Versatile actor sees new role as chance to explore character development

Actor David Strathairn, who’s played everything from Edward R. Murrow to a child abuser, pursues acting because he always learns something from it.

“If I’m fortunate enough to get involved in a project that has some pretty good legs under it, people have given thought to it, you’re going to learn something,” he says, seated in an olive velvet armchair in the lobby of a hotel in Pasadena, Calif.

Shifting between theater, film and, later, television, he’s co-starred in such productions as “The Bourne Ultimatum,” “L.A. Confidential” and “Temple Grandin.”

“I’m always learning about the world I’m in and also the community of artists that are drawn to telling stories. It’s a very special community because of the kind of trust you have to have when you enter a room with strangers that you have to tell a story. And (you) put your hearts and minds together and commit to try to do the best you can. It’s inherently a collaborative effort. It’s also a lot of fun.”

His latest quest is the Syfy series “Alphas,” premiering Monday. Strathairn says he was intrigued by the challenge. “It’s something I’ve never explored, developing a character that could have mutations anywhere along the road that would be embraced or not. It’s a real wide landscape of character development. Then I really liked what they’re trying to do with the series, which is to explore people who have these neurological anomalies that are very plausible.”

Strathairn, who plays neurologist Dr. Lee Rosen, a scientist overseeing a government project to ferret out people with singular abilities, is quick to point out the series is not, by any means, “a superhero sci-fi thing.”

“It’s dealing with very day-to-day problems we all have,” he says.

Yes, he does mean everyone. In spite of his prestigious body of work, which also includes “Good Night, and Good Luck,” “The Sopranos,” “A League of Their Own” and “Brother from Another Planet,” Strathairn can still doubt himself.

“To a certain extent, each part I approach I think, ‘Am I going to be able to do this?’ A lot comes with what you’re given the opportunity to do. Sometimes they cast people to get the project financed. I always have that little moment when I think, ‘Am I up to this?’”

The San Francisco native, who’s dressed in a pea-green shirt, khakis and a green baseball cap, says he tends to think there has to be a baseline of confidence in order to be an actor.

“Otherwise it’s too scary,” he says. “You have to have the confidence that you’ll be able to hit the nail at least three times out of 10. You’ve gotta have that kind of confidence.”

Strathairn began his film career in 1979, working with independent filmmaker John Sayles, with whom he was to collaborate often.

The soft-spoken Strathairn, 62, thinks an actor is like a transmitter. “You’re a medium, a conduit of finding a better way to get to an audience’s subconscious so that you can awaken something special in them.”

Married with two sons, one a musician and the other an architect, Strathairn reckons having a family took more courage than anything he’s done careerwise.

“The fact that you have a family and then balancing that with whatever it is you’re doing,” he says. “Even if your life is a bed of roses, having a child is a pretty gutsy thing to do. It’s the one thing we don’t have any chance of getting experience doing unless we DO it.”

10 p.m. Monday on Syfy

More online: Read Eric Henrickson’s review of “Alphas” at detnews.com/geekwatch.

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