Marg 'In Good Company'

Each week about 20 million fans tune in to watch Marg Helgenberger lead a team of forensic scientists in the hit CBS drama, "CSI." This Friday, they get to see her on the big screen alongside Dennis Quaid, in the new movie, "In Good Company."

The movie is about relationships and people taking the high road, Helgenberger tells The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith. "It also sort of explores some themes such as ageism and corporate merging, corporate downsizing."

What she like most about the script, she says, is that even the bad guys are presented as human. With so many corporate mergers going on in America you get a real sense of how we all may be working for the same company one day, she explained in a pre-interview with The Early Show. "We're losing the humanity that made some companies great places to work for. It's getting to the point where we all feel irrelevant. Ultimately, what's most important is your family."

And talking about relationships, it appears that there might be a little romantic tension between Helgenberg's CSI character, Catherine Willows, and Warrick, played by Gary Dourdan. Is that true?

"I wouldn't kick him out of bed for eating crackers," Helgenberger says with a big smile. "Sex sells, Harry. What can I say?"

This past Sunday, Helgenberger was picked as favorite female actress in this year's People Choice Awards. And the show won the favorite drama award as well.

"It's very gratifying and it's a thrill every week," she says. "I have to admit. I check the weekly ratings to see that the show is No. 1. And then, this season being our fifth season, we have had bigger numbers than ever, which is incredible. It doesn't happen very often."

Asked if as a kid from Nebraska she dreamed of being a star, Helgenberger says, "I was just busy trying to work in the beanfields and the cornfields and the packing house. I actually had aspirations to get out and be in a big city, but my career has always been putting one foot in front of the other. I've never had a great plan."

She attributes her success to being at the right place at the right time. "I guess, luck. I've been blessed."

Fast Facts About Marg Helgenberger:

• Born Nov. 16, 1958. Grew up in North Bend, Neb.; worked part-time in a meat packing plant while a teenager.
• Attended Kearney State College in Kearney, Neb. Later transferred to Northwestern's drama program after doing well in her speech and drama classes.
• Attended School of Speech, Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. Majored in theater (BS 1982).
• From 1984 to 1986, played the role of spunky rookie cop Siobhan Ryan on the ABC daytime drama "Ryan's Hope."
• In 1986, had a guest TV spot on the detective series "Spenser: For Hire" (ABC). The following year, she was a regular in the short-lived CBS comedy-drama, "Shell Game."
• In 1988, she worked as K. C. Koloski, a heroin-addicted hooker, on the ABC war drama series "China Beach." For her performance, she received an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in the 1989/90 season and was nominated again in 1990-91.
• In 1989, she made her feature film debut in a leading role as an all-night answering service operator who becomes trapped between a soap opera leading lady and the obsessed fan stalking her in one segment of the horror anthology "After Midnight." She also acted in that year's "Always," Steven Spielberg's updating of the 1943 film "A Guy Named Joe".
• In 1990, she made her TV-movie debut in "Blind Vengeance" (USA Network).
• In 1991, she acted in "Crooked Hearts;" had her first leading role in the TV-movie, "Death Dreams" (Lifetime); and narrated the PBS historical documentary, "Not on the Frontline," about women who served in the Vietnam War.
• In 1992, she played the lusty Mickey who befriends Anita (Lesley Ann Warren) but sleeps with her husband (Tom Skerritt) in "In Sickness and in Health" (CBS).
• In 1993, she portrayed a novelist living in a haunted forest in the ABC miniseries, "Stephen King's The Tommyknockers;" fared better as the desirable and ambitious Debbie who seduces Gary Cole to murder for her in the CBS miniseries "When Love Kills: The Seduction of John Hearn." And acted opposite Bruno Kirby in "I'll Be Waiting," a segment of Showtime's "Fallen Angels" directed by Tom Hanks.
• In 1994, she provided a love interest for Woody Harrelson in "The Cowboy Way," and had her first collaboration with director Peter Weller in "Partners," a presentation of Showtime's "Directed By" series; Weller also acted.
• In 1995, she portrayed molecular biologist Laura Baker in "Species;" a role she would reprise in "Species II" (1998).
• The following year, she appeared as James Garner's book editor in "My Fellow Americans," and she played a recurring role as a woman involved with George Clooney's Dr. Doug Ross on "ER."
• In 1997, she starred as Steven Sagal's love interest in "Fire Down Below;" portrayed sex-starved widow to David Caruso's small-time crook in the TV-movie "Elmore Leonard's Gold Coast" (Showtime), directed by Weller.
• She also was Pia Postman, the shallow, vain, heavily made-up talk show host of "Murder Live!" - an NBC movie directed by Roger Spottiswoode.
• In 2000, she portrayed Patsy Ramsey in a CBS miniseries about the killing of Jon Benet Ramsey, "Perfect Murder, Perfect Town;" had a featured role as the woman whose medical condition leads Julia Roberts to uncover the corporate wrongdoer in the hit film "Erin Brockovich;" and returned to series TV as co-star of the fall CBS drama "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation."
• In 2002, she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Drama for her role in "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation".
• In 2003, she received an Emmy nomination for Best Actress in a Drama Series for her role on "CSI."