Maria Bello in her prime

I’m happier than I’ve ever been in my life,” says actress Maria Bello. “I’m so fortunate. I’ve got this job that I love.” Bello smiles radiantly as she leisurely smokes a cigarette under a shady tarp outside the set of the NBC series, “Prime Suspect,” a remake of the British series starring Helen Mirren. “This is the greatest show I’ve ever been on, and the best crew I’ve ever had.” And to think, initially she turned it down.

“I didn’t want to take ‘Prime Suspect,’” Bello admits. “I said no because I’ve seen my girlfriends who work single-lead shows. They work 14 or 16-hour days; they never see their kids. I didn’t want to leave my child (10-year- old Jackson). But the producers told me, “We’ll never work more than 12-hour days. We’ll give you days off. You can go to Haiti, be with your son.” And guess what? They were true to their word. I enjoy every day coming to work. Every day.

Bello stars as the feisty and quick-witted NYPD homicide detective Jane Timoney, newly transferred to an all-male squad. The actress seems to have found a kindred spirit in her latest fictional character.

“Jane’s directness, strength, no bullshit attitude, and also her femininity are a big part of who I am,” she says. “I don’t think I would have gotten to this place in my life if I wasn’t so driven, if I didn’t have that in me as well.”

For example, there’s the issue of Jane’s hat— a black fedora worn as the detective’s sig- nature clothing item. Some critics complain it’s distracting; others find it iconic. Bello says it transforms her into character.

“A hat is an attitude,” she states. “Even the show’s marketing campaign says, ‘Cop. An attitude.’ It gives Jane an attitude. When she puts the hat on, she feels strong and protected. I became Jane when I put the hat on.

“The great thing about Jane is she doesn’t give a shit who likes her hat, and that’s what defines her,” adds Bello, “and I don’t give a shit who likes my hat, and that’s kind of what defines me.”

What also defines Bello is her bold choice of dramatic roles and range as an actress, as well as her commitment to activism. Her emo- tionally resonant performances as the wife in a small-town family shaken by violence in A His- tory of Violence (2005) and a seductive cock- tail waitress in The Cooler (2003) each earned her a Golden Globe nomination. This past summer, she co-starred with Michael Sheen in Beautiful Boy as devastated parents on the verge of divorce, who must cope after their son goes on a shooting rampage at his col- lege, then kills himself.

Aside from intense dramas, Bello  has tackled an array of genres, including satirical comedy in Thank You for Smoking (2005), action in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Empire  (2008), and  the  upcoming  thriller Abduction  (2011), in which  she plays yet another mother, this time to a young man (Taylor Lautner) who discovers the shocking truth about his parents and his own identity.

“Prime Suspect” marks Bello’s return to television, where she began her on-screen career, most notably as a series regular on the medical drama, “ER,” which was preceded by a starring turn as Mrs. Smith on the short-lived spy series, “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.”

When she’s not in front of a camera, Bello spends much of her time as an activist, particularly in Haiti and Africa. Before discovering acting in college, Bello planned to become a human rights lawyer. Despite her success in Hollywood, she has remained committed to social justice, co-founding the non-profit We Advance and working with Artists for Peace and Justice in Haiti, as well as advocating for women’s rights in Darfur.

Bello also recently produced the documentary, “Sun City Picture House,” the moving story of a young Haitian man’s mission to build a movie theater in Haiti in only four days after the devastating 2010 earthquake.

“If she’s not acting or taking care of her son, she’s flying off to Haiti to work on projects there,” says Ray Azoulay, a friend of Bello’s who owns the Venice art gallery, Obsolete, in a telephone interview. “It’s extraordinary how much time she puts into her charity work.

“She’s real. There’s very little pretense about her. I call her a guy’s girl. She’s like a tough Philadelphia broad with a heart of gold,” he adds.

Bello grew up in a blue-collar neighbor- hood outside of Philadelphia. “I come from a big Italian family. The guys watch sports. The women cook and clean and talk and laugh in the kitchen,” says Bello, as a makeup artist gently brushes concealer on her tanned skin. Her mother taught at a nursing school, where she is now the administrator. Her father was a construction worker, but he became dis- abled when Bello was young. “My mom was always out in the world working and was kind of the supporter of the family. So I did grow up with not quite conventional roles. My mom was really strong and beautiful and outside the box.”

With the light touching up of her makeup complete, Bello smoothes her low ponytail and returns inside to finish shooting a scene before lunch. Three quick takes later the scene is done. Before she steps off set, a man hands her a book on the annual festival, Burning Man, and a medallion. Bello clutches the book excitedly. In about a week, she’s heading to the Nevada desert with six close friends for her first Burning Man experience.

“Our friends are doing a whole installation about rebirth. We’re putting up a big safari tent,” she says. “All the women I’m going with are great photographers.  For us, it’s just about having this experience. Everyone I know who’s gone to Burning Man has the most extraordinary photos.

She steps out into the steamy summer heat and hops into the front seat of a white van. Actor Aidan Quinn, who plays her col- league, Lt. Kenny Rowe, slides into the back- seat.

“Oh, she’s fantastic. We never wait for her, she’s fun, she’s improvisational,” says Quinn with a wry smile, when asked about his co- star. “She don’t take shit from no one. A woman after my own heart; that’s the kind of woman I like.”

Bello laughs, “Pretty much it’s all men and me. Elizabeth Rodriguez came on today, which was really fun. Not that I don’t like the boys.”

While the show is set in New York, the majority of shooting is taking place on the Universal lot in Los Angeles. “You will not believe what they have now,” she remarks, as we pass a series of sound stages. “This one stage is a virtual stage. It looks exactly like New York. It’s incredible.”

“It is amazing,” says Quinn. “I mean, thank God they haven’t been able to replace us yet, because if they could, they would. And when they can, they will.”

Once inside her trailer, Bello immediately walks over to a mirror decorated with photo- graphs. “Come look! Here’s my boy. This is when we were in Africa.” She points to a photo of a handsome flaxen-haired boy. “My friend Beth works for a women’s organization in Nairobi. We went there to work, and my boy just jumped right in, feeding these little babies, changing their diapers, and walking through the slums.” she beams proudly.

Bello walks across the room, where she comfortably strips off her maroon, collared shirt and slips into a white tank. Finally ready for a break, she sits down to lunch while she talks to Venice about “Prime Suspect,” her recent films, aversion to exercise, passion for Haiti, and how just being pretty is boring.

Venice: You originally turned down “Prime Suspect.” So how did you end up on the show?

Maria Bello: Well, the script was written and being produced by different people before. Then it was offered to me again, and the script was so extraordinary. I was like, “Oh my God, there’s never been a woman like this on television. I’d really like to do this.” But I’m really someone who takes all of my life into consideration. I don’t define myself as just an actor. I’m so many things: an actor, an activist, a mom, a traveler, an adventurer. So I wondered how that would fit if I did TV. Also, I like to be fluid; I like to play. On TV shows that I’ve experienced before, it’s so structured; you’re saying the line how it’s written. But they assured me that it wasn’t going to be like that, that we’d be a creative team, and we are. Not just we the actors, but all of us. All of us play together.

What stood out to you about Jane’s character?

When I read the script, besides it being extraordinary writing, even on the page you’ve never seen a woman like this on television, who is so unapologetic, so direct, quirky, and yet strong, and has her vulnerable moments. I just knew I was supposed to play her.

Were you a fan of the original series?

I watched a couple episodes many years ago, and I loved it since I’m such a huge fan of Helen Mirren’s. But even though it was called “Prime Suspect,” it was such a different show. The tone is so different. There’s a different sense of humor. Our show is modern, set in New York.

So you don’t feel like you’re stepping into Helen Mirren’s shoes?

I think we wear different size shoes.

You get pretty roughed up in the first episode. Are you doing your own stunts?

I do. That’s something else you never see on television: a woman getting the crap beat out of her. Oftentimes you see on these detective shows that the woman bests the guy. How am I going to best the guy If I don’t have a gun? He’s like 190 lbs., 6’1. I’m this little gal, right? I felt it was so realistic. But in one of the takes, the take that they used, I smashed my head against the sidewalk. [Producer] Pete Berg comes running up after we called cut and said, “That was awesome. I know you really hit your head, but that’s the take we’re using.”

What is the story with Jane’s hat?

The controversy with the hat! My friend Claire gave it to me last year. She was wearing it, and she put it on my head and said, “This belongs to you.” Claire has a very particular way of dressing. Very Jane-like, very Katharine Hepburn-like. She always wears her hat, and I wear a lot of hats. So when I read Jane, I knew she had a hat. I knew this was her hat. When I looked at all the detective shows that I liked when I was growing up, “Kojak” and “Columbo,” they all had their thing.

We created Jane’s style with the amazing costume director Amy Stofsky, who had the same idea of what we wanted — sort of modern menswear but feminized. Very Katharine Hepburn in a modern way. Then we worked with the makeup artist Sarit Klein and decided to do a look that’s no makeup and no hairdos. So hair and makeup only takes 20 minutes. Just somebody who is real and has her own style. When I met cops and detectives, not everyone dresses in a great pantsuit. Everyone has their own style. And by the way, many of the cops we met in New York, women and men, have fedoras. 

You’re one of the few women on a mainly male set, similarly to Jane, the only female detective on the squad. Have you struggled with that gender imbalance in your career?

You know what, I have a feeling you experience it as well. Every woman I talk to, no matter what you do: friends of mine who are agents, publicists, realtors, and business- people, we all have our stories of being in a meeting with a man who just listens to your male coworker and not to you, even though you might say smarter stuff. I’m not saying it’s like that everywhere. I find this younger generation of men is not like that so much. They are very respectful of women because most men of a younger age have a mother who worked and that sort of thing.

Throughout your career, you’ve often taken on complex dramatic roles. What qualities do you look for in a character or script?

Most scripts I only get to page 20 because I see immediately reading the character if it’s a real person and a real woman or an idea of a woman or a shell of a woman or the girlfriend on the side. That just doesn’t interest me. It’s not like I chose roles that were strong women. I chose great writing that inspired me and moved me that I had a place to create from. By the way, a lot of those parts are in independent films.

I see a lot of movies with my kid. We went to this shoot’ em up film a couple weeks ago. There were two women in the film. They were very pretty and that was it. They didn’t have anything to do. They weren’t fleshed out at all. They weren’t really characters. They were pretty. And I thought, “That’s so boring.” You can be beautiful, strong, and in your power and still be feminine.

Your new film, Abduction, is an action movie where you play another tough female character.

The fight scene was so fun. I love to fight. But I don’t really exercise. I’m not an exerciser at all.

So how are you in such great shape?

I don’t know. Maybe because I smoke so much. I go up and down 10 or 20 pounds sometimes if you see me in different movies. I made a decision to just accept and love my body whatever place it’s in. Sometimes I have to work on that; I don’t love everything about my body. But that’s my intention. I also was diagnosed with a thyroid disease called Hashimoto’s. A lot of people have it. So I’m on thyroid medicine, which keeps things really even. I eat whatever I want. I drink whatever I want. But I listen to my body. I was at Gjelina [a restaurant in Venice] last night, for the third night in a row. I had pizza, mush- room toast, cheese. And today, I want to eat clean because my body goes, that was great, but now it’s time for salad and protein

What attracted you to Abduction?

I’ve always wanted to work with John Sin- gleton, so because he was doing it, I said great, and I thought it was really fun. Then I was in New York City and my 17-year-old niece is there, and she said, “Aunt Maria, what are you doing next?” I said, “I’m doing this movie.” She said, “Who’s in it?” I said, “I don’t know, this kid, Taylor Lautner.” She lit- erally like started crying. I had no idea how famous this kid was, none. Until we get to the set, and I’m not kidding you, every day there were 200 women outside of our set screaming and crying. I’m talking about little girls up to 50-year-old women, which is kind of embarrassing.

And disturbing.

But it certainly hasn’t gone to his head so far. He’s a lovely person, and he does a good job in the movie. I think he’s a heck of an actor.

Was it hard to concentrate with all that screaming and crying going on?

I think at this point I’ve been doing it so long. My first acting teacher always said, “Your level of concentration is everything.” I’ve honed that over the years. If I’m not concentrated, if I don’t let everything else go and be in that moment, then I’m going to suck ass.

You initially studied law and social jus- tice in college. When did you turn to acting?

At Villanova University, I was studying Peace and Justice Education and International Women’s Rights. I was working at the Women’s Law Project in Philadelphia. I was editing a book with a Catholic priest about Peace and Justice Education. I was on my way to law school, took my LSATs. At the end of my junior year someone said, “You can take an acting class as an elective.” I said, “Don’t you have to be able to sing and dance or something?” I had no idea. I was raised in this blue-collar family outside of Philly. It was not in our wheelhouse. I had no idea I could do that. Even as a little kid, I was obsessed with romance novels. I always pretended I was the woman in the book. So I had a real draw towards it, I just didn’t know I could do it for a living. I took an acting class, and I just knew I was supposed to do it. I remember I went to my friend, Father Ray Jackson, who my son is named after, and cried. I said, “I don’t know what to do because I always wanted to work in service of the world and this seems like such a selfish profession.” He said, “You serve best by doing what you love most.” That kind of put me on my path. When I grad- uated, I went to New York City with $300 and two trash bags full of clothes.

What happened when you got to New York?

I lived on someone’s living room floor for six months or a year. I had milk crates with books and clothes. My dad came and built a screen for privacy. I found a manager and an acting teacher. I started a theater company. I started an NGO. When I was about 24, my friends were working at this place called the Harbor for Boys and Girls in Harlem. We decided to start an after-school program called the Dreamyard Drama Project for kids to write stories and perform plays about their hopes and dreams. That became a big part of my life as well. So I guess I’ve always tried to marry those two things — activism and acting. It’s really interesting at this time in my life that they’re fully married. I’m very fortunate in that.

What led you to get involved with work in Haiti?

Our friend Paul Haggis, who is a director, met a beautiful man, Father Rick Frechette, four years ago or something and introduced us to this man who has been in Haiti for 24 years. He was a Catholic priest. He went there as a priest, but then he realized these people needed a doctor more than a priest, so he got his medical degree. He does the most extraordinary work...

So about three years ago we started a group called Artists for Peace and Justice — Olivia Wilde, Bryn Mooser, Josh Brolin, Diane Lane, and a bunch of us. We went down and as soon as I set foot on Haiti I knew I was fucked and I’d want to live there forever and it was my home. It’s such an incredibly joyful, passionate place. It’s so primal, like death and life are so close to each other. Since then I’ve been back and forth to Haiti. Then when the earthquake happened, I called Father Rick that day and said, “What should we do?” He said, “If you feel that you can, come down and help me dig my people out.” So I was trying to get there, and people wouldn’t fly out. Then my friend Sean Penn got a plane, and we all went down there. It was devastating what we saw those days, but also inspiring because of how the whole world came together to help this nation.

Haiti is such a big part of my life and an important part of my life and something I wouldn’t want to lose.

You also recently starred in Beautiful Boy, a very sad and unsettling film. What made you decide to take on that story?

I always know organically when I read a script. It’s immediate for me: yes or no. As soon as I read Beautiful Boy, it was beautiful words on a page, such a moving story. Having my own kid, I could relate to what that would be. And I knew I had to do it. Then Michael Sheen signed on, who is one of my favorite actors from Frost/Nixon. I think he’s so brilliant. We shot that movie in 17 days or something with no money in downtown L.A. We literally had to pay them for us to do the movie. It was shot by this wonderful director, Shawn Ku. He’d never really directed before, but we trusted him because of his compassion for the story. I’m really proud of that movie. I loved it.

It seems like that role would be a very emotional experience. Do you have a method for letting go of your characters at the end of each day?

Honestly, it was so funny and so playful. I feel like really good actors have such a sense of play, like Michael does. Each day on set we were like kids on a playground. Sometimes the more dramatic the movie is the more fun it is. We just played every day. We were like little kids discovering things. Especially when you have a great actor with you. You play off of them and you trust them. I trusted Michael completely, and so it all felt really organic.

Why do you think that performing dark subject matter can be so light for the actor?

People often say, “Oh, it’s so dark,” and you have to laugh between takes. But I think if it’s a good script and it’s really dramatic, it’s fun for actors to do that sort of work. It’s adrenaline. It’s life. It’s living on the edge. I noticed someone handed you a book about Burning Man earlier. Are you a big reader? A lot. That’s kind of my obsession. I mean that’s my time off, and my relaxation. I don’t watch a lot of TV. If I really want to be brain dead, the only things I watch are “Weeds” — I love Mary Louise — and the “Housewives of Beverly Hills, New Jersey”... I’m obsessed. I love them all. I can’t believe they’re real, but anyway. So I read a lot. I just read something called The Memory Palace that was really wonderful. I think the last one I read was an old book of short stories by Edna O’Brian. What’s so funny is that because Jack’s dad and I are big readers, my son has been reading since he was three. He has to read every night before bed. He said to me a couple months ago, “Mom, you know what the greatest thing in the world is? Sitting in bed with a good book.”

Oh, I want to tell you another thing. My girlfriends and I, six of us, went to Africa. We call ourselves the Red Coats. When we were in Africa, we saw all these Maasai blankets that were really colorful. My friend Sonia is a designer, and she designed coats from them. We sewed them with these Maasai women in the middle of Africa. Suddenly I came back with one to Venice, and people keep stopping me, asking, “Where can I get that coat?” Within a week, we got like 237 orders. All the money that we raise goes back to these Maasai women. We have tailors in Kenya making them now, and they’ll be sold at Obsolete [gallery in Venice] in a couple of months. The Venice community seems to be very important to you. How did you end up living in the area? I always wanted to live there, but my son’s dad didn’t live in Venice. When we broke up, I moved to Venice. It was one of those things like I felt about Haiti — that I was home in a lot of ways and they were my people. I really like our community. So many artists and families and genuine people. I don’t know anyone in Venice who really cares about how much money anybody makes, or you don’t even know what everybody does. It just feels very organic and real there to me. It feels like how I grew up but artier – regular people. 􀀀

“Prime Suspect” premieres on NBC on September 22nd at 9pm. Abduction is in theaters on September 23rd, and Beautiful Boy is available on DVD October 11th. For more information about Artists for Peace and Justice, and how you can participate, go to www.apjnow.org.