Meet Dollhouse's Cyril, Mark Ivanir

Last week I had the pleasure of chatting with Israeli soldier turned clown turned actor, Mark Ivanir. You might recognize Mark as the acid-fed torture victim from The Good Shepherd or as Uzi from last Monday's premiere of My Own Worst Enemy, but come January you'll definately know him as Cyril from Dollhouse episode 1.02, "Gray Hour" (I checked with the show's production office and "Echo", originally thought to be the title of the second episode, isn't accurate. It's really "Gray Hour".)

He couldn't reveal to much about the episode or his character, but I did learn that the episode was written by Dollhouse showrunners Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain ("Wait, I thought the second episode was written by Joss..." - speculate in the comments!) it was directed by veteran director Rod Hardy (Battlestar Galactica, The X-Files), and if Mark could be imprinted with any personality, he'd choose rock star.

What can you tell us about your character on Dollhouse?

I'm not sure I can talk about it at this stage, but I can tell you he's a professor - an expert on art.

What did you enjoy most about filming "Gray Hour"?

I loved working with Eliza, very nice person, very good actor. The premies of the episode is exciting. I think it was very well written. I enjoyed working with Harry - very nice guy, sounds like Obama.

[The crew] was heavily Australian, which I love, because I love Australia. Somehow Israelis and Australians have a lot in common. Careless would be another word for how we handle our lives, easy going, si I had fun with that. The director, Rob, is Australian, the DP is from Australia, one of the camera operators is Australian, one of my fellow actors was from Tasmania, so there was a whole Australian contingency.

From Alias to Walker, Texas Ranger you've been in more TV shows than I care to count. Do you have a favorite TV or film job?

For TV it's Boomtown. You can watch the video on my showreel - the tattooed Russion guy, you can't miss it. It was a great show, and to me it was a very pivotal role because I found something there as an actor that helped me out in future projects. For film, The Good Shepherd. You don't get better than that.

The torture scene in that movie was pretty intense [watch it here]. Was it difficult to film?

No, no, but it was very fulfilling. It's hard maybe, when you look at it objectively, because they pour water on your and beat you up. But as an actor, when you get an opportunity like that...

Also Schindler's List, which is the reason for me being here now. It was my first major American movie. I spen 3 and na half months in Poland shooting it - most of my family was killed in the Holocaust, so it was emotionally charged.

Do you watch much TV yourself?

More in the past couple years, mainly because it's my job. Because I'm doing so much TV, if I go to read for something, I need to understand what I'm reading.

Have a favorite show?

House. My wife is really into it, and I watch it with her. Hugh Laurie is amazing.

Your website says you turned down job offers from the Israeli Secret Service to study clowning. What's the story there?

I worked in the intelligence forces in Israel as part of my military service... and they would try to recruit people from there to go over to Secret Intelligence Services. They approached me 5 or 6 times and I always said no. I can't get into details, but I kept meeting with them because it was interesting, and every time I'd say "Hey guys, so what are we talking about now? Uhhh, no. You know what? No." Finally after 6 or 7 years of that I said, "Please don't call me again. This isn't going to work. I've got a profession now, I'm an actor." "Oh, we like that! That's gonna work for us", they said, but it wasn't going to work for me. For them it would have been perfect - a secret agent with acting abilities.

If you could be imprinted with any persona, what would it be?

Maybe a rock star. Cause anything to do with music, it's one of my weakest points. So yeah, a rock star.

What else do you have coming up?

My Own Worst Enemy, next week, I'm the guest lead. I die at the end. [Editor's note: since it took me so long to get this interview up, My Own Worst Enemy has already aired. But you can watch if for free on Hulu.

You seem to get killed a lot.

Yeah, I've got enough of those for 5 or 6 actors. Then on the 17th there's a movie called What Just Happened. Robert De Niro plays the lead, it's with Bruce Willis and Sean Penn and Catherine Keener. There's a movie called Bunraku which I shot in May with Ron Perlman, Josh Hartnett, Demi Moore, and Kevin McKidd - that's going to be out in 2009. I've got a series in Israel that'll be aired in November that I'm the lead in, I'm flying to Germany in 2 and a half weeks to shoot a German series that I'm one of the leads in, and I'm also developing a show with Dick Clark - a reality show - about physchis.