SEATTLE — For Zachary Quinto it's a little blurry... at least when it comes to his character Dr. Oliver Wolf in the medical drama “Brilliant Minds.” He stars as an eccentric yet gifted neurologist with face blindness. The rare condition gives him a unique perspective and allows him to see his patients differently... which causes some trouble.
Evening’s Jim Dever sat down with Quinto and co-star Tamberla Perry to talk about the new series.
DEVER: The man your character is based on, Doctor Oliver Sacks, once said empathy is not enough. Sounds like the makings of a great actor such as yourself. How did you get into the shoes of your character?
QUINTO: I have the great advantage of the fact that Oliver Sacks was an incredibly prolific writer, and he wrote extensively about his patients, but he also wrote extensively about himself. So, I had the great good fortune of all of that source material. It was a very unique experience for me, deeply fulfilling and dealing with subject matter that I find endlessly fascinating. The brain, the mind, consciousness, really the last great frontier of human experience.
DEVER: Tamberla, you've referred to your character Doctor Pierce as Doctor Fierce. What is the fiercest thing about her?
PERRY: That's right, yes, Doctor Carol Fierce Pierce is the chief of psychiatry at Bronx General. I love that the people are catching on to Doctor Fierce. I might add she's the chief of Psychiatry. Long time friend, long time, long time friend and loyalist colleague of Oliver. She recruits him to come to this hospital so that they can create this neuropsychology dream team because she knows that while her friend may practice unorthodox methods of medicine to some, she knows that he's a genius and that he's going to do what is best for these patients, literally stepping to their shoes into figure out how he can help them.
DEVER: Zachary, when you played Spock in Star Trek, I understand you got pretty close to Leonard Nimoy and his wife, Susan. And Susan will be appearing in an upcoming episode. Tell us about her role.
QUINTO: She plays a character called June who is suffering from a neurological disorder that causes her to become hypersexualized.
You can watch "Brilliant Minds" Mondays at 10 p.m. on KING 5.
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