Quinto Looking Forward To Nimoy's Mentoring

[Vic 17]

Young Spock actor has become friendly with original Spock, says that his character arc begins before the original series.

 

By William Keck, USA TODAY

LOS ANGELES — Zachary Quinto slices open skulls as Heroes-killing Sylar on NBC's cult hit, which returns Sept. 24 for Season 2.

And this fall, he'll boldly go where just one man has gone before — inheriting Leonard Nimoy's pointy ears as Mr. Spock in the next Star Trek film, to be directed by J.J. Abrams.

 

Quinto and Nimoy have become fast friends since meeting briefly at San Diego's Comic-Con sci-fi convention last month. They had more time to connect during a recent tour of the Griffith Observatory. That led to Nimoy inviting Quinto to his home for dinner.

 

Though there is speculation about how Abrams will make use of both Spocks in the film, no one is talking. "I honestly … can't say," Quinto, 30, says during lunch at the observatory's cafe after bidding farewell to Nimoy.

 

But perhaps a tiny clue is revealed. "I think there's going to be a sense of guidance through this film and beyond," he says. In Nimoy, 76, Quinto has found a father figure of sorts.

 

His father, John, a Pittsburgh hairdresser, died of cancer when Quinto was 7. "That sort of changed the dynamic of the family," he recalls, adding that he was "pretty independent at a young age." He and older brother Joe (now working in L.A. as a photographer) were raised by their mother, Margo, who worked at an investment firm and, later, at the county magistrate's office.

 

Having performed in school productions and studied theater in college, Quinto says acting "is the only thing I ever wanted to do."

 

But Star Trek was never a show he got into. Rather, he preferred Disney's Duck Tales cartoon and ABC's 20/20. He still does a spot-on impression of that show's former host, Barbara Walters. "This is… 20/20!" he announces as Walters.

 

After graduating from Carnegie Mellon University, Quinto lived in New York before moving to L.A. in 1999. The self-described "homebody" is single and currently rents a one-bedroom house in the artsy Silverlake section of L.A. with two furry roommates: Noah, an Irish wolfhound/terrier mix, and Harold, a cat rescued from the streets. He says, "I prefer having friends over for quiet gatherings more than I ever like to go to clubs, though I do that, too. I actually have a reputation among my (Heroes) castmates for being a partier."

 

He has found many close friends among the colorful cast of Heroes, which includes Hayden Panettiere, Masi Oka and Milo Ventimiglia. Quinto considers the hit series (Season 1's DVD hits stores Aug. 28, $60) his first big break. But some might recognize him as Tori Spelling's gay friend on her 2006 series, So NoTORIous.

 

Though VH1 canceled the show, Quinto's friendship with Spelling continues. He met her baby son, Liam, at a Malibu beach party that was attended, he jokes, by "25 of her closest friends and 40 of her closest paparazzi friends."

 

Quinto, a yoga disciple, was careful not to play the So NoTORIous character as overly flamboyant so as to avoid typecasting — a problem he's prepared to encounter after playing two such high-profile iconic roles: Heroes' Sylar and Trek's Spock. "Hollywood's track record isn't great in terms of (typecasting)," he says with a shrug.

 

In November, he will check out of Heroes to beam aboard Trek's 85-day shoot. He says 11 stages have been built on the Paramount lot, and two weeks will be spent shooting in Iceland.

 

"I really identify with Spock's struggle," he says. "We're going back to a time before anything (Nimoy did in the original series) was established. These characters are in a completely different stage of their lives."

 

After he turns in his Spock ears, Quinto hopes to live long and prosper on the series that made him a star. "If I could be on Heroes for the next 10 years, I would absolutely do that. But when something like this (movie) comes along, and you step away from one thing to do another thing, you never know what the future holds."

 

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