By Christina Radish
As Homeland Security agent and bio medic Diana Skouris on USA Network’s critically acclaimed hit drama The 4400, Jacqueline McKenzie promises that season three will be exploring the personal relationships of the characters even deeper than the two previous seasons.
Following the lives of 4,400 individuals, presumed dead or missing, who emerged from a blinding white light without having aged a day from whenthey were last seen, it soon becomes apparent that the 4400 have each been returned with a special power as they unwittingly begin to exhibit abilities including superhuman strength, healing touch, and clairvoyance. Although it has been revealed that the 4400 were taken by future humans in an attempt to save mankind, Diana and her partner, Agent Tom Baldwin (Joel Gretsch), are now pursuing a radical 4400 organization called the Nova Group.
“It’s been an interesting journey because, as much as I’m getting to know Diana, every time we get a script, we don’t know what’s in it until the day we start shooting,” the Sydney, Australia native tells MediaBlvd Magazine in an exclusive interview. “As actors, we get to know the characters piecemeal, the same as when the audience watches the show. Every episode, they get to know the characters better. We’re the same when we read the scripts. There hasn’t been any grand plan that we’ve been allowed to know about, even though I’m sure the writers have them. They’re all pretty secretive, so it’s been a really interesting journey.”
{quote_top}Growing up, the 38-year-old McKenzie says that she wanted to do a lot of different things, but never really isolated acting as a goal for herself. “I didn’t really know much about actors or acting. I’d seen a couple of movies, but I never really went to the theater. But, I did have a singing voice and I knew about Abba and I loved musicals, so I wanted to sing in musicals. Then, of course, I decided I wanted to be a vet and work with animals, or be a zoologist and go count lions on the Serengeti.”
“I started singing in a band when I left high school. We weren’t being paid anything, and I don’t even think we had a name. I had to catch trains to and from gigs because I didn’t have a driver’s license. It’s too dark and dangerous to catch the train at night, so you have to catch taxis, which are very expensive, and I didn’t have any money. So, I had a friend who said, ‘You should do some commercials because you get really good money. You’ve got a really good, outgoing personality, so you should be able to do that.’ I got myself an agent, and then, the lady who used to cast a lot of commercials in Australia said that I could act. She called the National Institute of Dramatic Arts and told them about me, and I auditioned and got in, which was an absolute miracle. That really sealed the deal for what I was going to do. It wasn’t like I had planned a long time to be an actress. I feel so blessed that that lady came into my life and told me to do that because it really gave me purpose and gave me a place to put all my energy.”
Having come to the project through a regular audition, McKenzie reveals that she was up against half a dozen other women, all hoping for the role of Diana. “Joel was cast before me, so he had to audition with a whole lot of different women. I really liked that they weren’t all blond or all skinny. Everybody was a very different type. It was a very open casting process. A lot of the time, with these casting things, I go in, and I know I’ve got very fair skin and naturally red hair, and everyone’s got a tan and they’re very blond and very busty. I just think, ‘What am I doing here?’”
Prior to The 4400, McKenzie had never seriously considered doing a television series because she always felt the need to be more in control of the character that she’s playing. “When you work in the theater, or in film, you generally have a script and you know the journey. In theater, you do the journey every night and you’re fully aware of the character’s journey. With something like The 4400, we don’t know what’s going on, from one episode to the next. We don’t know what’s going to happen, so that has been a real lesson for me to relinquish that need to control because I love the feeling of being in control of what I do, even if it’s really a false sense of control.”
Having always been too scared of science fiction and horror in the past, it is unusual that McKenzie’s career is taking her on such a path. “I believe that so much is possible in this world, and beyond this particular world, and it’s kind of scary. I’m not a great person to take on a date to the theater because, if it really scares me or it’s really overly violent, I actually start retching. I have my fingers wedged in my ears, so I can’t hear, and my eyes closed. I even found Pirates of the Caribbean terrifying. I wasn’t a huge sci-fi fan, purely because I believe in what’s possible, but I really quite like fantasy. I really liked The Lord of the Rings and I really liked His Dark Materials, the trilogy by Philip Pullman. I’m interested in more character based stuff because I’m an actor.”
{quote_middle}McKenzie had to face her own fears when she took on a role in Umney’s Last Case, part of a television mini-series adaptation of Stephen King’s collection of short horror stories, Nightmares & Dreamscapes, airing in July on TNT.
“In the process of auditioning for that, I read about four of the stories, so I got a nice introduction into Stephen King. The only history I’d had with him was watching about five minutes of The Shining and having to leave because it was just horrendous. So, I’d given Stephen King a really wide birth, until the opportunity to work with William H. Macy came up and I thought, ‘Alright, I’ll grit my teeth and read it.’ It was such a surprise to me because it was really moving. It’s a character based piece about a married couple coming to terms with the death of their son. Now, I’m a bit of a Stephen King fan.”
{quote_bottom}McKenzie will also be seen later this year in Opal Dream, which filmed in her hometown of Australia, and is based on the book Pobby and Dingan by UK-based author Ben Rice. “It’s a beautiful little piece about two little children who live in an opal mining country in Australia. The one little girl has two imaginary friends, and they go missing. She’s a little old to have two imaginary friends, or she’s just on the cusp of being embarrassingly old to have them, and the community laughs at her a little bit. She’s quite shy and a little special, or shall we say touched. When she loses these imaginary friends of hers, her immediate family -- I play her mother and Vince Colosimo plays the father -- all sets about looking for them. She gets sicker and sicker, and the community also starts banding together to find them. It’s a beautiful piece about the power of faith and community.”
Even with her all of her current success as an actor, McKenzie never turned her back on her signing, with one of her songs, “Shy Baby,” being featured in The 4400 season two finale episode. “If I have time, I either paint or I tend to write some songs and try to get myself into a recording booth to make some music. To me, it’s all telling stories and expressing oneself. I’ve got a couple songs that are at demo stage, but I’d really like to explore the stories a little more deeply. My favorite collaborator is a Welsh guy, who actually lives in Australia, and it’s really difficult to collaborate on musical stuff long distance, so it goes on hold until I get a bit of a break.”
As for her artwork, her website, http://JacquiMcKenzie.com, currently has about 60 or 70 oil paintings on display. “I’ve only been painting for about three years now. It’s a very recent journey. They’re all of people, but I don’t know who they are because, when I paint, I just smear paint all over the canvas and then stand back to see if I can see anyone looking at me through all the mess, and then I try to bring them out with paint. It’s a miraculous process because I can’t draw. A lot of people think I’ve painted these people from life, but I don’t know any of them. It has been a really freeing thing because it’s so from the subconscious and from instinct. The minute I try and get my brush in there and manipulate something, or decide, ‘I don’t want that woman to be like that, I want her to be like this,’ I can’t do it. I really have to follow what I see coming out. It’s a really amazing lesson that I find applicable to acting and signing. I don’t question. I just try to jump in and trust my instincts.” 
