5 Things You Didn’t Know About ‘Suits’ Star Gina Torres
If you watch television, odds are you have seen or heard Gina Torres.
She starred in Joss Whedon’s space western, Firefly, as the fearless Zoe. Currently, she is gracing our TV screens on Suits and The Catch, as well as in a small, but very important role on Westworld.
Gina Torres answered questions from fans about her illustrious career during a panel at Silicon Valley Comic Con.
Here are some things you might not know about the TV star:
1. She loves old movies and musicals
Torres credits Fred Astaire as the reason she got into acting. “Those incredible musicals. I wanted to be a part of that world. I wanted to make magic.”
One of her favorite movies of all time is All About Eve. She calls it “a perfect movie.”
Singin’ in the Rain makes her happy, and if she could transport herself into an old movie it would be the wonderful technicolor of An American in Paris.
Torres said she gets “stupid” whenever she’s around legend Rita Moreno. “It’s to the point where if she sees me coming, she hides,” Torres joked.
One of the aspects she loves about old movies is the writing.
Torres: A lot of writers just got lazy when it was alright to say [the F-word]. They just got lazy. When you go back, and you study and watch movies that are black and white, that were made at a time when you had to figure out how to say it, but not say it, and the myriad of ways they figured out how to do it. The actors [acted] it without saying it. There’s really something to that. That’s why I love watching those movies because they’re so clever. The sexuality is clever, the language is clever, the humor is clever because there is so much they couldn’t say. To imply something can be so much sexier and a lot more powerful.
2. Her biggest challenge on sets is the weather
“It can be 90 degrees, and we are in coats,” she described. Conversely, on a show like Suits, which films in Canada, she’ll be dressed in “some pretty silk little number and high heels standing on the corner” in cold, windy weather conditions.
“It’s the nature of the business; fighting the elements, making sure you all don’t know what’s going on,” Torres explained.
3. She doesn’t know anything about Westworld
When she got the part, the writers gave her next to nothing in the way of preparation. Torres was only given her scenes to look at for filming.
As it started airing, Torres was back in Toronto working on Suits. “The entire [Suits] cast is obsessed,” she said. They would hound her for details and bombard her with theories. Torres was not watching the series, and did not know anything from shooting her scenes, so she had no information for her fellow castmates.
Torres: Then the end rolls out, and I find out that I am a very important part of how this whole thing happened. I still haven’t watched it and I still don’t know what the hell is going on. Am I back for season 2? I have no idea. And what does that mean? They probably won’t tell me. Am I going to watch it? Maybe. When my kid is in college, I’ll binge.
4. She loves the flashback episodes of Suits
A fan asked what her favorite episode of Suits is, and Torres racked her brain over the six seasons of the show. “I love the flashback episodes. Those are always fun.”
She also mentioned the few episodes that led up to the mid-season finale of Season 6 where we got to see more of Jessica. “Her world really starts to fall apart, and you don’t see that. She’s spent so many years holding everything together, so that’s good to play.”
5. She feels a special connection to New Zealand
Torres worked on both Hercules and Xena in New Zealand. “The first time I got off a plane in New Zealand it was like coming home. I must have had a past life there or something. Breathing the air there was something so familiar and soothing and wonderful about it,” recalled Torres.
Suits returns for Season 7 on Wednesday, July 12th at 9/8c on USA. The Catch airs Thursdays at 10/9c on ABC.
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Erin Allen
Erin is a former script supervisor for film and television. She's an avid fan of middle aged actresses, dark dramas, and irreverent comedies. She loves to read actual books and X-Files fan fiction. Her other passions include pointing out feminist issues, shipping Mulder and Scully, and collecting pop culture mugs.