CSI: Crime Scene Investigation's Marg Helgenberger (Catherine Willows) defies the typical definition of a forty-something woman in Hollywood.

Helgenberger, who is currently filming the eighth season of CSI, has retained her success as she has gotten older. Martha Coolidge, who directed two episodes of CSI in season seven, described Catherine as a character who is more than just a scientist. "You can see her thinking and feeling things; it's not necessarily in the lines, which are minimal on CSI," she told More magazine. "So much more is going on for her." Helgenberger has been given chances to show this on screen. "I had a lot more opportunities last season, and the people on the show have all been very open to suggestions," she said. "But you have to stay within the formula. It's very cerebral."

People not only praise Catherine as a character, but they also praise Helgenberger as an actress as well. "She's very serious about her craft but not pretentious about how she approaches it," said John Wells, a producer of China Beach and later the executive producer of ER. On ER, Helgenberger's character had a romantic relationship with Doug Ross, played by George Clooney. "I think she learned the same thing that George Clooney learned early on," Wells continued, "which is if you have looks like that, you'd better make fun of yourself or nobody's going to be your friend."

Liev Schreiber, who guest starred in four episodes of CSI in season seven, said that Helgenberger is "drop-dead gorgeous, and she's got something going on underneath. She's got a bit of the devil inside her. She's a rock-and-roll chick from the Midwest, with a ribald sense of humor. She cracked me up the whole time we were shooting." Helgenberger's husband, Alan Rosenberg, readily complimented her as well. "The first time you meet her, there's a mystery there," he explained. "And once you uncover that, you find a willingness to play. She's comfortable hanging around that kind of joking, unbridled male energy."

"I kind of like people wondering how I ended up with her," Rosenberg said. "I'm grateful for the fact that she didn't think she had to find some hunky stud. She understood my sense of humor. That's how we fell in love." After eighteen years of marriage and one child (Hugh, now seventeen), the pair has been together longer than many other couples in Hollywood. "He still makes me laugh," Helgenberger said, "and he's a genuinely good, kind, caring person." She is the main provider for their family, and she sometimes feels that she neglects them for her job. "Once I come home," she explained, "I need to compensate, or overcompensate, for the time I've spent away." However, despite this guilt, Helgenberger loves being on such a popular show. "I'm enjoying the attention and the power," she said. "It can do a lot for your ego. And I feel sexier now than I did when I was 28. I'm more competent, more relaxed, and less frazzled."

The original article can be found on More.com. Helgenberger is featured on the October cover of More magazine.

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