MCTV Exclusive: All That Sass – Kathe Mazur and Jonathan Del Arco Dissect Their Characters

By K. Black and M. Sharpe


hobbs morales

Over the years, DDA Andrea Hobbs and Dr. Fernando Morales have become valued parts of the Major Crimes team, and massive fan-favorites along the way. We chatted with Kathe Mazur and Jonathan Del Arco to find out just what makes their characters tick, and what all that sass is really about.

MajorCrimesTV: You guys are just about at the halfway point of filming for this season – how’s it all been going?

Jonathan Del Arco: I think we’re having an amazing season this year. I feel like the work is getting deeper and deeper for all of us, in different ways. And from my end, the work we do aside, I have gratitude to the fans right now for having continued to find us. The times keep changing, and you guys find us, the days change, and you find us, and I feel like that fed a lot of our enthusiasm to come to work, and the writers to write, and James to do all that he does because he knows you guys get it. And so, it’s very gratifying. Vis-a-vis the ratings and the fact that we’re crushing it, as it were, that way makes me very happy.

Kathe Mazur: I agree! I couldn’t have said it better.

MCTV: It seems like this move to 10pm this season has allowed the show to change tone a little bit, and allowed the show to explore some things a little more deeply.

KM: Well, to me, the very best of life is when you’ve taken an obstacle or something that you thought was going to be a problem and somehow it ends up creating a whole new opportunity. I think that in the work, and I think that in everything, that that’s the highest level because life is filled with obstacles. So, the thing that keeps amazing me about this crew, is that no matter what the obstacle is, it sort of ends up leading to something fantastic and unexpected, and I continually am amazed at how at every single step along the way of this journey that has happened.

504- morales raydor sanchez lrJDA: We all have had our share of anxiety about the change, because we were in the same time slot for so long. But, we have such great leadership in James Duff and Mike Robin, and we were all encouraged by them early on to say, “You know what? Let’s just hit it out of the ballpark and have the best year ever, and just focus 100% on creating an amazing work.” A “if you build it they will come” mentality. And it’s so great to actually see that happen, and it’s so rare, because television is not being viewed as much as other mediums these days, so it’s great to know that we were able to meet the challenge, and we were able to bond together to get through it, and here we are! It’s been fantastic. We’re very lucky.

MCTV: It has been! Now, I loving having the chance to talk to the two of you together, because both of your characters have both become such strong fan-favorites. Both of you are also known for your characters’ sass and for having a little bit more attitude than maybe we get to see out of some of the others. Was that something that developed in the characters for you over the years, or was it always sort of inherent in the writing? Continue reading

The Doctor is In: Five Questions with Jonathan Del Arco



jda gallery colorJonathan Del Arco’s Dr. Morales has had a great year this season on Major Crimes, exploring exploring the world outside of the morgue, and even (finally!) getting a first name! We caught up with Jonathan on set during the filming of the upcoming winter arc of Major Crimes, to ask a few questions about this season, and his continued political and charitable passions.

MajorCrimesTV: You’re just finishing up filming the last episodes of this season. How has this year been, and what can you tell us about the upcoming winter episode arc?

Jonathan Del Arco: I can tell you that it’s been great! We’ve had both a really fun run and a really long run in terms of our filming because we got extended for these upcoming five episodes for a total of 23 episodes, our biggest season ever. These last five have been especially fun for us to film because the entire events of the one contained case, which are explored throughout the five episodes, are worked out in only a matter of days. So [the fans] get to see a lot more of what really goes on when we’re solving a crime, especially a complex one, over a five-parter. Continue reading

MCTV Exclusive Video: Mary McDonnell and Jonathan Del Arco Talk Major Crimes at Dragon*Con


On August 30th, 2014 Dragon*Con hosted the very first Major Crimes panel featuring Mary McDonnell and Jonathan Del Arco at their annual science-fiction, fantasy and pop culture convention in Atlanta, GA. We’re pleased to present the full video of that panel, courtesy of Dragon*Con Media. Special thanks to the Dragon*Con videography team for providing this footage.

 

Jonathan Del Arco Talks “Crazy Ones” Role and Rusty’s Coming Out on “Major Crimes”


TNT25 JDAIn a new article in Xfinity, Jonathan Del Arco talks about his upcoming guest-starring role on CBS’ The Crazy Ones, airing this Thursday at 9:30pm, and about Rusty’s coming out storyline on Major Crimes.

Was it nice to kind of flex those comedic muscles a little more than you get to on ‘Major Crimes?’

Jonathan Del Arco: Oh my God, you know I get to be funny on ‘Major Crimes’ but it’s usually around a dead body so that was a nice change. It was awesome. You know, I started out in comedy back in my 20s. So, it was really fun to be on a comic set because the vibe is completely different. To get to work with Robin was just a childhood dream come true. I mean I went up to him and I honestly said to him, “I learned English watching ‘Mork & Mindy.’ It was totally true. I didn’t speak English until I was 10. And I watch ‘Happy Days’ and I would watch ‘Mork and Mindy’ and that’s really how I learned English. He was so amazing and, obviously, he’s funny and he just kept everyone laughing all day. He’s just one of the nicest people I’ve ever worked with. It’s so great to have a childhood hero kind of live up to that. Yeah, I had a blast. I had a really, really great time.

I followed the Rusty story on ‘Major Crimes’ quite a bit last year as he was coming out. What I was hearing from a lot of people and I can’t say I disagree is that the story was really drawn out, a slow burn but maybe too slow. What’s your opinion on that if you can give it on that story?

JDA: Listen, when you’re a writer and a creator of a show and you have a brilliant actor like Graham [Patrick Martin], it is almost impossible to not want to write for him. That’s the God’s honest truth…I just think he was really fun for James [Duff, creator] to write…I do think that that storyline is not going to be as heavily influenced this season. I don’t think that’s the direction it’s going. I think that piece of it is played out but Rusty is part of a family and part of her family and really part of the family of the squad. Of course, he’s in it and he’s so good. He’s such a wonderful actor and he brings such a great element of vulnerability and a young aspect to the show. And everyone’s got opinions about yay or nay on how much do we want but I think it’s a very real thing that cops have their kids and are a part of their lives.

I mean James is a total stickler for reality, so anything he does it’s like ‘would this happen for real?’ I believe it would. But I think they threw it out throughout the season but I think it came to a pretty intense and satisfying conclusion at the end. Our numbers in the winter were way higher because I think people were tuning in to see what was going to happen. The last few episodes were really tense and amazing. Yeah, we’re all still a family.

Read the entire article here

 

Jonathan Del Arco Promoted to Series Regular in Season Two!


1.5-5-morales1.pngAfter five seasons as a recurring guest star on The Closer and one season of Major Crimes, fan-favorite Jonathan Del Arco is finally being upgraded to a series regular!

According to DeadlineTV.com, Del Arco’s character, Doctor Morales will be a regular character in season two when the show returns this summer.

Congratulations to Jonathan Del Arco!