Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
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BOSTONCOMMON-MAGAZINE.COM 47 Republic. People run in and try their hand at it. And most of them leave kind of beaten. There's a depressing side to the Hollywood allure. It was never really home. I'm really tight with my family and I'm really tight with the East Coast. Your career is quite spectacular. You've worked in extremes: comedy, drama, science fiction… you name it. I've had a very spicy career. I've had it exactly the way that I wanted it. I've had a chance to do some big productions. I've had so much fun every step of the way. I've done some difficult work; I've done some small things. I've done some failed things. I've done a lot of shit. And in between, I've had a more brilliant life. And I'm really okay with my life being more brilliant than my career. And you were deliberate about stepping away from your career to dive into motherhood. I took sixteen years off from television. David was all in with Fast and Furious and the X Files when we got married. I was doing the Naked Truth. I really wanted to get into motherhood. I was doing films about once every two years. And that was great, because that was a three to six-month gig. I would put the kids in backpacks and bring them to the trailer on the set. I have a whole portfolio of my daughter in bloody makeup from Jurassic Park. She loved that one. I don't think any other working mother has it as good as a working actor. It's been great. I'd love to talk about your work with UNICEF. I know you have huge roots with that; you are an ambassador and a national board member, and your grandmother co-founded it. Yes, I never thought I could be handed a legacy of the likes that my grandmother handed me. When I was very young, I started having conversations with my grandmother about it, and I started under- standing why she was travelling—why India, and why South America. We got into conversations when I was very young about the iodine deficiency, and how this affected kids [iodine deficiency is regarded as the most easily preventable cause of impaired cognitive development in children]. She told me this was the way UNICEF was going to be involved, we were going to figure out a way to help. Twenty some-odd years later, my father and I traveled down to Honduras the day that they opened up the iodine plant that UNICEF had built that would service all the farmers. And that was the beginning of eradicating iodine deficiency there. I feel like it's part of my life, like a family member. I'm very aware that it's a gift and responsibility. So Madam Secretary just got signed for a fourth season—congratulations! I have to say, the timing of this series is genius. We worked on being relevant the first season. But the things that we focused on in the plot would then happen in the real world! We used to laugh about how we needed to make bumper stickers that said, "Who Is [show creator] Barbara Hall?" We couldn't figure out exactly how she knew these storylines would end up becoming true life. Madeleine Albright gave me the greatest compliment to the show. She said, "The show is making foreign policy less foreign." And I thought, my God. You know, you don't really run into television thinking, 'I'm going to do some good.' And I have say, it feels good when I get, especially young women, saying, 'Hey! I'm going do that!'. I'm like, yes you are! Part of that must be that the way you play this role feels attainable for young women. Well, I think it could happen and I have to say, I think it has. There have been women in the job—Hillary Clinton and Madeleine Albright were both mothers at the time. It's not fantasy by any means. It is aspirational; we came into a field that was very crowded with the opposite. Barbara Hall consciously thought, are we not ready for some different angle on this? Because the truth is, in the State Department alone, there are seventy-five thousand people who are working in service to this government. They're not in it for the money, they're not in it for the fame. They're in service. The fun of the show of course, now especially, is how it pokes fun at some of the outrageous- ness that's happening around the world. It's an exciting time because I think we're not the only country that's reevaluating who we are in the world, and who we want to be in the world. And we know where you want to be: The East Coast. Exactly. I gave LA the college try, you know. There were things that I learned out there. But this is home. . DAVID M. RUSSELL/CBS (TOP); SARAH SHATZ/CBS (BOTTOM) What's in store for season four? Leoni's lips are sealed. However, fans can expect more international intrigue, political maneuvering, romance, and always, Leoni's sense of style.