Greg Grunberg Talks Heroes

1 month ago 12th Oct 14:26

That Greg Grunberg has achieved success with the top-rated NBC series Heroes is no surprise. As Matt Parkman, a former cop who discovers he possesses a special power for telepathy, he brings a humanity and warmth to the character that might otherwise be missing in the hands of another actor.

But where the shock lies is how long its taken audiences to discover the 42 year-old actor from Los Angeles. With almost twenty years in film and television, Grunberg has gradually worked his way from bit-player to jobbing actor to leading man.

In part, at least, he has J.J. Abrams to thank. After several years as a day-player on everything from Melrose Place to NYPD Blue as well as scoring a supporting role in Paul Verhoeven’s The Hollow Man Abrams gave him a recurring role on his show Felicity as the entrepreneurial Sean Blumberg.

This was swiftly followed by the part of CIA operative Eric Weiss in Abrams’ Alias. Still, nothing Grunberg has done has matched the popularity of Heroes. With Season 3 imminent on DVD, which sees Parkman discover his child is his own, below Grunberg discusses why he loves the show, how his life has changed since being cast and why he believes it will last for at least four more seasons. 

- How was it working with Baby Matt Parkman on Season 3?

Great We work with twins [Quin and Reed Baron] and they are the most incredible kids. I’ve worked with babies before but it’s the weirdest thing. Honestly, it’s like kinds spooky. When they hear ‘action’, the kids pick up on it and they go into acting mode!

And the kids’ parents are great. The mom’s an actress and dad is a manager but they’re really good people. But still, they’re babies they’re going to do whatever they want to do. They’ll poop off cue!

- So you haven’t been pooped on yet?

Not yet I’m hoping! Magic poop!

- If you consider Matt’s arc in Season 3, he’s something of a renegade, wouldn’t you say?

What I love is obviously as an actor, you want your character to be important. Then leading towards the end of Season 3, it was Ando and Hiro going, ‘We gotta go get Matt Parkman’ and Angela Petrelli was like, ‘I have to met you.’

I just love how for so long at the end of Season 1 and the beginning of Season 2, people were saying, ‘I wish you had more presence in the show.’ But now my power is very, very powerful. I did something that helped everybody else but at the same time I regret it. So it’s great, as far as my character having a major importance going into the next season.