Carlos Bernard

Carlos Bernard: I originally started off in theater in Chicago, and I decided that I wanted to get some formal traning in a graduate program. So I applied at the American Conservatory Theater In San Francisco and went there for three years. When I moved to San Francisco, I immediately felt at home. It's very much a city like Chicago or New York is, but when I moved down to Los Angeles, it took me about 2.5 years to get adjusted. At first, I couldn't stand it. I'm used to cities, and it is just so spread out. It's hard to build your life there, but now I love it.

Carlos Bernard (on what television he likes to watch): I don't watch that many, typically, but I finally joined the 21st century by getting TIVO recently. I watch Medium. I used to watch Six Feet Under. I'm trying to watch Rome I just haven't been able to watch enough to get into it. I love to watch Jeremy Piven on Entourage because he is having such a great time. Mostly I watch a lot of sports. I am a sports hound.

Carlos Bernard (on working with Kiefer Sutherland): Kiefer, he's just a big baby. I love Kiefer. We have such a great time working together. I just love him. He's my brother. At this point, we're the only ones left from the first year, that have been here the whole time. And we're just really close and love working together. We have fun together and we push each other.

Carlos Bernard (on his favourite moments in 24): I love when the bomb went off, I think that was second season. I thought that was great, that they actually did that. And then they had Air Force One go down. The one thing I love about the show is they're not afraid to take risks and try something most shows would resolve. In other words, on another show, Air Force One would've been saved, would've been rescued. And on this show, it went down. So did the President. Those are moments that stick in my mind.

Carlos Bernard (on his 24 character, Tony Almeida, going into season 5): It's great, it's really great. That's one of the wonderful things about working on the show. A lot of TV shows, you can get into this feeling like you're on autopilot, like you're almost doing the same episodes over and over again for years. The great thing about this show is every year it's different, the character's in a different place. You can accumulate all those things like you listed that happen to the character, so that when you come back next year, there's a whole other chunk of baggage to mix into the character. It just makes it more fun as an actor.

Carlos Bernard (on 24): No, I never imagined that we were going to make it through the first year. Each step of the way, I've been amazed. That first of all it got picked up. Then, we were waiting for that 13th episode to see if we were going to get picked up for the rest of the season and we did. And every year, it's gone on and gotten better.

Carlos Bernard (on the effects of working on a show like 24): I do check people out a lot when I am getting on planes. There are certain situations where I feel a little odd, I'm definitely a little more suspicious.

Carlos Bernard (on when he injured himself in season 2 of 24): I couldn't put any weight on it so I had to be on crutches for three and a half months while it heeled. When I got back there was meant to be this knock-down drag-out fight between Jack and Tony, and Kiefer had a broken knee cap at the time.

Carlos Bernard (on his 24 character Tony Almeida going into season 4): He was trained in the military, brought up working in the field and putting his life at risk. Then to have to face a decision like that which he knew was wrong, at least as far as his job goes, and then to be pardoned and get out of jail...Even though he knows he made the wrong decision, there is still bitterness in the fact that after all the work he has done for the country, he felt like everyone had turned on him. That resentment and bitterness can creep in on people. And then to have his wife still carrying on with her career while he can't get a job, that is not a great situation to be in and different people handle it in different ways.

Carlos Bernard (on the end of season 3 of 24): The producers were pretty up-front with me about what was happening with the changing cast. They always planned on bringing my character back, they just knew it would take a few episodes to work him in because of what happened last season.

Carlos Bernard: My dad and my uncle were both in counter-intelligence, so I got a lot of info that way. My uncle, who has since passed away, was actually on the ground floor of the CIA, but was in the OS, which led into the CIA. My father was in counter-intelligence but didn't go into the CIA. It let me know what that world was really like to work in, which really helped me when we shot the pilot, to help build the character.