Marg Helgenberger

Name: Mary Marg Helgenberger (Catherine Willows)
Birthday: November 16, 1958
Birthplace: North Bend, Fremont, Nebraska

Where she lives now: Santa Monica, California

Height: 5 feet, 6 inches tall

Fan forum: http://www.allaboutmarg.com/suspectonlocation // TV.com: We Support Catherine Willows! // CSI Files: Marg/Catherine ~ Totally Thud Worthy

Fan clubs: Theseever are closed for right now.
Fan sites: www.margamania.net, www.experts-csi.skyblog.com

Family/Relationships:

• Husband: Actor Alan Rosenberg (married September 9, 1989, who has a semi-recurring role as lawyer Adam Novak on the show)
• Son: Hugh Howard, born on October 21, 1990
• Pet: a dog named Momo (deceased)
• In laws: Mark Rosenberg, Paula Wienstien
• Niece: Hannah Rosenberg
• Father: Hugh Helgenberger
• Mother: Kay Snyder
• Brother: Curt Helgenberger
• Sister: Ann Helgenberger

Memorable Quotes (on/off the set):
“This is the best day job I’ve ever had. What’s even more exciting is that when a show goes to the top, you become a part of the pop culture landscape. Your character becomes an icon, a role model. It is very special to me that women of all ages find me inspiring, because I play someone strong and smart who doesn’t have to squander her femininity in the workplace.” -when asked about her role as Catherine Willows on CSI, Midwest Today Magazine

“I’m more willing to sit back and let things come to me, but this business is too competitive, and one has got to be more aggressive and go for things. Those are the ones that succeed. Talent is such a small fraction of what makes a successful movie star, because it’s so much about other things: drive and passion in whatever you want to be.” -interview from MyInky.com

“I’m relatively squeamish in civilian life. I’ve been very fortunate not to have to deal with such things in my immediate family. When we’re filming autopsy scenes, I actually feel sad. Behind each of these death’s there’s usually a back story of unhappiness and loss. We use a guidebook the Las Vegas police put together that’s incredibly graphic. Looking at the pictures can make me turn white. If I’m going over the script at home, my husband will ask, ‘Are you all right?'” -Marg on Parade magazine, when asked about the squeamish scenes on CSI

“Once I come home, I need to compensate, or overcompensate, for the time I’ve spent away. But then again, I’m Catholic.” She laughs. “I draw guilt out of the air.” -More Magazine October 2007 Interview, when asked about how she balances her family life and busy career.

“Catherine’s relationship with Grissom: somebody described this to me, they have this incredible chemistry without them doing it.” -Five US video Interview, December, 2006

“I either play cops or criminals – I’m either on the right side of the law or the wrong side. I gravitate toward edgier material because it suits my nature. I find it fascinating to play. I’m just that kind of person.” -From Askmen.com interview

About Madonna: “Life will always be good as long as Madonna is around. I don’t think of her as a guilty pleasure anymore – she’s an outright pleasure” -In Style magazine, Sept. 2006.

When she’s not acting:

• When she comes home from the set of CSI she plunges into homework and housework and gets involved with her son Hughie’s school activities.
• Marg has been actively involved with the fight against breast cancer and other charities for several years now.
• Teamed up with “Women’s Voices, Women Vote” for a PSA campaign that encourages women to show their strength in numbers at the polls.

Before she was a star:

• She once had a job as a weather girl at a TV station in Nebraska, and her name was shortened to Margie McCarty. (McCarty is her grandmother’s last name)
• Marg played the french horn in her high school (North Bend Central High School) marching band.
• Marg can also play the piano.
• Started working in the soybean fields at the age of 11
• Worked part-time in a meat packing plant while a teenager.

Fascinating facts:

Marg loves the song “Babylon Sisters” by Steely Dan for the lyrics “Drive west on sunset to the sea” which she and her husband Alan did on their first date.

• She’s the object of adoration of Buddy in Mark Heath’s “Spot the Frog” comic strip.
• Was named one of People Magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People and

Esquire magazine’s Women We Love in 2002

• Is number 4 on TV Guide Magazine’s Sexiest Stars on TV for 2007.
• Marg is #41 on Entertainment Weekly’s “The EW 100 Stars We Love Right Now” in summer 2007.
• In 2008 Marg joined the ranks of the celebrities who sported the famousmilk mustache, as she was chosen as an endorser of the Got Milk? campaign.
• Local officials of North Bend Nebraska renamed Locust Street into Helgenberger Avenue when the actress went home to celebrate the little town’s 105th anniversary in the summer of 2006.
• Six years before CSI, she and Gary Dourdan starred together in a TV movie called Keys (1994).
• CSI co-star Gary Dourdan‘s nickname for Marg is “Margalicious“.
• During breaks on the CSI set, Marg and her co-stars Jorja Fox, Gary Dourdan and Robert David Hall jam together and play different musical instruments.
• Marg is known for throwing great parties.
• Her Hollywood home once belonged to silent movie star William S. Hart
• Middle of 3 children. Her older sister is Ann Helgenberger (jazz musician) and her younger brother is Curt Helgenberger (a meat inspector).
• She was a huge fan of the TV show Mission: Impossible when she was young.
• Her mother, Kay, is an Irish American and her father, Hugh, was a German American.
• Meet husband Alan in 1984 and they started dating in 1986.
• Daughter of Hugh Helgenberger, who was a meat inspector, and Kay Helgenberger, who was a nurse. Marg originally wanted to be a nurse like her mother.
• Sister-in-law of Mark Rosenberg and Paula Weinstein.
• In her personal life, Helgenberger is the daughter of a cancer survivor and is very active in supporting research for breast cancer.
  
• Her birth name is Mary Marg Helgenberger.