Naveen Andrews is featured in the Step with section of Parade Magazine

[spicedogs]

 

In Step With^®

Naveen Andrews

By James Brady

Published: January 21, 2007




Lost, the enormously popular series about survivors of a plane crash on a mysterious tropical island, is back in two weeks after its winter break. Though the show shoots in glorious Hawaii, the schedule is rough. “This is my first day off in ages,” Naveen Andrews told me when we spoke.

One of the 14 major stars of the ensemble show (he plays Sayid, a former Iraqi Republican Guard), Andrews recently was nominated for both Golden Globe and Emmy awards. Ironically, when he was cast, he had doubts as to how long the show might run.

“I read the premise,” he told me, “and I actually said, ‘Well, how many permutations can we have on that theme?’ Yet here we are in another season.”

Naveen has enjoyed a lengthy relationship with gorgeous actress Barbara Hershey (The Right Stuff), who is 21 years his senior. And this is not his first May-December romance. At 16, Naveen fell in love with his math teacher, then 30. Their frowned-upon affair lasted eight years and produced a son, Jaisal, now 14. (Naveen also has a 1-year-old from a liaison during a break with Hershey.)

“Jaisal came over to Hawaii when we shot the pilot and has been coming back ever since,” said Andrews. Had the producers recruited Jaisal yet as a gofer? “He loves the show,” Naveen said, “but sets are not a great place for children.”

Since he plays an Iraqi on television, I asked if Naveen had ever been to Iraq.

“Never been there in my life,” he said. “Maybe in 20 years it would be better.”

On Lost, Sayid is portrayed as a highly competent, practical fellow capable of repairing damaged radio equipment and the like. But is Naveen like that in real life?

“I am absolutely not competent,” he confessed. “I can barely change a light bulb.”

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Brady's Bits

British-born but of Indian heritage, Naveen attended London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where his classmates included Star Wars’ Ewan McGregor. And now he has three new flicks coming out: a Tarantino/Rodriguez horror movie, Grind House; Provoked, a British film with Miranda Richardson; and The Brave One, with Jodie Foster. “We’d not met before, but we got on very well,” he said of Foster. Is he a big star in India? “I honestly don’t know,” Naveen said. “I haven’t been there in three years, and they have their own thriving film industry. But in Britain, Lost is a big hit.”

Personal

Born Jan. 17, 1969, in London, England. Two sons: Jaisal, 14, and Naveen Joshua, 1.

Why You Know Him

He caught our eye with his role in The English Patient, in 1996. Now he plays Sayid in the hit ABC series Lost.

What You Don’t Know

Andrews is not a stage name: “Years ago, there was a Scots missionary who came over to the south of India. So there are many Indians named after him.”

Source: Parade

 

Comments

[hauntingdream.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting. He's not my favorite character on the show, but I would still hate it if he'd get killed off the show or something.

[spicedogs.livejournal.com]

I really would like no more deaths. If someone should die, then let it be a character that has not uttered one word.

[hauntingdream.livejournal.com]

Exactly, or probably those two new ones? the couple.

[spicedogs.livejournal.com]

I think that eventually we will get attached to them as well. So, no, no more deaths and that includes The Others as well.

[hauntingdream.livejournal.com]

Especially not the Others. I've grown to find them very interesting. I love Ben and Juliette so if they'd go I'd be really sad.

I think it's better to have no deaths at all anymore, just like you said. But I don't think that we are going to get what we want....