CSI: crime scene investigation

“Nick Stokes” (George Eads)

The youngest child in a family of seven, Nick Stokes was born into law enforcement. His father worked as the state DA before being appointed to the bench. Two years ago, Nick’s father was appointed to the Texas state Supreme Court. Nick’s mother has spent her entire adult life working as a public defender. They have been happily married for 45 years. With one brother and five sisters, Nick had a lot of people looking out for him.

 Maybe that’s why everything feels so personal to him. He has no distance from his work because he’s always been close to people. Where Sara struggles with relationships, Nick can’t help himself: being with and around people is so easy for him. What’s hard is balancing the unspoken but competing perspectives of his parents. He wants to live up to their expectations and becoming a CSI was one way of finding a compromise. As a CSI he’s objective. He still has a social responsibility to uphold, but does his job without an agenda. The evidence speaks, and everyone has to respect what it says, from public defenders to judges on the bench. Nick could still be in Texas, but he chose to move two states over. There’s a part of Nick that loves his family and his family name, but there’s a part of him that wants to be on his own, to lay down his own roots and establish his own identity. However, he’s finding that roots don’t take quickly. Growing them is a slow process fraught with mistakes, and Nick isn’t finished. As a CSI, Nick’s specialty is hair and fiber analysis.

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Born and raised in Texas, Eads’ immense fondness for playing “make believe” while growing up should have been a good indicator that he would not end up with a career in sales, which was his initial intention.

 After high school, Eads entered Texas Tech, intending to make good use of his public relations major and the degree he had earned. He put in his time driving around Texas making sales cold calls, but when the opportunity to teach drama presented itself, Eads took the job at a local middle school in Waco. He eventually left teaching to enter an associates degree program in acting. Even though his early career in sales came in handy – “rejection was something I learned how to deal with early” – he had found his heart.

Eads was fueled equally by the support of his mother, a high school principal, and by the devil’s advocate stance that his father, an attorney, took. He worked to hone his acting skills, signed with an agent, and eventually made the successful move to Los Angeles in 1994 with the money he had saved doing commercial work.

Eads’ television film credits include the title role in Evel Knievel, the western Monte Walsh, in which he starred opposite Tom Selleck, and the romantic comedy The Dog Walker. He has appeared as a guest star on Strange Luck, as well as multiple episodes of E.R. Other television credits include the comedy series Grapevine and Savannah.

Eads’ feature film credits include Only in America and Dust to Dust.

 Eads resides in Los Angeles. His birth date is March 1.