Interview With Tamala

Castle just wouldn’t be the same without the smart and sassy Tamala Jones, who fans have come to love as Dr. Lanie Parish, the show’s medical examiner.  In addition to Castle, the Pasadena, California native has appeared in a number of films and TV shows, including Ghost Whisperer and CSI Miami. In this interview, she offers some insights into her character and a few interesting teasers about Lanie’s role in episodes to come.

Do you go through some sort of medical training for your role as medical examiner, or pore over medical books? You sound like you know what you’re talking about.
Tamala Jones: Thank you so much for saying that. No, I don’t do medical training. I watch The First 48 on A&E., Dr. G Medical Examiner and Forensic Files. Those shows fill up my whole DVR collection.  I watch them all the time, especially Dr. G Medical Examiner because I like the way she talks about her subjects as if they were still alive.  I like when she opens them up and finds out what they ate in the last hour, what they experienced in their different organs, the damage.  She’s amazing. I love her language, the way she rattles it off.  So l like to emulate her a lot.

Do you look forward to being more instrumental in solving cases?

TJ: Oh, yes. We’re getting into that this season. They’ll be going deeper into my character. There’s going to be a full episode about Lanie so you’ll get to know her a little better.

Can you give us a little preview?

TJ: I can only say that you’ll get the background story on Lanie. They were going to do a kidnapping episode about her, but they decided against that. They’re still working on her story line, which may include some romance with Esposito. Of course, the relationship will not be that open, so they’ll have to catch her with Esposito. And Beckett may ask her, “What was that all about?” Lanie is someone who won’t want to make a relationship really public.

How nice is it to have that fan support for your character?

TJ: It’s really a beautiful thing for me personally because Lanie was only supposed to be a guest cast member on the show. She didn’t have a lot to do on the pilot. But the network ended up liking me, saying, we know her credits, her history, let’s make her a regular. I tested high and I really owe my position on the show to the fans. It’s very humbling. I will always do the best job I can possibly do for them and hopefully never let them down.  I’m just so glad to be a part of such a great show with Nathan and the rest of the cast. We’re like family.

Source