Jessica Capshaw

TV Guide
February 1, 2003

"Going Into Practice" by Ellen Klugman With parents like heres - mom Kate Capshaw and stepdad Steven Spielberg - is it any wonder Jessica Capshaw has embraced the family business? Idealistic enough to want to make it on her own, Jessica Capshaw is realistic enough to know that connections help.  After all, she was a production intern on stepdad Steven Spielberg's "Schindler's List," and she had a small role in his 2002 sci-fi thriller "Minority Report."   Even Director Bruno Barreto - the husband of Spielberg's ex-wife, Amy Irving - cast her, as an uppity flight attendant in the new movie "A View From the Top," starring Gwyneth Paltrow.

But it was a 1999 guest shot on ER and a recurring role on ABC's short-lived Odd Man Out that piqued David E. Kelley's interest in Capshaw, leader to her most high-profile role yet, on The Practice.   As the newest member of the law firm Donnell, Young, Dole & Frutt, Capshaw's Jamie Stringer encounters a patently Kelley mix of challenges.  The Brown-educated 26-year-old, who lives alone in Los Angeles, never took any law courses - she majored in English literature - but is related to three lawyers.  (Her father, Bob Capshaw, vice president of a trademark research firm, has a sister who's a judge and two brothers who are attorneys.)  So now she has both sides of the family to turn to for professional advice.

Your family must have provided great preparation for the whole acting game.

Actually, I had a lot of misconceptions about what it was like to be an actor in Hollywood.  You hve all these ideas in your head of what it means, and they get completely shattered as soon as you get here.

You had misconceptions about acting?

Yeah!  In some families, Dad brings his work home - he wants to talk about the office or whatever it is he does.  Then there is the family where Mom and Dad leave their jobs at the door.  That was us.

[Their work] was a totally different world.   It had nothing to do with what time we were going to have dinner or what movie we wanted to watch together.  The only time it intruded was when were out in public.   That felt different, but you end up normalizing everything because it's your life.   Also, when you're a kid, you don't want to ask your parents too many questions - you want to do it on your own.

How did you end up on The Practice?

Last spring, I got a phone call saying David E. Kelley wanted me to come in and read for his new show, Girls Club.  What actress alive doesn't want to meet David Kelley?

I was baby-sitting the kids [five of her six Spielberg siblings] because my parents were out of town, so I was juggling a lot and I had to learn my lines while driving to the audition.  David didn't think I was right for that part, but he thought I could be right for The Practice.

Were you a fan of The Practice before?

On Sunday nights, I would invite friends over to my house, make food and we'd watch Alias and The Practice.  They were our shows.  So I said, "Of course, I'll audition!"

What advice does your stepfather give you?

Directing and producing are so different than acting.  When Steven's working with an actor, he has lots to say.  But he doesn't have [general] advice on acting because it's not what he considers himself an authority on.  I hate speaking for him, anyway!

Would you like to star in a Spielberg film?

In any field, you want to work with the best, and I believe that Steven is the best.  Would that be wonderful?  Absolutely.   But it would be different for me to work with him than it would be to work for Joe Schmo.  There will be a time and a place for it [but] I don't think that it is in my near, near future.

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