Actress glad to join ”House” as complicating character

Sela Ward is not fond of medical shows. “They’re just not my cup of tea,” she says.

But starting tonight she’s appearing in a recurring role on “House,” Fox’s quirky doctor drama.

“I don’t find hospitals entertaining. But they sent me the first three episodes, and I was mesmerized,” she says. “It’s so irreverent, and I loved that.”

For this season’s two final episodes, Ward portrays lawyer Stacy Warner, a former love interest of the moody Dr. Gregory House, played by Hugh Laurie. She will return next season for several episodes.

David Shore, creator and executive producer of the series, says he did not write the role with a particular actress in mind and knew casting would be a challenge.

“Hugh is so huge and imposing – this brilliant, eccentric character – and you can’t just stick any woman with him,” Shore says. “It has to be someone who can stand toe-to-toe to him and be smart and funny, or you don’t understand why he loved her or she loved him. And literally, the first name that came up was Sela’s.”

Ward calls her character “the real love of House’s life.”

“There’s a bit of a mystery about him, and through her you get a glimpse of that, of how he got his limp, who he is, is he capable of loving,” she says. “It’s been five years since they’ve seen each other, so a lot has happened during that time.”

In the show, Warner’s husband is ill, and doctors can’t figure out what’s wrong with him. In desperation, she brings him to the hospital where she once was legal counsel – and where House, an infectious-disease specialist, routinely grapples with medical puzzles.

She also returns to work for the hospital, giving her a place in House’s world.

“People love these hospital shows. They love to be on the edge of their seats, but that life and death stuff just exhausts me,” says Ward. “I don’t like having to live that kind of intensity.

“But what makes this show so different to me is the writing,” she says. “They say things on ‘House’ that everyone thinks but nobody ever says. The snappier dialogue and sexual tension is wonderful stuff.”

Ward, 48, spent six years starring in NBC’s “Sisters” and three on “Once and Again.”

“Besides being home in L.A., one of the advantages of series work is that you really get to take a lot of chances,” she says. “You can sort of experiment, then fall flat and redeem yourself. So, creatively, you are able to have fun and stretch, but in a safer kind of way.”

Ward describes co-star Laurie as “diving 100 percent or more into the work. He’s got this demanding schedule and yet is able to keep his energy high. He’s got such a dry wit that he is just a lot of fun to work with. A lot of it is fun quips back and forth.”

Laurie is a stark contrast with other actors who have played her TV love interests, such as George Clooney (“Sisters”) and Billy Campbell (“Once and Again”), Ward says: “He’s a very powerful actor, a film actor who just commands a lot of attention.”

Shore calls Ward an energy force on her own.

“She comes into a show that’s doing well, and to be the new kid in there is kind of daunting,” he says. “But she asked all the right questions, and she really wants to contribute something. How she will change the hospital – and House – that’s what we have to see.”

Although House will be influenced by the return of his former love, Shore adds: “We never want to turn him into a nice guy.”

Nice or not, Ward says she would like to see the couple reunite.

“I want them to get back together,” she says. “Unfortunately, you know they’d never work. It’s like that when you see movies and there are people who should be together, but you know they never can be. It’s frustrating.”