seriously ten

Naoko Mori

So what's it like being a part of the very popular series Torchwood?

It's great, everyone always says it's great but it's been phenomenally great. We get on so well it's ridiculous to be honest...(laughs).  Yes, as a team on screen and off-screen we've just become such really really close friends. I actually know John Barrowman from like 100 years ago ? we worked together in a show called Saigon, which was a musical, so I've known John for donkey years, and it really is an amazing chemistry between the core team members.. and so hopefully that kind of comes across on screen, I think.  We often referred to the hothouse effect that we had, especially when you're working for something like Torchwood which is kind of a secret organisation, you know you'd have a strong connection because you can't really talk about your work outside of work, so as far as the cast is concerned they become very intimate. So I think that's true for us as actors working on this as well, you know we really have the team spirit. We have great times on set, sometimes we're like naughty school children getting told off for making too much noise or having too much fun. So it's astounding.

That sounds like a lot of fun. So you guest starred in Dr Who playing the same character Toshiko Sato. Can you tell me a bit about this and how Russell T Davies chose to expand on the character in Torchwood?

I did a play ...she was actually known as Dr Sato in Dr Who, it was an episode called Aliens in London. It's quite funny because I grew up in the States and Japan and England, and I never really watched Dr Who. I'd never seen Dr Who. It really was like Dr Who? for me. So when I got the script for Dr Who I didn't know what a Tardis was, I was looking up the dictionary ? it wasn't in the dictionary, so I called up my agent and said what's a Tardis?.. what's a darlik?..and he was laughing so hard he put the phone down on me. So I had no idea what Russell found amusing, for some reason Russell seemed to like her and basically I got a call a couple of years later saying would you be interested... It is the same person but she's actually not a doctor.

So can you tell us a bit about her character

Toshiko, also known as Tosh, is like a computer expert, anything to do with technology and surveillance, that's her field. She's quite shy, reserved ? she's a geek. Hard core geek. Some would say she needs to get out and get a life, but she's extremely good at what she does, extremely bright, very clever and I think the thing with her is that she's just a private person. She comes across as very controlled but as the series progresses all the layers begin to unravel and she goes through a lot on a personal note. Like we do in life, we learn more about ourselves and there is more of a bigger, fun person in her but she's just kind of reserved and private.

She covers up murders for a living is that right?

She doesn't quite cover it up, but yes, we're obviously a secret organisation so she finds ways and means, one of which would be covering up murders and such, but really her thing is the technical surveillance and computers. So whether it's getting rid of data or hacking into CCTVs, anything to do with cool stuff she's very good at.

Is the Naoko Mori in real life very similar to your character at all?

I think there's always going to be similarities. I do identify certain things with her, I'm quite a private person as well although I'm personally more open, sociable. She seems to be slightly lacking in the social skills but I'm actually quite a big geek at heart, I'm Japanese, it's in the blood ? I love gadgets, computers so that I totally identify with. I'd like to think I'm a bit more open and fun loving than Tosh.

Moving away from Torchwood a bit have you ever been to Australia?

No, but I used to have an Australian boyfriend. I had two really good friends who were my room mates in London and they were both Australian plus my boyfriend, people were telling me I sounded Australian ? (laughs)...and the two room mates both spoke perfect Japanese ? it was amazing. I've had three Australian room mates. I get on really well with Aussies and it feels like I've been there, but I haven't, but that's my next trip when I finish filming. I so want to go. I'd like to come over probably at the end of the year because that's the best time to come. Definintely.

How do you think an Australian audience would respond to Torchwood?

Well I think you guys have a really acute sense of humour and I think that's one of the big things that you would really like. We have a character called Owen who's played by Burn Gorman, he's incredibly funny, a lot of  little quips, so I think that's one of the main things I think, I hope anyway. Owen's a little cocky and he's hilarious and Kath and Jack as well, come out with some great lines. The great thing about Torchwood is that it's a real mix, for want of a better word, it's sci-fi but it's more modern, it's urban and there's something for everyone, there's action and there's good story lines plus there is humour.

You said you were in Wales. Is that where Torchwood was filmed?

Yes, it's filmed in Cardiff in Wales and it's a beautiful place, apparently the fastest growing city in Europe and what's great about Cardiff is that you have the bay and water and then 10 minutes up the road you've got mountains and valleys and tonnes of sheep and then you have amazing architecture. So it's filmed in Wales but what's also nice is the base, the Torchwood hub, is based right in the centre of Cardiff.  I think the Cardiff Tourist Board is pretty happy. There are a lot of Torchwood walking tours. People looking at locations and it's a beautiful city.

I remember you as Saff's best friend from Ab-Fab. Is that the roles that your fans/everybody most associates you with?

Yes, I think so, again she's a geek. I keep playing these geeks, which I actually quite like because, as an actor there's a real sort of...what I find most interesting is the characters, the acting and yes, I tend to get cast as a geek. And yes, Ab Fab was great and it's funny because Tosh is sort of in the same ilk, she's the same kind of person, kind of slightly shy and good at what she does, and so was Sarah who was known as Kitty Ka Ka.

What are you up to know, are you working on anything at the moment?

We're filming the second series of Torchwood. We're in the 4th week of the shoot, we've got another 6.5/7 months I think, to the end of November, so we're right in the middle of filming, but I have a day off today which is really good.

You worked across stage, TV, movies and you even did voice acting. Which do you most enjoy?

It's really impossible to say, I love theatre and I think a lot of actors say this, I love theatre because it's real time ? you have the audience there ? it's story telling at its best. What happens when you're filming is you see the end, you know you shoot out of sequence and a lot of the times it's technically more difficult because you're filming over several weeks.With Theatre, you can kind of breathe and really run with it and it's live and you have the audience right there and it's like a real 2 way communication where as with TV and film it's kind of more technically difficult. For me, personally it's always about the character and at the end of the day we're telling a story. What I like is variety ? I've done musicals. I've just finished a musical  which is hilarious. It's a great comedy show,  it's like an adult version of Sesame Street. That was a joy to do, then I've done things like Topsy Turvey which is a movie by Spike Lee, which was an amazing experience. We did 6 months rehearsing, all improvised and no script ? you'd do 8 hour improvisations so you're creating a character from scratch - amazing experience. Then I've done something like AbFab which is a sitcom in front of a live studio audience which is another different thing because it's kind of half theatre, half tv, so that's really interesting, and then I've done something like the Spice Girls movie, it's a real mix and I love that kind of variety of different projects. So if someone came to me and said you had to chose theatre or this or that I don't think I'd be able to make a choice really.

What has your favourite role of all time been?

Oh gosh!  It really is a hard one. I loved Ab Fab, it was an amazing experience and I was working with such funny people, I mean hysterical times because you're in a room with some very funny people and you're trying to make them laugh. The thing about comedy is that you mustn't try too hard otherwise it's not funny.  I did an amazing drama / documentary about Hiroshima, about the atomic bombing, that's definitely up there as one of the most horrific experiences I've had and it kind of changed my view on life. That was amazing. And of course I'm loving Torchwood, so if I had to choose I couldn't choose!

This is a bit of a cheeky question for your male or female fans. Are you available? Are you seeing anybody?

No, I'm single ? sad. Can you hook me up with someone?

And where to from now, what's in the pipeline?

Before I started Torchwood, I'd been spending a lot of time back in The States. I grew up in the States as a kid and funnily enough, in the past 4 or 5 years I've been spending a lot of time back in the States and LA and New York and I was literally just about to move back to the States when Torchwood happened. That was kind of interesting, so I was packing and unpacking and packing again. So hopefully we'll get re-commissioned for another series, it's great that we're in the second series. I guess I'm going to pick up where I left off and maybe spend a bit more time back in the states but I also have some stuff happening in Japan so it's basically kind of figuring out availability and time and stuff.  And hopefully come to Australia soon. Seriously, I sooo want to go!