RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
10/19/2004 04:48 pm

PAGING DR. CARTER: Reno native Madchen Amick checks into the NBC
drama "E.R.," playing a social worker who woos Noah Wyle's character,
Dr. John Carter.


Rumor has it Madchen Amick made Noah Wyle's heart stop. Don't worry;
they were on "E.R." when it happened.

Amick, a former Reno resident and "Twin Peaks" star, begins a guest
role on the NBC drama Thursday. She plays a social worker who makes
frequent visits to the emergency room, both to soothe patients and
woo Wyle's character, Dr. John Carter.

"I've really done some research and gotten to know what social
workers do and how they have to walk that fine line of being
compassionate and appealing to the people they deal with but also be
enough of an authority figure to get the job done," Amick
said. "That's been really interesting to me. I haven't played that
kind of character before."

Amick is expected to pop up throughout the current "E.R." season, but
she doesn't know how long her character will last.

"I don't know exactly what their (the producers) plans are," she
said. "I know Noah Wyle has expressed that this might be his last
season. So whether I'm just solely connected to him or not might
govern how long I stay on. But it's still kind of up in the air
whether he's leaving or not. I think it's one of those things where
if they feel it's working then it might continue."

Amick said her stint on the series will be a great experience no
matter what happens.

"It would be great to do a big character arc that comes and goes and
kind of makes a big splash," she said. "It would definitely be a nice
show to join and maybe find a home there. So I'm kind of open to
either."

Amick was born and raised in Reno, where she attended McQueen High
School before leaving for Los Angeles at age 16. Her big break came
when she landed the role of Shelly Johnson on director David
Lynch's "Twin Peaks" television series. Fourteen years later, that's
still her best-known role.

"It's great because I'm really proud of it," she said. "I really feel
that it changed television. I mean it was a groundbreaking show, and
it was a great experience to work with David Lynch. I wear that
banner proudly."

Over the years, Amick continued her work in television and film. Her
credits include the Stephen King drama "Sleepwalkers," writer-
director Nicholas Kazan's "Dream Lover" and appearances on "Fantasy
Island," "Gilmore Girls" and "Dawson's Creek." The upcoming stint
on "E.R.," however, will be her highest-profile outing in years.

"I'm just very thankful for it," she said. "It's funny because when I
first started `Twin Peaks' it was still kind of taboo to do
television for a film actor. Now, it seems you actually have to have
a television series in order to get the roles in the films."

Amick said her instinct is to choose film over television, but that's
changing.

"The reason I would say that is because I feel like you're given more
creativity in film," she said. "But that's not really true anymore
unless you're doing a little, low-budget, independent movie … Really,
I think it depends on the creators themselves, whether it's
television or film. I think you have to look more, now, at who are
the producers and what kind of product do they want to put out."

When it comes to "E.R." she says that product is extremely good.

"A lot of times when you're working on set, you're wanting to tweak
things or change a line here or there or really try to fine tune your
character, and sometimes it's struggle," she said. "(With) `E.R.'
they have the best writers already in place. It's really easy to step
on set, not to have any hassles, not have to sort of fight for
anything. And you know that you're doing great work and it's going to
be captured great. It's really been a treat."