As Dr. Cassie McKay on Max’s “The Pitt,” Fiona Dourif continues her impressive evolution as an actor. The medical drama from R. Scott Gemmill drops viewers into a bustling Pittsburgh emergency room where Dourif’s character shines—not as another brilliant-but-difficult TV doctor, but as a levelheaded woman whose recovery journey and experience as a single mother have gifted her with hard-earned wisdom.
In one standout scene, while interviewing a patient (Bess Rous) struggling with addiction, Cassie reveals her own past dependency issues. When her mentee’s (Shabana Azeez) misguided but well-intentioned interruption drives the patient away, Dourif provides a delicate balance between medical ethics and human connection.
The actor broke out on HBO’s “Deadwood,” going on to deliver memorable turns on “True Blood,” “The Blacklist,” and in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master.” Horror fans will recognize her from the “Chucky” franchise—a fitting legacy for the daughter of longtime Chucky voice actor Brad Dourif. Here, Dourif gets candid about finding a role that feels closer to home.
Fiona Dourif on “Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency” Credit: Bettina Strauss/BBCA
How would you describe your acting career? Has working in genre prepared you for “The Pitt”?
I always think about acting in terms of having a great amount of luck when you get to do it—which I know is kind of an unpopular belief, but that’s sort of how it feels. My niche has had this feral element, where I play a character that feels a little dangerous but also kind of vulnerable. So I ended up living within these characters that are bigger and less relatable. I really enjoy that. I also love genre; I’m a fan of it. So I’ve loved that; I felt very lucky.
Has it prepared me for “The Pitt”? I think I have gotten more comfortable behind a camera over the years, which, the more you do it, the more comfortable you are. And that’s, I think, half the battle—just feeling completely calm when there’s a camera in your face.
“The Pitt” uses real-time storytelling—each hourlong episode is one hour of narrative time. What was that experience like for you?
“The Pitt” is shot unlike any TV show I’ve ever been on. First of all, the set feels like a hospital. There are no breakaway walls; there’s a ceiling. Every drawer has medical equipment in it. Half of the extras are actual medical professionals. So it really feels like a hospital. There’s no PA going to get you anything. It very much feels like you’re at a job.
We also shoot in order, and the lighting was pre-lit with the stage when they initially built it, so there are just very quick turnarounds. And so it ends up feeling like you’re living out a day in the hospital in a way that’s super useful. “The Pitt” moves really fast. It doesn’t feel like the cast is on a hierarchy above the crew in a way that I think is really unique and kind of wonderful.
How did this role find you?
I got the audition, I read the breakdown, and I immediately thought to myself: I’m a version of this. Cassie is me on a really good day. I don’t get to be Cassie most days, but I do when I’m feeling grounded and compassionate and, you know, really effective. Though she makes a lot of bad decisions.
“Chucky” Credit: Shane Mahood/SYFY
I read that there was a two-week medical boot camp for the cast. What kind of things did you learn there?
They brought in three emergency room doctors that they would have at different stations. We learned intubation. We had to watch a lot of surgery videos. We learned how to do actual CPR. It was like a primer on the main things that they do in the hospital so that we understand it. And it ended up being just me asking a million questions to these poor doctors, trying to understand the basics of the human body in two weeks. But it was really useful.
How did you approach the more technical parts of the role?
I still get terrified before every scene. If I’m doing a really technical, heavily choreographed medical scene, and it’s not mine but I have the capacity to screw it up for everybody else, that really scares me. And I’ve had that happen, when I’ve been so focused on what’s happening with my hands… You could put anything in front of me and I would be blind to it.
There’s one scene I did on Episode 10 where we inflate a balloon in somebody’s esophagus—a really cool procedure. At the very end of shooting it, I looked down and was like, “Who put that water there?” And Noah Wyle was like, “Fiona, I have been holding this water and pouring it into a beaker for the last hour and a half, directly in front of your face.” I was just not relaxed enough to be able to take in what wasn’t directly in front of me.
Cassie seems to always find herself on a tightrope—she’s trying to do her job but constantly facing situations that might require her to break the rules. And because of that, she finds herself in these ethical tugs of war. Is that an accurate track of her? How do you see your character?
I think that’s right; it’s a pretty good track. I think what informs her is the amount of bad decisions she’s made in her early life. Most of the other doctors around her have gone from high school to college to medical school to residency. And there’s a 10-year gap for Cassie, when she didn’t know who she was or what she was doing, and she made a series of poor choices; and now she’s living out the consequences of that. But that experience also gives her this power where she can relate to and understand people who are different from her. Cassie understands that the world can be unfair, and also that there is no one to blame but yourself, right? So, you just have to make do.
Is there any advice you would give your younger self?
I would say, relax. And no job that’s meant for you is going to miss you. When your essence is what they’re looking for, you’ll get the job, and you sort of can’t fuck it up.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
This story originally appeared in the Apr. 10 issue of Backstage Magazine.
