Nazneen Contractor revels in mystery on 24
Actor Nazneen Contractor was blown up at the end of the second season of CBC's The Border, only to land on her feet on the eighth season of the U.S. hit 24.
She plays the daughter of the president of a fictional Middle Eastern country, a role that began as a couple of scenes and now looks to be taking off in a new direction.
"I know nothing about what's going to happen," Contractor said Friday, describing how the writers of 24 develop the script as the season progresses.
"They just sort of fly by seat of their pants and are inspired by what happens in the world and what happens on the set," she said in an interview with CBC's Q cultural affairs show.
She'll admit her role has grown and she even has a stunt double for an upcoming scene, but says that like every actor in the show, she does not know how the plot will twist until she reads the next week's episode.
"Because I'm a recurring character, I don't even know if I'm going to be in the next episode or not but it just so happens, every time I get a script, I'm in it," she said.
"They do say, if you are going to die, they call you beforehand."
On the set of 24, she's working alongside Kiefer Sutherland, the Canadian actor who is both agent Jack Bauer on screen and executive producer on the set. She said Sutherland is a strong influence on the shape of the show, working with the director, calling shots and helping with the camera.
'Learning experience'
The season also stars Cherry Jones as the president, Iranian-American actor Necar Zadegan as the mother of Contractor's character and Katee Sackhoff, formerly of Battlestar Galactica, as one of the data analysts.
It also features Anil Kapoor, the Slumdog Millionaire actor who is one of India's biggest stars. He plays Contractor's father, the president of the fictional nation who is subject to an assassination attempt.
"He is such a treat to work with. Not only that you're on the floor with a star who's been in more than 100 films and knows how to work the camera like nobody's business — it's a learning experience," Contractor said.
"But there's also a cultural aspect to it because he's the George Clooney of India and it's his first time doing American TV."
Success at Stratford
Contractor was born in Mumbai and raised in Nigeria and London before immigrating with her family to Canada. She trained as a classical ballerina before discovering acting and finding success on the stage at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.
She said she'd tried to get attention in Los Angeles before landing her part as Sgt. Layla Hourani in The Border.
Contractor said she was "disappointed" to be written out of The Border script, but that opening has done wonders for her career.
"After The Border, I went to L.A again. I wanted to try it. I thought the timing was right. I could take everything I had and kind of jump in with both feet in Los Angeles," she said.
A huge fan of 24, she is thrilled to be involved in making the series.
"There's no other show on televison that's as compelling in the writing and the fact that it takes place in real time is a very smart gimmick on the producers' behalf," she said. "My character is a very slow burn but I have some fantastic story from it."