Jon Wellner has another function on
CSI aside from playing the neurotic toxicologist Henry Andrews. He also serves as the program's researcher, alongside David Berman, who is in charge of making sure everything that winds up on the air is accurate.
For those who are not familiar, Wellner first appeared on
CSI as bad zookeeper Sam Tracy in the fifth season episode “Unbearable” and continued to grace several more episodes as Henry Andrews. Though the spotlight only turned to his toxicologist character with the episode "Lab Rats" and the recent "You Kill Me," Wellner had already established his importance to the crime drama series long before his onscreen appearance.
“I started researching in season four before I got on the show. I met David Berman, who's the head researcher…David and I became friends and he at that time needed an assistant, so I started out part time and quickly moved to full time. At first I didn't know what I was doing so it was pretty difficult, but now I have a whole network of people I work with and it's great,” Wellner told CSI Files.
A typical day for Wellner consists of waking up to a pool of questions from the writers that immediately calls for answers. He sorts the queries and makes the necessary inquiries to other experts to get some of the tasks done, but at the end of the day, another bottomless pit of questions turns up and awaits his response.
“It's definitely research intensive…It can be stressful because you can't ever get anything wrong. I feel like I'm back giving a school report except I have to get an A! It's a pretty full day. And sometimes David's shooting, so I'm working, and sometimes I'm shooting, so he's doing the research. We work together whenever we can, but when one of us is shooting, the other one picks up the load,” he explained.
-Kris De Leon, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: CSI Files
(Image courtesy of CBS)