Story Photos
 Kelso native Elissa Brentano will appear on the popular medical drama "House" on Fox TV tonight. Courtesy photo
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Small part could be big break for Kelso native
Tuesday, January 29, 2008 5:27 AM PST
By Tom Paulu
tpaulu@tdn.com
Printable version
E-mail this articleOne of the nurses on the Fox TV series "House" tonight may look familiar.
Kelso native Elissa Brentano, 26, appears in a scene in the medical drama that stars Hugh Laurie as a maverick medical genius.
Brentano's scene has been in televised previews for the episode, she said, so "this time they can't cut me out of it."
Brentano, a 1999 graduate of Kelso High School who lives in Los Angeles, has been appearing in "House" off and on for about a year, she said.
Tonight's episode was filmed in October. Brentano spent a 14-hour day filming a scene that lasts about 90 seconds, she said. When a patient stops breathing, Laurie's character, Dr. Gregory House, yells for help and Brentano and other actors playing nurses come running. "We do a lot of busy-type stuff," Brentano said.
According to the "House" Web site, "a mother with a mysterious medical illness may have a secret that could kill her" in the episode.
"I have no idea what the secret is," Brentano said. "I only did the one scene."
However, she has gotten the chance to hang out with Laurie and the show's other stars. "They act just like ordinary people," Brentano said. She's particularly impressed that Laurie, who's British, maintains an American accent the whole time he's on the set.
Though Brentano doesn't have any lines in tonight's episode, it's a turning point because the 90 seconds of fame will qualify her for membership in the Screen Actors Guild. That, she hopes, will lead to bigger roles.
Brentano, the daughter of Kelso residents Michael and Biz Brentano
took an unusual path to Hollywood.
At Kelso, she played the viola in the orchestra and participated in several sports - but never acted in a play. She majored in chemistry at the University of Houston and at one time planned to be a doctor rather than appear in a show about them.
While a college student in 2002, Brentano got a job as a stand-in for Mariel Hemingway in a VH1 production called "Parental Advisory," which was about Tipper Gore's 1985 crusade to get advisories on rock and rap albums.
Bitten with the acting bug, Brentano took acting classes and moved to Los Angeles after graduating from college in 2005.
Since then, she's had bit parts in about 50 TV shows, including "ER," "Bones," and "Gilmore Girls."
She's also filmed commercials and a courtroom scene in "The Changling," a movie starring Angelina Jolie and John Malcovich, which is due out in November.
"I seem to get a lot of nurse parts or college student parts," Brentano said. "They're very stereotypical in what they're looking for," said Brentano, a blue-eyed blonde who stands 5 foot 9 and weighs 150 pounds.
She lands parts through casting agencies, some of which operate on-line. "Most of the time I can work every day," Brentano said. "You can make enough to live on."
Eventually, she wants a better income
"I want to go big, to have my own TV show," Brentano said. "That would be fun."
Her big brother, Joshua, is also in the TV business. Joshua Brentano is a producer for "Attack of the Show," a program that covers technology, gaming and music for the G4 network.
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