CSI: Las Vegas drama - Petersen & Fishburne

  William Peterson                                                                                                (Photo/CSI Wiki)

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, the original CSI, is an American crime drama television series. CSI premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The ninth season finished airing on May 14, 2009.

CSI trails the investigations of a team of Las Vegas forensic scientists as they unveil the circumstances behind mysterious and unusual deaths and other crimes.

For the first eight and a half seasons, the show starred William Petersen as Dr. Gil Grissom, the night shift supervisor who excels in crime scene investigation.

In the middle of the ninth season, Petersen left and was replaced by Laurence Fishburne as Dr. Raymond Langston, a former medical doctor who turns criminalist in an attempt to rid himself of past demons.

The success of the program has led it to be spun off into two additional shows - CSI: Miami and CSI: NY, starring Gary Sinise.

The show is now in syndication and reruns are currently broadcast in the US on the Spike and TV Land cable networks.

William Louis Petersen is a Golden Globe and Emmy nominated American actor and producer, best known for playing Dr. Gilbert "Gil" Grissom on the hit CBS series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He played President John F Kennedy in 1998 TV film The Rat Pack.

Petersen took an acting course at Idaho State which changed the direction of his life. He left school along with his wife, Joanne, in 1974 and followed a drama professor to Spain (Basque country) where he studied as a Shakespearean actor.

Petersen was interested in Basque culture and he studied the Basque language, Euskera. He returned to Idaho intent on being an actor. Not wanting to work a non-acting job in Idaho, he returned to the Chicago area, living with relatives, there he became active in theater and earned his Actors' Equity card. He performed with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company and was a co-founder of the Remains Theater Ensemble which also included other prominent Chicago actors Gary Cole and Ted Levine.

One of the things I love about theater, one of the reasons I'll never give it up, is that it's fifty percent the audience's responsibility."
William Petersen

On July 15, 2008, the Associated Press reported that, 

Petersen is leaving CSI as a regular, following Season 9's tenth episode, in order to pursue more stage acting opportunities, but that he may return for guest spots during the show's run, as needed. He will remain an executive producer of the show."

CBS renewed the show for a ninth season, which began airing on October 9, 2008. With the departures of William Petersen, Gary Dourdan, and Jorja Fox the ninth season stars new characters played by Lauren Lee Smith and Laurence Fishburne.

Laurence Fishburne

I think everyone is very surprised at how 'Matrix' has become the pop culture phenomenon that it is."
Laurence Fishburne

Laurence John Fishburne III is an American actor of screen and stage, as well as a playwright, director, and producer. He is perhaps best known for his role as Morpheus in the Matrix science fiction film trilogy, and for his portrayal of singer-musician Ike Turner in the Tina Turner biopic What's Love Got to Do With It. Currently, he stars as Dr. Raymond Langston on the long-running CBS crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Fishburne has won a Tony Award as well as being nominated for an Academy Award.

Fishburne started acting at age twelve getting his first gig in 1973 portraying Joshua Hall on the ABC soap opera, One Life to Live. Fishburne spent much of the 1980s in and out of television and periodically on stage, and he had a recurring role as Cowboy Curtis with Paul Reubens' character, Pee Wee Herman in the CBS children's television show, Pee-wee's Playhouse. He also appeared in M*A*S*H.

George Eads