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México, 2 mar (EFE).- El actor estadounidense Carlos Bernard dijo hoy que la exitosa serie televisiva "24", en donde interpreta al agente antiterrorista Tony Almeida, le cambió la vida al darle una gran proyección internacional. "Es una gran serie, me ha dado mucho, me ha cambiado la vida en varios aspectos, durante los diez meses que dura una temporada, trabajo casi las 24 horas en el set, es un trabajo muy intenso, muy fuerte, pero muy satisfactorio", reveló el actor en conferencia de prensa. Bernard está de visita en México para presentar la quinta temporada de esta serie de la cadena de televisión Fox, que durante las cuatro anteriores ha sido candidata a numerosos premios "Emmy" que se conceden en EEUU a las mejores series de televisión en EEUU. El actor dijo que esta visita a México le trae buenos recuerdos, pues "aquí viví de los 8 a los 11 años, y aunque fue poco tiempo, me dejó muchas cosas y aprendí otras". Sobre el personaje que interpreta en "24", un estrecho colaborador en lucha antiterrorista del protagonista de la serie, destacó que necesita una preparación mental más que física. Bernard, quien participó en la película "Vegas, City of Dreams" (2001), de su compatriota Lorenzo Doumani, explicó que debido al arduo trabajo en "24" no puede estar en ningún otro proyecto, pero precisó que prepara uno propio, también para la televisión, que se enfocará en la comunidad latina. Al respecto, el actor no dio mayores detalles, pues aclaró que apenas está en su planeamiento. "24" es una serie narrada en tiempo real, emitida y producida por la cadena Fox, que trata sobre la vida del agente federal de una unidad anterrorista (UAT) conocido como Jack Bauer, que interpreta Kiefer Sutherland. La serie también trata las actividades de los otros agentes de la UAT, las acciones de los terroristas y la reacción de la Casa Blanca. Cada temporada se compone de 24 capítulos de una hora que conforman un único día y la acción transcurre en tiempo real. Bernard ha tenido algunas participaciones en cine y televisión, en esta última con apariciones en series como: "Walker, Texas Ranger" y "The Young and the Restless." Sin embargo, la serie "24" ha sido su catapulta a nivel internacional.

La Oferta

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Dec. 27 -- Last season on '24,' when Tony Almeida came to Jack Bauer's rescue, it was only seven hours into the superagent's day but it felt like a lifetime to fans.

Well, everyone can breathe a sigh of relief. Carlos Bernard is back as Almeida for the fifth season of '24,' which begins Sun., Jan. 15. But for how long and in what capacity are being kept under wraps.

Bernard chatted with AOL Television editor Kelly Woo about the "amped up" season premiere, his favorite '24' moments and his status as a sex symbol.

When you first started on '24,' did you imagine it would get to its fifth season?

No, I never imagined that we were going to make it through the first year. Each step of the way, I've been amazed. That first of all it got picked up. Then, we were waiting for that 13th episode to see if we were going to get picked up for the rest of the season and we did. And every year, it's gone on and gotten better.

Tony's surprise entrance last season was one of the best moments from the show.

Can't ask for a better entrance than that.

Fans were really excited when he burst in to rescue Jack. That was a nice surprise. That was very nice, I've heard that a lot. Jeez, we work hard on the show, we work a lot of hours over a lot of months. It really makes you feel good that people enjoy what you're working on.

How much of the storylines do you know in advance?

There are certain things that I know of. Tony's storyline for this year was really worked out between the head writers and myself before we started. So there are major things that I know that I've talked with them about, that are going to happen, but the specifics of it and how it's executed, that I'll get when I read the script.

So what IS going to happen this season?

First episode is pretty crazy. Laughs I can't believe how much goes in the first episode this year. It's amped up a whole 'nother notch. That's as much as I can tell you. Anything else is going to ruin it for people.

But you and Reiko Aylesworth as Tony's wife Michelle Dessler are definitely back at least for the premiere?

Yes.

Tony's been shot in the neck, he was branded a traitor, he lost his wife. What's it like playing someone with so many issues? It's great, it's really great. That's one of the wonderful things about working on the show. A lot of TV shows, you can get into this feeling like you're on autopilot, like you're almost doing the same episodes over and over again for years. The great thing about this show is every year it's different, the character's in a different place. You can accumulate all those things like you listed that happen to the character, so that when you come back next year, there's a whole other chunk of baggage to mix into the character. It just makes it more fun as an actor.

Do you have a favorite season of '24'?

I really like the third season. I don't know… there are elements of each year that I really love. I had a lot of fun last year. Third season was really great. That would probably be my favorite.

What do you think is the craziest thing that's happened?

I love when the bomb went off, I think that was second season. I thought that was great, that they actually did that. And then they had Air Force One go down. The one thing I love about the show is they're not afraid to take risks and try something most shows would resolve. In other words, on another show, Air Force One would've been saved, would've been rescued. And on this show, it went down. So did the President. Those are moments that stick in my mind.

Do you think '24''s success started a trend of more serialized dramas on TV?

I'd like to think it has. I don't know for sure, but there are definitely a lot more since we came on the air. I remember when we were starting, part of the big thing about the pilot being picked up and renewed was the argument that a serialized drama just won't last. They were worried about being able to syndicate it in reruns. And that's done great.

What's it like working with Kiefer Sutherland?

Kiefer, he's just a big baby. I love Kiefer. We have such a great time working together. I just love him. He's my brother. At this point, we're the only ones left from the first year, that have been here the whole time. And we're just really close and love working together. We have fun together and we push each other.

Did you enjoy voicing your character in the '24' video game?

That was a lot of fun. And that's pretty cool. I think for people who like video games and fans of the show, it's going to be great. You can play different characters and it's sort of a natural for a video game.

What's it like being a sex symbol?

I don't know really... It's flattering, and it's great. Most people come up because they're a fan of the show, because they enjoy the show and my character, and that's always gratifying.

I saw you on 'Celebrity Poker Showdown.' Do you play much poker?

No. In fact, I haven't played since then. I'm not very good at it.

TV Tattler Archive

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He only seems to have spent five days on the job, but it seems like five years for actor Carlos Bernard.

Because that's what happens when you're in the cast of 24 , the real-time counter-terrorism thriller which is now in its fourth season here (8.30pm, TV3), while Bernard is already working on No 5.

Yes, he's surprised the show is still tick tick ticking along - he's also signed up for a sixth season.

"I couldn't imagine it going beyond a sixth year, then again I couldn't imagine it going beyond a first year," he laughs down the line from a Los Angeles freeway. "So what do I know?

"It's funny. We've been shooting since July and don't air in the US until January. We always get to this point in the year thinking 'This season is just going to suck' and we're so afraid of that. We are just trying harder and harder to make it better. It's always a big challenge to keep it up to snuff."

As agent Tony Almeida, Bernard is the only surviving member of the original series apart from lead Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer.

Bernard's guy has been through a lot over the years - getting fired from the Los Angeles Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU), jail, divorced from fellow agent Michelle Dressler, presidential pardon, unemployment and hasty reinstatement to the job a few episodes back.

Tonight's thrilling instalment shows Almeida is very much back on the CTU career ladder.

Low-key until now, Bernard's career has revolved around 24 and its 10 months-a-series shoots for the past few years. Though sometimes the show has occasionally adapted to him - like when he once came back from a Christmas break on crutches after he badly dislocated his foot playing basketball.

"I couldn't put any weight on it so I had to be on crutches for three and a half months while it heeled. When I got back there was meant to be this knock-down drag-out fight between Jack and Tony, and Kiefer had a broken knee cap at the time.

"So it ended up being probably the lamest fight in the history of television. It was one on those things where he sneezes and I fall over and he kicks my ankle to justify my injury."

That was in the second series. Bernard thinks the current fourth one, with its story of terrorists sending United States nuclear powerplants into mass meltdown, is the best yet.

"The first season was meant to be about the assassination attempt on President Palmer - it was meant to happen in the 24th episode but it ended up happening in the seventh, and so I think that every year the writers have learned a bit more about how to plot it out.

"I think they used the best elements from the first three seasons. This year they've used the best balance of action, intrigue and character."

The fourth series also seems to have many a scene involving torture, just as the United States debates the use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" by its forces in Iraq.

"I think that definitely there's been some strange coincidences in stuff that we have shot and has later come to pass. I think it plays upon our biggest fears of terrorism really.

"But in the end it's nothing more than fantasy - a spy novel in a sense."

Does he think the show, more than just playing on it, actually contributed to the climate of fear about terrorism?

"Um. I don't think so. I don't know. I'm too close to it to be able to really say. We do stretch the envelope of believability and people realise it's just entertainment."

Still, all that secret agent paranoia has rubbed off on Bernard just a little.

"I do check people out a lot when I am getting on planes. There are certain situations where I feel a little odd, I'm definitely a little more suspicious."


By Russel Baillie

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Carlos Bernard's Tony Almeida has had a rough go of it over the past couple seasons on "24." He's only a couple years removed from getting shot in the neck, recovering his strength miraculously, being dubbed a traitor to the United States, getting out of jail, losing his wife and any variety of other plights. Apparently the actor is ready for more. Bernard has just inked a deal to return to "24" for the drama's upcoming season. Normally the return of starring cast members to a hit television show isn't necessarily news, but "24" is rather unique, given its tendency to shed dozens of actors and characters each season, a plight Bernard knows all too well.

The finale of the show's fourth season saw Almeida helping Kiefer Sutherland's Jack Bauer play dead, evade deportation to China and escape to Mexico. It's unclear whether Bernard will be a regular on "24" next season, or just recurring, just that he will be back. The actor has appeared on the show in both capacities in recent years.

Bernard recently completed work on NBC's miniseries sequel "10.5 Apocalypse." His other credits include a run on "The Young and the Restless."

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"When we last saw Tony Almeida, he was being carted off to the local nick for treason. But in Season 4 of 24 he's back, with some rougher edges and something to prove. Carlos Bernard explains further.

Ruggedly handsome actor Carlos Bernard has never faced terrorists or made the kind of life and death decisions his character Tony Almeida regularly makes on the suspense show 24, but as it turns out, all that covert work may be in his blood after all.

"My dad and my uncle were both in counter-intelligence, so I got a lot of info that way, reveals Bernard during a break on the series. "My uncle, who has since passed away, was actually on the ground floor of the CIA, but was in the OS, which led into the CIA. My father was in counter-intelligence but didn't go into the CIA. It let me know what that world was really like to work in, which really helped me when we shot the pilot, to help build the character."

Tony certainly received some hard knocks during his stay at the Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU), most notably at the end of season three when he was charged with treason after assisting terrorists who had kidnapped his wife Michelle. It was slammer time for Tony, then he came charging in like the cavalry to save Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) and his girlfriend Audrey Raines (Kim Raver) in the current, fourth, season.

"The producers were pretty up-front with me about what was happening with the changing cast," says Bernard about his return. "They always planned on bringing my character back, they just knew it would take a few episodes to work him in because of what happened last season."

But Tony isn't the same man he used to be. His fall from grace caused him to hit the bottle, and, when he became emotionally distant, Michelle divorced him.

"It made sense to me because this is a guy who had poured a lot of his life into protecting this country," says Bernard. "He was trained in the military, brought up working in the field and putting his life at risk. Then to have to face a decision like that which he knew was wrong, at least as far as his job goes, and then to be pardoned and get out of jail...Even though he knows he made the wrong decision, there is still bitterness in the fact that after all the work he has done for the country, he felt like everyone had turned on him. That resentment and bitterness can creep in on people. And then to have his wife still carrying on with her career while he can't get a job, that is not a great situation to be in and different people handle it in different ways."

Despite the spiraling situation, Tony couldn't refuse Jack's desperate call for help when Bauer was cornered by gunfire.

"Tony probably got involved to help Jack out, but at the same time feeling here's a chance to redeem himself, which I think has taken over," offers Bernard about his alter ego's motives. "As the day goes on, there are situations that arise which have him switching back and forth. He wants to redeem himself but he's trying to watch Jack's back. After all, he'd be rotting in jail if it weren't for him. " The two weren't always best buds, though. In fact, back in season one, they were frequently at each other's throats. "Well, the are both hot-headed and have a lot in common," explains Bernard. "They feel they know which is the right way. A lot of the time, males in that alpha male category do not get along. They butt heads. I was talking to a friend about the same thing. When I think back to when I was younger, my family moved around a lot, and every time I moved, I would get picked on and get into fights. Well, it's funny that once you are done with the fight part, you usually become good friends. There's some sort of respect or mutual admiration that goes along with it and a friendship springs out of it. Maybe that is what happened with Tony and Jack. "

Along the way Tony picked up some of Jack's rogue tactics, especially when he plotted to exchange terrorist Saunders's daughter for his own wife last year. "That all started in the second season really, maybe in the first season, " says Bernard. "He was younger in the job and you are right, he was military trained by the book, and felt this is the way this job should be done. He's learned over time that sometimes, to do your job well, you have to break rules. And he's definitely learned that from Jack. In season two he started breaking them, and in season three you know where he wound up."

This year Tony has once more proven to be an invaluable asset by pitching in at CTU and even temporarily heading the organization. However, things are never that simple. Michelle, his ex, was also called in, and to make matters worse, she was promoted to be his boss. The tension between the former couple keeps escalating, so it is no surprise that Bernard isn't even sure he'd like them to kiss and make up. "You know what? I personally don't have a preference if they reconcile or not," offers Bernard. "What is more important is that they run smack into each other, that they have to deal with each other. As an actor, that makes for interesting scenes to play, that with their history they have to work with each other. What comes out of that, we'll see."

However, Bernard states that one thing he would prefer is to get out from behind the desk and become more involved in kicking some terrorist butt. "It is funny the way Tony's field time gets parceled out," he reflects. "I used to feel I'd like more field time, but what is interesting is, the way the writers have built the story towards Tony and Jack is they sort of build our own storylines and then throw us together for a while, then pull us apart and continue what is going on in their own worlds, and then throw us back together again. If Tony and Jack were out in the field all the time, it wouldn't be as interesting."

At the time of this interview, Bernard is on set shooting the 22nd episode, so what can devoted 24 fans expect from Tony? "I can't tell you that but it does involve Jack and getting into the field," says Bernard. That's not much of a spoiler, but even those close to Bernard have quit digging for that kind of information.

"My wife doesn't want to know anything about it," he chuckles. "She read the scripts the first year and it ruined it for her, so she doesn't want to know anything. Same with friends and family. Even my publicist doesn't want to know anything, and that is rare because usually those people in the business are a little jaded and beyond caring about the show itself but my agents and publicists all love 24. I have to sort of conduct business without letting them know why we can do certain things and not others."

In a final attempt to get Bernard to spill something, he's asked if he will be popping up in season five, but it's possible even torture wouldn't break his vow of silence.

"I don't know," he says. "I can't tell you that. It all depends with what happens at the end of this year, don't you think? That was a good try though. I can appreciate that."

Changing gears, the conversation quickly turned to People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in the World, a list Bernard graced in 2003.

"It was pretty strange but they've kicked me off that list since then," he jokes. "I was booted last year. I got more grief from it than you'll ever know! From friends, family, producers, you name it. They love to give me sh1t whenever they can because usually that is what I'm doing to them."

24 is one intense series and no one could ever claim their day was nearly as bad as Jack's, but Bernard wraps up by thinking back to a recent event where everything seemed to go wrong for him.

"I'd say the last time I had to renew my license," chuckles Bernard. "I had to go to the DMV. Ever been to the DMV in California? Oh my God! It's such an affair! And then after I got it, I lost my fricking license within a couple of days. Now I am walking around with my expired license because I don't have the energy to go back."

Bryan Cairns"

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