'In Step With Elisabeth Rohm' by James Brady Parade Magazine September 28, 2003 Personal: Born April 28, 1973, in Dusseldorf, Germany. Television: Includes One Life To live, 1997-98; The '60s, 1999; Angel, 1999-2001; Bull, 2000; Law & Order, 2001--. I had breakfast one morning recently at a Manhattan restaurant with one of the sleekest, coolest, brainiest actresses on television. And while Elisabeth Rohm had tea and eggs benedict, I drank decaf and just watched her. For those who don't follow the long-running NBC hit series Law & Order, Ms. Rohm is the first blonde they've ever had in an assistant DA role. She followed such formidable brunet beauties as Angie Harmon, Jill Hennessy and Carey Lowell (now Ms. Richard Gere). As the series' creative genius, Dick Wolf, has been quoted as saying, "It was time to include a blonde." Elisabeth -- now starting her third season as Assistant District Attorney Serena Southerlyn -- is quite realistic about the series: "It's the boys' show," she said. And she gets along with them. Rohm said she has become pals with Jerry Orbach and his wife, and when I asked her about her on-camera boss, Sam Waterston, she said, "He's a fiery, independent spirit, and his marriage is a grounding force." Law & Order is filmed entirely on location in New York. "It's like the Yankees," Rohm has said. "We're so associated with the city. Everyone knows us and says hi! Maybe we represent hope." She said she found New York gritty, but in a good way. "You don't live in your apartment in New York," she said. "You live on the streets. I love to write, and I love to talk. Where better than in New York to do both? Not many shows shoot here, and we're not locked down like a Jennifer Lopez movie shoot. People come up and talk to Jerry, and he talks to them." When Elisabeth talks about joining the cast of Law & Order, she gets downright rhapsodic. "It's like being let into the Dead Poets' Society," she told me. "A private club. They tease me, and there's a lot of love on the set." Prior to Law & Order, Elisabeth's big TV jobs were a recurring spot on Angel and a starring role on the Wall Street drama Bull, a very promising series that was canceled. What happened? Did the stock market bust kill it off? "No," Elisabeth said. "That would have burnished the show. We had so many story lines. To this day, I don't know." Rohm said she's now at a career stage where, "for the first time, people are calling -- you and other press and the movies." And those first two season on Law & Order were great preparation, she said. "Now I want to be impulsive, to relax, enjoy, have a ball." Extra's from the online site: In between acting and writing, Elisabeth Rohm loves to just wander around New York City. In this week’s “In Step With,” Elisabeth Rohm of Law & Order gives James Brady the scoop on joining the cast as the first fair-haired woman on the television drama. Rohm, who notes the show’s “Socratic issues of right and wrong,” also talks about why New York suits her. Here’s more on how Elisabeth got her start and how she spends her time off the set: After living in Miami for six months in the hopes of launching a modeling career, Rohm, then 17, enrolled in Sara Lawrence College. A role in a stage production at her alma mater sparked an interest in acting, which Rohm pursued upon completing her studies. While working as an agent’s assistant in 1997, she landed a recurring role on the daytime soap One Life to Live that lasted through 1998, then spent two years on the WB’s Angel. Rohm, who made last year’s “Hot 100” list in Maxim magazine, cites the German romantics Goethe and Mann as her favorite writers and is something of a writer herself. The 30-year-old actress wrote an unpublished novel, about a 21-year-old woman in 1911 Scotland whose husband has committed suicide. She is now busy at work on another. This article is the intellectual property of Parade Magazine and its author. It is transcribed simply for fan purposes. No copyright infringement is intended. :: Back up ::       2008 Rohm with a View. Rohm with a View (lis-rohm.net) is an independent publication and is not endorsed by Elisabeth Rohm, her management or any related companies. Opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of Elisabeth Rohm or her management.