TORONTO — Melissa George’s path to starring in her own prime time series, Heartbreaker, began at the age of four, when she received a pair of roller skates as a Christmas gift.
She honed her skills and won medals at artistic roller skating competitions in her native Australia.
Her passion for performing led to modelling work and then a three-year run on the popular Australian drama Home and Away. By the late ‘90s, George was ready to move to Hollywood.
Several years of playing minor roles in films and television led to recurring parts on popular series like Alias, Friends, Grey’s Anatomy and The Good Wife. She earned a Golden Globe nomination for her guest role on In Treatment in 2008.
George also starred in both the original Australian version of The Slap and its recent U.S. remake.
On the big screen, George starred opposite Canada’s Ryan Reynolds in the 2005 reboot of The Amityville Horror and with Josh Hartnett in 2007’s 30 Days of Night.
BELOW: Marianne Dimain talks to Melissa George, Zachary Levi and Jane Lynch at the Shaw Media Fall Preview.
In Heartbreaker, which will air on Global, George plays Dr. Alex Panttiere, a renowned heart surgeon who is seemingly more focused on her professional life than her personal one. (In real life, George and French businessman Jean David Blanc have a 16-month-old son, Raphaël.)
The character is based on Dr. Kathy Magliato, a California-based cardiothoracic surgeon who wrote the 2011 memoir Heart Matters.
George, 38, was in Toronto on Wednesday to promote the show at the Shaw Media Fall Preview.
You play a heart surgeon in Heartbreaker. Why would I go get my heart fixed by a heartbreaker?
Well, you’re going to be OK in my hands because I am one of the best heart surgeons in the world. But she also has many love interests. She’s torn between two men. She has an ex-husband with two kids so she’s got that relationship going on. Heartbreaker… It’s because she really is married to her job and all these men want her time and she’s really not interested.
Your character is based on a real person. Does that make it harder or easier to play?
It’s a lot easier to play, actually, because I had the research and the resource material right next to me and the surgeon Kathy Magliato was next to me every day. She’s very excited. And just to feel her energy actually is what I think got the show past the pilot stage because we were very authentic with everything we did in the show. We had four surgeons, we had her, we had other experts. We had everyone making sure that what we were doing was completely legitimate. And also, if I have any questions I can just call her.
What do you think it is about medical shows that people love so much?
What happens in a hospital… there’s life and there’s death. There’s emotion, there’s triumph. And everyone can relate to hospital dramas because most people have been in a hospital, most people have visited a hospital. That’s one place where there’s a lot of emotion and when you watch it you feel something.
And this show, particularly, is very heartbreaking and at the same time heartwarming and also very humorous. What you see is what you get. She’s incredibly funny without even trying. Her boyfriend is a pancreatic surgeon and every time a gurney comes out she’s so excited, hoping the guy is dead because she can take the heart for her patients. It’s got a lot of unexpected humour.
A lot of people writing about this show are saying it’s about a female heart surgeon. We wouldn’t say that if it was a man. We’d just say it’s about a heart surgeon.
I know, I know.
How does that feel?
It’s a great question. I’m OK with if you say it’s a heart surgeon you automatically assume it’s a man. I was born a girl, I was raised as a woman and I’m proud to be that. Finally to have my own show and represent… this woman is extraordinary and thankfully can only be played by a woman. I’m OK with that whole sexism thing. I love my man, I’ve got a son. I’m raising boys to be men one day and I will always raise my son to treat women with respect. Women understand.
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