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Image copyright Lisa Finnegan

David Krumholtz has played everything from a sarcastic elf to a mouth-foaming psychopath on a terrifying episode of ER. He has finally found a home on his first hit series playing a genius crime-solving mathematician on Numb3rs. Krumholtz sat down with b5media at the 2008 Monte-Carlo Television Festival.

Are you as logical in real life as your character on the show?
I don’t like to admit it, but my girlfriend complains a lot that I like to plan everything out. I must have everything organized, I am very organizational. So yes, I am very logical. I am a perfectionist, so I need to be logical. I like to think things through and to make sure there are no pratfalls ahead. I don’t like any expected surprises, just like Charlie.

How would you describe yourself to someone who doesn’t know anything about you?
I would probably start by saying I am funny, I am very nice, extremely handsome, shockingly handsome, clearly modest. I am nice, generous, and funny. I like to think I’m kind of smart, although sometimes I think I am very stupid, but I think most people go back and forth between thinking they are smart and stupid.

Do you have any secret passions or hobbies?
I love to cook and I would love to be a chef, although I don’t think I have the hands for it. I think I have the brains and vision for it, but my hands are not as delicate as they should be to prepare a nice dish. I would like to learn to play a complex instrument. I know how to play the drums, but that’s not a really complex instrument. I would like to learn how to play some melody on the piano. And I am very loving. I am a lover. I am very, very sensual.

Is the show meant to educate as well as entertain?
Yes, absolutely. I think the creators wanted to write a show that taught people something and didn’t dumb down the audience. They wanted to create a show that actually assumed the audience had the capability of learning, so they did create an intellectualized show. I don’t think they could have assumed that the show would have such an impact with young people in terms of them being able to learn mathematics through the episodes. They didn’t anticipate that teachers would use the show as a tool to encourage kids to get more into math and to make more math exciting.

In season two, teachers can order calculators from Texas Instruments that come with worksheets that are based on the math that we use in every episode. The teachers are encouraged to encourage their students to watch the show, then quiz them the next day using the worksheets based on the math we used in that particular episode. So it is very current, they can go home and watch it and visualize the math for themselves, as we do in the show. It is much more interactive than chalk on the blackboard. The show has given math an energy that it didn’t have in the past and presented it to the masses in a way where it seems more applicable, where it applies to real life and it has had this far-reaching effect. I think 20,000 teachers have ordered these calculators so far and we were told that around 2 million kids were using the math program in school. It is pretty amazing that the show has had this effect.

Is it a difficult role to play?
It is a difficult role to play. The mathematician part of it is not hard because mathematicians are quite neurotic, they are socially inept and I think all good actors are the same. I know I am a neurotic mess and I am socially awkward and so I have found a kinship with mathematicians. The math is difficult. There are two aspects of the character — who he is and what he does. Who he is not hard for me but the math is still very hard. My job is not to understand the math completely, because it is so far advanced. My job is simply to get the gist and sort of discover the math as I am presenting it so that it looks like I am enthused by discovering it. But it is very difficult, the words are very big, it’s like its own language, it’s a very finite language and it’s very hard to understand, I don’t claim to understand it.

Do you work with mathematicians?
Yes, before I started I researched the role at the California Institute of Technology, which is one of two major math institutions in the United States. I spent a lot of time walking around the campus, getting to know mathematicians. I would sneak into classes to watch how they wrote on the blackboard and the speed in which they wrote and how they spoke to the class and the speed at which the class conceived of what they were saying. It was amazing to me. I mean, it really is like another language. It was alien to me and they picked it up like it was nothing. It is definitely using the side of the brain that most of us don’t use that often. And then there are the math consultants that work for the show, that do the math for the show every week, who are brilliant mathematicians themselves. Getting to know them has been a real honor. I have gotten to know a bunch of Nobel price winning physicists. As an actor you never assume you will be exposed to that world and then accepted by it and honored by it. I have become the face of mathematics, which is odd, but it’s wonderful.

Will Charlie get his clearance back and is he going to work with his brother on FBI cases?
Certainly he is going to get his clearance back. But it is not going to be easy. It is going to be the first time in Charlie’s life that he’s had to really, really fight hard for something that he’s not quite sure he wants. That is going to be an interesting way of presenting that storyline next year.

He is desperate to get his security clearance back, but once he gets it back he’s not quite sure if it is a burden that he wants to bear anymore. He has his own goals in life, he wants to come to prominence as a great mathematician. He wants to make a great mathematical discovery and the question he will have to wrestle with is, is his FBI work getting in the way of his prominence as a mathematician? That’s what we are going to see a lot of this season. I don’t know how he’s going to get his clearance back, but it will take a good few episodes. Once he gets his clearance back it’s also about re-establishing the trust between him and his brother. Certainly, he broke some of that trust. He should not have done what he did because brother simply didn’t want him to do it. He did it because he believed in it and it was a tough decision for him to make.

Do you think Charlie and Amita will get married soon?
I don’t think Charlie will get married in the next season. They are talking about bringing that relationship to a higher level of commitment. Hopefully they will surprise the audience and do something very interesting with it. I would hope it doesn’t go along this path of they get engaged and they get married and it is very simple. Certainly they are falling more in love.

What is your relationship like with Rob Morrow, who plays your brother in the show?
I was a fan of Rob’s when he was in Northern Exposure so when he got cast as my brother I was very excited. He and I get along like brothers. He doesn’t have a brother and I don’t have a brother so we are the closest thing that either of us has had. We have worked very hard to establish a tone in the acting that we think is unlike a lot of other crime shows. We try to ad lib and make it more natural and less stiff than other shows.

What is the best part of playing a mathematician?
Making geek chic is pretty cool. I am a geek and I think being a geek is very in right now and I think we are part of having made that happen. Usually Hollywood portrays geeks as complete misfits who can’t get a date. Charlie is a normal guy who happens to be earnest and passionate about the sciences. I think that’s the best part of playing a mathematician. I’m proud of making math cool.

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