<< Navigation >>

<< Interactive >>

<< Vote >>

ER News

Stringfeild Glad to Be Back

"Series television is either a nightmare or the best thing in the whole world. It really depends on, I think, where you are in your life," says the actress. "It's a lot easier for me this time having a family, because with a kid, you're not going anywhere. So I was really starting to crave a schedule and I'm actually really enjoying that now."

Once she made the decision that she wanted to return, everything else fell into place.

"I met with John Wells and I was like, 'I'd love to come back.' And he said, 'Ok, we'd love to have you back.' That was it. Then I moved, read the first script and showed up for work. It was really that easy."

For his part, executive producer Wells says he's glad to have her back.

"Sherry was an integral member of the 'ER' cast for the first three seasons," says Wells. "We are delighted to welcome her back as a series regular and can't wait to work with her again."

Since leaving "ER," Stringfield starred in the NBC movie "Borderline" (produced by former cast mate Anthony Edwards), appeared in the films "Autumn in New York" and "54," taught acting at her alma mater of the State University of New York (Purchase) and directed two one-act plays.

"I loved it because it kind of brought me back to why I got in this business in the first place," she says of her time teaching. "And what it really is all about for me at the end of the day, and that's always about the work and the love of literature and writing and storytelling."

Stringfield, who also left "NYPD Blue" after being on the show for one season, was often approached by fans wanting to know why she left "ER." Sometimes as many as a hundred a week.

"It's amazing how everyone has an opinion on how you should live your life. They said I was crazy," she says of the fans' reactions. "I didn't exactly see, being an actress what the big deal is. I understand that it can appear to be a very coveted position. I think people thought, 'Gosh, was there something really bad about it?' I came to understand that they didn't have a full understanding perhaps, of an actor's life, and that you have a million different jobs and we're actually pretty used to it. It's very rare to have a job that lasts more than a year or two."

And when people stopped asking, is when she started wanting to return. Coming back to the "ER" set after five years, Stringfield is surprised by how little the show had changed.

"It looked the exact same. When I came on [the set] the first assistant director was there and he was, literally, saying the same thing. And then I found myself standing in a doorway that maybe I had stood a thousand times before and I went, 'Did I leave?' It was a little time warp there," she laughs. "I found it to be exactly the same, it's kind of disturbing."

Stringfield, who is contracted to star on "ER" for the next three years, returned to work at the end of August. On the series, Dr. Lewis, who left Chicago to be closer to her sister Chloe, returns home when her sister's husband is transferred to San Francisco. For Stringfield, stepping back into Dr. Lewis' shoes was a smooth transition.

"If it had been another show, I probably would have [been rusty]. But I did it almost for three years, it's like riding a bicycle," she says. "It felt like I had left mid-conversation almost and then I just walked back on and started up again."

One thing that has changed on the show, however, is a number of actors. Other actors to leave "ER" include George Clooney, Gloria Reuben and Julianna Margulies. Also leaving this year are original cast members Anthony Edwards and Eric La Salle.

"I'm so bummed. I'm like, 'Wait a minute, you can't leave,'" she says of Edwards' and La Salle's decision to leave the series. "My executive producer is like, 'I don't think you can tell them that.' I'm like, 'I'm going to try, I'm going to beg them to stay.'"

"I'm really bummed, but I understand."

One thing she didn't miss about working on the set was the props -- especially the blood and guts. Stringfield, who doesn't even like fake blood, says the show has upped the ante on gore.

"Horrible to watch? Horrible to do! Oh, I do not like blood, I can't believe I do this show half the time," she laughs. "Cause I walk in, even when it's fake, and my stomach goes 'Ugh!' And now it's even worse. The prosthetics are unbelievable. They have fake chest cavities that they crack open -- I almost passed out when I saw that one."

"I could never be a doctor, never."