Beach talks about Law & Order: SVU

Adam Beach hasn't said much about his one year as a regular on Law & Order: SVU. But with his new series Arctic Air debuting Jan. 10, Beach opened up about the past.

Adam Beach heads north for CBC-TV adventure series 'Arctic Air'

By Cassandra SzklarskiBeach's new CBC series, shot in Vancouver and Yellowknife, follows a string of high-profile U.S. gigs including "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit," where he played Det. Chester Lake, and the HBO drama "Big Love," where he appeared as casino manager Tommy Flute.

Beach recalls struggling over his decision to take the "Law and Order" job, noting it took a heart-to-heart talk with co-star Ice-T to convince him to join the cast.

"(Show creator) Dick Wolf offered me a lead and I said, 'I don't want to do television but I'll do a guest spot for the character,'" says Beach, who was a regular on Canada's short-lived "Moose TV" and the '90s series "North of 60."

"I was talking to Ice-T and he said, 'I hear you don't want to be on the show.' I said, 'I just want to do a guest spot.' And he said, 'Well, Adam, you talk so highly about your people and that you want to do something to change a perspective, this is the show to do it on. It's a top show in the world, you would do yourself a favour and it would help you with your community.'"Beach grabbed right boarding pass

By Brad OswaldFor Adam Beach, this was all about having the chance to soar.

The last time he took a TV-series role--a brief stint as Law & Order: SVU's Det. Chester Lake--he quickly grew disillusioned with the strictly procedural nature of the NBC cop show's storytelling, and opted out after just one season. But the Manitoban-born actor decided to take another shot at an ongoing drama after reading the pilot script for CBC's Arctic Air.

"SVU is a show about the show; it's about the solving of the crime," Beach said in a recent telephone interview. "So you're constantly doing the A-B-C of storylines that the cops are involved in. Here (in Arctic Air), each episode reveals each character's personal traits as the show evolves through the 10 episodes. It's a character-driven story."Comment:  Any regular viewer could've told Beach what SVU is all about. Only the two lead actors get any significant personal storylines. The rest are there to solve the crimes. Someone was kidding Beach, or he was kidding himself, if he thought he'd get to explore being an urban Indian on the show.

For more on Adam Beach, see Beach Calls Out Wannabe Actors and Adam Beach's Defining Role?

P.S. I don't think Arctic bush pilots need boarding passes, but never mind.

Below:  Actors Adam Beach and Pascale Hutton.