” Julie began the morning by saying, “Okay, well, we’ll ask you questions. What was your favorite episode of Angel?” Shouts from the audience included the episodes: “Darla” and “Dear Boy”, to which Julie responded with a genuine, “Aweeee.” One of the first questions of the day was: What would you say is your favorite part of the convention so far and do you think Darla and Drusilla would have enjoyed the Vampire Ball last night? “I think they would have eaten each and everyone of you!” She joked, but quickly added, “Last night was just an amazing experience.” The question naturally led into: ‘If you were a real life vampire, who would you make a vampire to spend your eternal life with?’ “Oh, that’s a personal question,” Julie joked. “Well, I’d make my husband of course, and my two dogs, Elvis and Gracie,” which got a big laugh from the audience.

Asked who came up with Drusilla’s famous doll collection Juliet recalled, “Joss and the writers definitely came up with Miss Edith and the thing that was nice is that in some of the later episodes, actually in Angel, she wasn’t scripted but I really wanted to bring her back and make her a presence. I got to bring her back and play with her some more, gouge out her eyes, and pull her by the hair, drag her around.” Another ‘favorites’ question leaned towards Juliet’s appeal of movies. “I tend to actually like dark movies, I loved Sid and Nancy, I think it’s an incredible movie. I love Gary Oldman’s work. Sophie’s Choice, it’s hard for me to pick one movie, I like Dog Day Afternoon, I think it’s a great movie. I like movies that make me feel, and whether it’s really a painful movie or a funny movie, I like to be moved in the movies”

Juliet and Julie enjoyed themselves as much as the fans

There are so many classic Drusilla lines, but Juliet recounted one event where life actually imitated art on a regular basis. “My boyfriend at the time and I would go places and I would go, ‘Look at all the people, are they nice people?’ Thunderous applause and cheers followed. Juliet capped it off by admitting, “So that would be one of them.” Julie recalled a line she has a lot of fun with. “I have a moment with Tim Minear [Angel writer/producer], whenever we see each other we always do a back and forth to each other. It’s during the Boxer Rebellion when they bring Angel the baby and I accuse him of being out and he’s standing there. I don’t remember the exact line, I just remember one little phrase - and I’ll try and do my best Darla but I have to tell you, she possesses me on set. I don’t really know if she’s here with me right now,” she laughed,” but I think the line is . . . ‘You were dining on rats!’ It was one of my favorites moments because I just love playing the jilted wife waiting for my husband to come home.” Once again fans wanted to know the justification of Dru leaving Spike for a Chaos-Demon. “The whole thing with that, it’s my justification for it, that Drusilla knew that Spike was already fancying Buffy and so it was a revenge thing. I really didn’t have interest in that slimy, gooey guy with the antlers. (laugh) It was more of getting back at him for the fact that I already, of Drusilla’s ability to have the visions and all of that. I already knew that he was gone, so it was about that.” Regarding the plot development of season five, Juliet explained Spike’s fascination with Buffy. “I was a little upset. You know, 200 years of just [snaps her fingers in the air] like that.” “I get it,” adds Julie, “Yeah!” Applause and cheers follows as the audience knows Darla has also suffered at the hands of this petite, blond cheerleader.

The questions turned to which historical character the ladies would most like to portray on film? “I would love to play Josephine Bonaparte,” admitted Julie. “I read this amazing book called, ‘The Many Lives of Secret Sorrows of Josephine B.’ [by Sandra Gulland] I loved the story of her life and I’m fascinated by her relationship with Napoleon, she’s an amazing woman.” Having auditioned for the role of Buffy, Julie was asked if she had landed the lead did she think the series would have as successful as it has? “No, it would have failed!” she joked. But then with all candid honestly Julie replied without hesitation, giving credit where it was due. “I think Sarah Michelle Gellar is an amazing Buffy and watching her in the first season I mean that girl worked her ass off to get that show made and to make it what it is, She was only 19 years-old at the time and she blew me away with her professionalism, with her work ethic. I don’t think the show could have been made without her and I don’t think it would have been a success without her.” A huge applause followed on that note.

Ending the weekend on a personal note, Juliet took the last few seconds to open her heart to the fans. “I think one of the most amazing things about the show, and I think we all experience this, is with people we’ve all got to meet, whether it’s through the posting board or on the job or coming to this conventions. All of you got to meet new people and not just us, we also got to meet you, you got to meet us and you have this whole community and we really feel a part of this community and it’s so great because very few shows have this following, this commitment, this passion and you guys have a passion for the show and it really touches us so completely and we are all moved by it, every single one of us here have talked about the passion and the commitment and the joy that you have for our show and it’s very fulfilling for us doing what we do and it really just raises it to a whole another level of love, I think is the right word. And it’s just so much fun here and I hope you’ve had as much fun this weekend as we have and it’s been such a joy meeting all of you. You guys are great!” Juliet joined in by adding, “I hope you’ve had a good time! Thank you so much!”

And to Thee I Bid Ado

As fans gathered their bags and prepared to catch their planes, trains and car rides back to their perspective homes on Monday morning, they may have been tired, with much of the queueing and little of the sleep, but they were certainly happy. After all, you can’t spend three days with your favorite celebrities, talking, dancing and posing for photos plus the added enjoyment of a few semi-naked men -- who just happen to be beyond gorgeous (and for the guys, the ladies were drop-dead too) - and not leave with a smile on your face. But if you did, due to the disappointment of knowing this fabulous weekend had come to an end, there was something tempting just around the corner to inspire fresh chatter for next year! Before the weekend closed out, Starfury announced their plans for two up-coming events in 2004 which would make End of Days just a small catastrophe on the apocalyptic scale with not one but two exciting conventions in the works: Fusion (a BtVS event) set for April 30 - May 2, 2004 with a return to the Norbreak and Hyperion (an Angel event) set for June 11-13, 2004. Guests Clare Kramer, Nathan Fillion (Caleb), Juliet Landau and Elizabeth Anne Allen (Amy Madison) are already set for Fusion with the promise of tons more, and knowing Starfury, you can bet that that is an understatement. While Hyperion has slated Amy Acker, Vincent Kartheiser, Andy Hallett, Brody Hutzler, Julie Benz, Dayne Johnson, and Sparky so far. CoA will be there, we hope you will be too!

Written by CoA Writers, Julie Reynolds, Hollie Edmond, Sarah Wallis, and Kristy Bratton

CityofAngel.com would like to extend our Gracious Thanks to Sean Harry of Starfury Conventions and the entire EoD Crew for their exceptional hospitality.

A very Warm Thank You to Lee Pursey for his wonderful contribution to this feature.

Special Thanks to Stewards, David Sexton and CoA's very own Allison Brown for their never-ending assistance and support (and take-out menus)!

If you have any comments for CityofAngel.com regarding this feature, we would love to hear from you. Just email us at: comments@CityofAngel.com