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» Articles » Definiti: Flower Power (November 2003; by Robin Roberts)

Sloppy Poppy, Floppy Poppy, Poopy Poppy. Without A Trace star Poppy Montgomery has heard them all. "I had red hair, freckles and my nickname was Poppy Petal," Montgomery says, referring to the added insult of her middle name. Could have been worse. She could have been Rosie Thorn. Or Daisy Yellow, Lily Belle or Marigold Sun. Her sisters got stuck with those monikers when her parents thought it would be fun for their daughters to be named after flower fairies from a children's book. Instead, it was hell, says the blond-haired beauty about struggling through school in her hometown of Sydney, Australia, with a name that was catnip to teenaged teasers. So she dropped out at 14 and went to work in her father's restaurant. But she was a terrible waitress, and dropped that too. At 18, she followed a boyfriend to Florida. When that fizzled, she boarded a bus and struck out for Hollywood, where her flower-powered name finally attracted the right kind of attention.

Montgomery badgered Julia Roberts's agent until he buckled and signed her, first landing her commercials, and then bit parts on shows like NYPD Blue and Party of Five. Her big break came in 2001, when she snagged the lead role in the made-for-TV movie Blonde, playing her childhood idol Marilyn Monroe. That led to a co-starring role as a coroner in the Vancouver-shot series Glory Days. Good thing for her the show was short-lived: she was able to get out of the west-coast rain and into the role of agent Samantha Spade (yes, that would be Sam Spade) on the certified CBS hit Without A Trace, which, in only its second season, has narrowed the gap considerably with its powerful Thursday timeslot competitor, ER.

In last season's finale, Spade was kidnapped then shot. As this season opens, she is still dealing with the after-effects. "She's going through post-traumatic stress syndrome," says Montgomery, 32, who keeps in shape with yoga and horseback riding. "She's trying to pretend that she's OK, and everyone can see that she's not. It sort of leads her down an interesting path. I think she's got a lot of anger, which is great character stuff, and a lot of fear that she's not dealing with."

Spade is also not dealing with her lingering attraction to her boss, agent Jack Malone (played by fellow Aussie Anthony LaPaglia), with whom she had had an affair. In the new season, Malone has gone back to his wife and Spade's responding to overtures from agent Martin Fitzgerald (Eric Close). "I think we knew that was going to be an interesting place to go," says creator/co-executive producer Hank Steinberg. "She commented on his smile in the very first episode, and he asked her out for a drink. So we'll be revisiting that to see how it affects Jack."

Lest you think the action will shift too much to the personal from the procedural drama that is the FBI's missing persons division, fear not. The producers are keenly aware how quickly that can sink a series and they intend to drop only crumbs of information about the characters' private lives. Recalling the first hint of a relationship with Spade, LaPaglia says, "There was a scene in the pilot where we were both going to go home, and she was fixing my tie. I thought that was a very familiar, intimate thing for someone to do. Only your wife or your mother would do that, and she was not my mother. We had a bit of chemistry, there was a bit of spark to it. And I think from that moment, we started to try and slide stuff in here and there."

LaPaglia, who's been married for five years to actor Gia Carides (My Big Fat Greek Wedding/Life) who just had their first child in January, has been trying to set up his single co-star for over a year. "I've been trying to marry her off to a make-up artist, a guy who also works on the show," he says of Montgomery, who appears on the big screen in next year's romantic comedy, 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover. "It's true," confirms Montgomery, who usually refuses to talk about her personal life. "He keeps asking me out for sushi. I keep telling him it's never going to happen. And Anthony keeps encouraging him to keep trying."

"I said by the end of the year there will be wedding invitations," says LaPaglia. "It's not going to happen," insists Montgomery, nipping that prediction in the bud.

[source: definiti.ca]

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