Vik Sahay stars as Lester in NBC's popular dramedy Chuck, which is returning for its 4th season on September 20th. Fans of the show are well aware of Lester's antics on the show and, of course, his participation in the two-man band Jeffster, but how does Vik compare to the part that he plays? We recently spoke with Vik to find out how much of Vik is in Lester (and vice versa).

TH: I just checked out the Wikipedia entry for you and, well, it's a bit sparse on personal detail. Since anyone can edit Wiki entries, have you ever thought about going in and spicing up your life and altering your history?

VS: The lack of, and amount of, misinformation about me personally that's out there is to my liking. It allows me to disappear into characters. So maybe I should add a bullfight here, a few drunken brawls there, definitely a jail sentence ... on second thought, I'll save it for the work.

TH: You've played a fairly broad range of characters in your career. Do you prefer to play "good guys" or "bad guys" or does it matter as long as there is some depth of character?

VS: Depth, complexity, DUALITY. In reality, every good guy has a dark side and every villain has a secret golden thread. Maybe every character is both.

TH: No truly great villain can be pure evil--it's just not believable. The best villains always have something that makes them sympathetic on some level. You seem to have a knack for pulling that off. Which villains of film do you most admire?

VS: On TV right now, as I answer this, I'm watching Robert Deniro in Cape Fear. That is a WILD performance: brutal, sensual, intelligent, and seductive.

TH: You're something of a method actor. Does Lester ever creep into your "real" life at unexpected moments?

VS: Or I 'creep' into Lester. Either way, yes, I guess we can both be pretty emphatic, intense ... aggressive. All in pursuit and defense of things that we love.

TH: You've said you hope you're nothing like Lester, but are there parts of Vik Sahay that Lester is built on that Vik Sahay chooses not to recognize?

VS: I'm pretty conscious, if there's something of myself in a character it's because I'm aware of it enough to allow it to be revealed.

TH: Do your friends and family recognize parts of you in Lester or is he truly something altogether different?

VS: I think they see shades of me in everything I do.

TH: Your bag of tricks includes Indian dance. Any chance we'll see a straight up Bollywood incarnation of Jeffster in the future?

VS: I would love it. (So would my mom.)

TH: In many ways Lester would be the perfect Ring recruit--would that be the greatest coup the Ring could pull off, or would it be the move that finally brings the Ring down?

VS: Maybe it could involve a Bollywood dance number, like the song contest at the end of The Sound of Music, an evil extravaganza. There's a whole world of possibilities there. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't mused on that very thing. I think Lester would be an incredible asset for the Ring.

TH: A lot of interviews eventually get around to finding a woman for Lester. Your choice: Who will play her and what will the circumstances be?

VS: Hmm, maybe a Mrs. Robinson type scenario for him. Patricia Clarkson or Allison Janney.

TH: Is there a role you believe you were born to play (other than Lester)?

VS: Richard the Third.

TH: You read a lot. Considering your Indian heritage, are there any Indian novelists that you admire and recommend? (On a side note, track down Rohinton Mistry's *Swimming Lessons*--it's a great read by an Indian-born fellow Canadian.)

VS: Excellent, I will check it out. I actually did a recording of Mistry's Family Matters for the Canadian Broadcasting Company - our national radio station. I read it aloud from cover to cover; it was an amazing experience. Arundati Roy's God of Small Things is genius. It took my breath away. Right now, I'm reading a book called Solo, by Rana Dasgupta. So far so beautiful, and so amazingly wondrously strange.

TH: As you know, we end each interview with a little word association. We say "wombat," you say...

VS: Pugnacious.