‘Lost’s Cynthia Watros on Hurley Love Story & Why It Was ‘One of the Hardest Jobs’ (Exclusive)
Soap fans know Cynthia Watros best these days as General Hospital‘s stylish schemer Nina Reeves, a role she’s made her own since 2019. But before Port Charles, Watros logged time on primetime shows, delivering laughs on The Drew Carey Show and bringing the drama on iconic 2000s survival hit Lost. In this exclusive look back, she shares memories from two of her most high-profile roles in nighttime TV.
The Drew Carey Show was “a well-oiled machine”
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After a two-year run on Titus from 2000-2002, Watros joined the cast of The Drew Casey Show in its eighth season as Drew’s girlfriend, Kellie Newmark, replacing Christa Miller.
“The Drew Carey Show was probably one of my best experiences,” enthuses Watros, who was there from 2002-2004. “I really, really enjoyed my time there. It was a blast.”
Being the new hire on an established hit could have been daunting, but Watros says the set was anything but intimidating. “They were a well-oiled machine,” she explains. “They’re all super-funny, they’re stands-ups, so the show was very relaxed in its taping, and it was in front of a live audience, and that’s always so amazing.”
Much of that ease came from the show’s star. “Drew was incredibly generous,” Watros relays. “I remember my first day, I walked into my trailer and there’s a computer. And he didn’t just do it for me; he did it for everyone. There were flowers every week, and he was always inviting people over to his house. He was very gracious and sweet and caring about other people.”
“If you were to ask my friends, they would say, ‘She’s not funny.'”
Though she had appeared in back-to-back comedies, Watros says humor doesn’t come naturally to her. “I don’t think I’m that funny,” she says. “If you were to ask my friends, they would say, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. She’s not funny.’ I don’t know where it comes from. Even when I play characters that aren’t funny, it kind of seeps out.”
On The Drew Carey Show, however, the pressure to land punchlines wasn’t on her. “With Kellie, I was the straight guy out of all these really super funny people,” she points out. “Once in a while, I would get a joke, or it would just kind of come out. Maybe I’m good at letting comics bounce their jokes off of me, but I still, to this day, do not think that I’m really funny because I’m not.”
Lost was “one of the hardest jobs that I’ve ever done”
© ABC / Courtesy: Everett Collection
Watros also left her mark on one of the most talked-about primetime series of the 2000s: Lost. She joined the ensemble on the October 12, 2005 second season episode “Everybody Hates Hugo” as Libby, a psychologist who emerged as one of the the “Tailies” — survivors from the tail section of Oceanic Flight 815.
When she got the initial audition material, Watros had no idea what she was getting into. “To be honest, I never watched the show,” she reveals. “It was on for a year, and I would hear people talking about it. When I got my sides, it was all very secretive. It was another character name, and she was in an office building, and then she was on an island, and I had to call one of my friends who watched Lost and say, ‘I don’t get it. Why am I in an office?’ And she was like, ‘Oh, this is what’s happening.’ And I got the lowdown on the show.”
After doing comedies, stepping into the mysterious, high-stakes world of Lost was a surprising pivot — especially since her character, Libby, ended up romantically paired with one of the show’s few sources of comic relief, Hugo “Hurley” Reyes (Jorge Garcia). “They thought I was this funny person,” she explains. “And there were some jokes or something, and I guess I hit the jokes. She ended up with Hurley, and Hurley was sort of the funny character on the show.”
Mario Perez / ©ABC / courtesy Everett Collection
Once she got landed the role, things moved quickly for Watros. “That was a rollercoaster,” she recalls. “They called me that day and they said, ‘You got it,’ and I moved to Hawaii in two weeks, and I had never even visited Hawaii. I grabbed my little twin daughters and found a house in Hawaii, and there I was.”
While paradise made a great backdrop, filming Lost was far from a vacation. “It was probably one of the hardest jobs that I’ve ever done,” Watros says. “Most of the days were exterior shots, and you’d have to drive to this remote location. And I have a tendency of getting lost, so it would be like, ‘Go to the coconut tree, turn left when you’re at that old gas station,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, God.’”
“Libby was always dirty — so I’d have to get mud placed on me.”
Mario Perez / © ABC / Courtesy: Everett Collection
The long hours and unpredictable weather didn’t make things any easier. “Your call time was, like at four in the morning and then it would rain, and then we were in the water,” she relays. “Libby was always dirty — she was always one of the filthier characters on the show — so I’d have to spend time getting mud placed on me.”
Onscreen, Lost captivated viewers with mysteries that spanned six seasons. Offscreen, even the cast found themselves puzzling over the plot. “I love how invested people got in the show,” Watros notes. “We would talk like it was some sort of purgatory, but I loved how the fans of the show really placed emphasis on certain numbers and certain things that happened and thought it all connected. Sometimes they were just numbers and didn’t mean anything, and sometimes the numbers did mean something, but I loved the passion around it all.”
Ultimately, the intense shoot schedule and shocking twists were worth it for a role that resonated with fans and left a mark on Watros herself. “It’s nice when you’re on a show that people really, really look forward to watching and can’t wait for the next episode,” she reflects. “It was a challenging show, but I really enjoyed my time. The cast was great, the crew was great, and everyone was in it and doing it.”
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