Cynthia Addai-Robinson
Brings Beauty, Excitement and
Daring, To Spartacus!
By Rych McCain,
International/Nationally Syndicated Entertainment Columnist
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| Cynthia Addai-Robinson (Photo by Keith Munyan) |
This television season has certainly
produced an array of talented and beautiful ladies who are not only visually
pleasing to the male viewing audience eyes but are delivering the goods in the
arena of authentic, dramatic acting and presentation. Cynthia Addai-Robinson definitely ranks at the top of this season’s
list as one of the leading ladies who fires up the small screen every week as “Naevia” on the Starz Network ancient war drama
“Spartacus.”
The London born and Washington, D.C. reared Robinson is a
graduate of the Tisch School of Arts, NYU with a BA degree in Theater. Soon
afterward she started booking TV roles on “CSI:
NY,” “CSI: Miami,” “Numbers,” “Flash Forward”
and others. Her last film role was in “Columbiana.”
On “Spartacus,” Robinson joined the
cast for its second season which premiered in January. She took over the role
of Naevia, the Roman slave girl who was captured at the end of last season and
was played by another actress. In the beginning of this second season, Naevia
escapes and is rescued by a fellow rebel slave named Krixus. They become lovers
as well as opponents of the Roman Army.
For those who are not familiar with the legend; Spartacus was born in
109 BC. He and his wife were sold into Roman Slavery and soon after he led a
slave revolt against the Roman Army. What happened to his wife is unknown but
Spartacus was reportedly set up by pirates to be killed. Kirk Douglas and
Laurence Oliver starred in the original 1960 movie version. By most historical
accounts Spartacus did actually exist. What is Robinson’s rundown on that? She
responds, “I’m more focused on the story that we portray on the show as apposed
to the actual history of it. We sort of bend the truth a little bit just for
the sake of television. But as far as the violence and the fights between
gladiators and the slave rebellion; I mean all of that, I think we like to stay
true to the actual violent history of it all. So sometimes its gory but that
probably what it was back then.”
What
kind of a demand does a role like Naevia put on Robinson? She reflects, “It’s a
pretty intense shoot. I mean we are achieving a real cinematic end result on a
television time line and budget. So we
have a shooting schedule that’s pretty demanding. Each episode takes twelve shooting
days which is a lot for television and we normally have two crews running at
any given time. The days are definitely long and as far as the conditions;
we’re dirty, we’re running around covered in stage blood, it’s definitely not
for the faint of heart but we are all passionate about being there so that
helps get us through the job.”
Where is this show shot? Robinson explains, “We film in Auckland, New
Zealand so we are on the other side of the world which also adds to the
challenge of being far from home and working. But in a way, while I’m away, I
can fully put all of my efforts into filming the show. Sometimes that’s great
because you need that focus but other times it’s challenging because you want
to be with your friends and family.” In terms of zeroing in on her Naevia
character, Robinson stresses, “I’m someone stepping into the role from the
second season. So in the first season, the prequel , the role was established
by another actress. I had the first season to look at and see where they had
the character and where they left her.” Robinson put all of the pieces together
from there. On a lighter note, Robinson is fairly new to twitter but advices
her fans to follow her @cynthiaaddairob . She will keep you up to date.
©2012 Rych McCain Media/Syndication tm(You Did Hear It From Me!)E-mail: feedbackrych@sbcglobal.net
