MARSHA THOMASON NEWS, INTERVIEWS & UPDATES



News for 2/27/2006


The following article appeared in the December 2005 issue of InStyle Magazine





News for 1/16/2005


The following article appeared in the December 2004 issue of InStyle Magazine





News for 1/4/2004


The following article appeared in the November 2003 issue of InStyle Magazine





News for 11/25/2003


'VEGAS' QUEEN

By COELI CARR
The New York Post


MARSHA Thomason, one of new faces on NBC's casino-set dramatic hit "Las Vegas," leaves nothing to chance. In the series, Thomason plays Nessa Holt, the pit boss of the blackjack tables, affectionately known as the "Ice Queen," who purrs her dialogue in a lush British accent. Pit bosses are "very austere in character," she says.

"They're very controlled and unemotional because they have to be."

Although the series is shot in a studio in Los Angeles, early in the production Thomason and the cast did hit the real Vegas strip.

"I think people are intrigued by Vegas," she said. "It's world famous, it's iconic and it has so much history from the Rat Pack to all the various performers."

The 27-year-old British actress from Manchester has been working since she was a teenager.

"I used to be obsessed with the movie 'Bugsy Malone,' " Thomason told The Post.

"It was kind of my inspiration for wanting to be an actor."

In several years of after-school training, she did everything from musicals to Greek tragedy, which led to roles on several British series and films.

"It was a very broad curriculum," she said.

"It put me in good stead for the future."

For Thomason, that future is now.

Thomason's first work opportunity in this country came several years ago when she was cast in the film "Black Knight" with Martin Lawrence. That experience triggered off a year-long round of cross-Atlantic commuting.

"I wasn't aware of the fact that so many Brits were coming over" until she found herself doing it very few weeks.

If Thomason - who has a home in north London - isn't quite a household name yet, that may soon change.

In "The Haunted Mansion," opening this week, Thomason plays Eddie Murphy's wife.

"He [Murphy] talked to me about how he was the lead in his very first movie and how daunting that was - such a responsibility at a young age," she said.

"The joy of working with these icons is grilling them for stories. It would be a wasted opportunity if I didn't talk to them about everything they've done."

So what does "Las Vegas" star James Caan say about "The Godfather" thing?

Perhaps she has been asked the question too often - or she is just too young. But Thomason says she's never asked him.

"When I go to work and see Jimmy in the chair, I'm not thinking about Sonny Corleone," she says. (Caan, who has been forced to relive the role for 30 years now, must be grateful.)

For Thomason fans who want to see her speak American English, they won't have long to wait. Thomason will be talking like us in the film "My Baby's Daddy," set for release early next year, and donning a slight Southern drawl in the independent film she's currently shooting on the weekends.



Vegas Lady Weds Eddie Murphy

by Daniel R. Coleridge
TV Guide


She plays Nessa — aka "Ice Queen" — the Montecito Casino pit boss on NBC's Las Vegas (Mondays at 9 pm/ET). But Marsha Thomason isn't so poker-faced in real life. "It's only when Nessa's in the pit that she's very serious and stony-faced," the Brit tells TV Guide Online. "Out of the pit, she's more fun. We'll get to see more of that as the series goes on. For me to not be laughing is difficult! We have so much fun off camera, and then, they say 'Action!' and I have to be serious, which is a difficult transition."

Vegas fans hope Danny (Josh Duhamel) will melt the Ice Queen's frosty exterior someday soon. After all, she keeps asking whether he'll ever give her "that tour of Las Vegas." These two are always very "wink, nudge" together, aren't they? "That's because he's been promising her," Thomason laughs. "I think it's mutual. I don't think it's just that she has a thing for him. Let's face it. Danny has a thing for the ladies! She's just one of many. But I don't know that Nessa wants to be just one in a long list."

Oh, stop pussyfooting around! Will Danny and Nessa hook up or won't they? "Could be," she teases. "We haven't shot any [love scenes] yet, but in the next couple of scripts I get, I think we may see something that takes us down that road. I can't confirm that, but I have my suspicions..."

Next up, look for Thomason in Disney's The Haunted Mansion (opening Nov. 26). She plays the dual role of Eddie Murphy's wife and a tragic Victorian bride. As always, the actress had more fun at work when the cameras were off. "Eddie was a lot of laughs," she says. "I would teach him Cockney slang rhymes. It's a regional thing in London. Apples and pears means stairs — like, 'I'm going up the apples.' Whistle and flutes means suit, so 'I'm going to a wedding, I'm gonna put on my whistle.' That kind of thing.

"Eddie started making up his own," she adds, chuckling. "Some of them were a little ruder than others."



News for 11/16/2003


The following article appeared in the October 2003 issue of Savoy Magazine