‘Rescue Me’ battler Andrea Roth is a sunny new mom
It’s been a stormy romance. To say the least.
For as long as we’ve known them, New York firefighter Tommy Gavin and his wife, Janet, have been rabidly scratching and clawing at each other on FX’s gritty drama series “Rescue Me.”
You’d think at some point one of them would get weary of the constant squabbling and simply walk away.
“Given their family backgrounds, I think that would be considered a failure,” says Andrea Roth, who plays the hardheaded Janet opposite Denis Leary as Tommy. “So they keep slugging it out.”
Remarkably, Roth, 42, has made her vengeful housewife seem sympathetic.
“A lot of people saw that relationship and said, ‘I don’t believe a woman would stay with a man who treated her like that or who was that way with his family,’ ” says Peter Tolan, the co-creator of “Rescue Me.” “Somehow Andrea, instead of making that character weak, brought the strength to Janet. She believed she was going to persevere and overcome this guy, drag him kicking and screaming to some sort of full potential.”
Roth’s performance is striking on a number of levels.
How does a model from Toronto end up playing the toughest working-class chick in New York?
“I don’t know,” she says, laughing. “Possibly I’m overcompensating for being Canadian.”
For six seasons, Roth has been wearing her strongest armor to the set, because when Janet isn’t battling Tommy, a firehouse rogue haunted by 9-11, she’s usually warring with Sheila, her rival for Tommy’s affections. It’s prime time’s best catfight since Krystle and Alexis on “Dynasty.
“Janet and Sheila are perfect foes in so many ways, even in their appearances,” says Callie Thorne, who plays Sheila. “Andrea is this gorgeous, tall, thin blonde, and I am short and dark-haired. The energy of both characters are what makes for classic foils and polar opposites.”
If either of these ladies has been saving up a secret strategy for claiming Tommy’s wild, womanizing heart, they might want to begin the campaign now, because the end is nigh.
Leary wanted this to be “Rescue Me’s” last year, but FX was determined to get another season out of the show. A compromise was reached. Nineteen episodes were taped, nine of which will be held until next year.
The cast found itself in the curious position of taping the series finale last month, a climactic episode that fans will have to wait 15 months to see,
“Everyone had a different experience,” Roth says. “Some people were very upset. Some were eager to move on. I had just had my baby girl, so I wanted only to get home.”
Roth’s daughter, Ava, arrived just as the last batch of shows were being hammered out. While everyone accommodated her new-mom status (“Denis turns to mush around children and animals,” she says), the actress was still glad to see the series winding down.
“I was grateful not to have to go to work — trying to remember lines with no sleep. Baby brain is real!”
A few months of maternity have drained all vestiges of Janet from Roth. Her voice radiates happiness and contentment.
Until, that is, she begins to recount this season’s plot, in which Janet has invited Tommy to move back into her apartment so she can monitor his drinking.
“Interesting things are going to ensue with the two of us living together. That can only go wrong ultimately.”
That note of relish? Pure Janet.