'Burning Up The Heat!'

Watch the 'Burn Notice - Season 2' Finale on Thursday, March 5th at 10pm/9c on USA NETWORK!

In the explosive season finale, Michael learns some surprising facts about Victor's past, and is forced to take on Carla in a final showdown!

Season 3 will premiere in July, so stay tuned!

This summer, USA Network presented the second season of 'Burn Notice,' a sexy, action-packed original series starring Jeffrey Donovan as Michael Westen, a blacklisted spy. Dumped in his hometown of Miami without money or resources, Michael struggles to put his life back together and find out why he's been burned. In the meantime, he uses his unique skills and training to help people in need ... mostly people who can't get help from the police.

'Burn Notice' also stars Gabrielle Anwar as Fiona, a beautiful ex-IRA operative who happens to be Westen’s ex-girlfriend. Bruce Campbell stars as Sam, Michael’s closest buddy in town, a washed up military intelligence contact who is keeping an eye on Michael for the Feds. Also starring is Emmy® Award-winner Sharon Gless as Madeline, Michael’s hypochondriac mother, who couldn’t be happier to have her boy back in town.

Joining the cast this season in a recurring role is Tricia Helfer (“Battlestar Gallactica”) as Carla, the woman who may be behind Michael’s burn notice.

Chatting recently with Gabrielle Anwar, we first wondered if we were ever going to learn more about Fiona’s background beyond the fact that she’s a former IRA agent? "I don’t know. I’d like to because of her narcissistic connection, but it’s really not up to me. I have my own secret fantasies of who she is and where she came from and where she’s going. But unfortunately that life hasn’t connected to mine."

So just what about your role continues to challenge you? "That I still have to speak the American dialect. I think it’s a bit nerve racking now that we’re heading into season three that I’m still going to be in a bikini. I think I’ll probably have to have a hip replacement if we get to season eight. I’m not sure if the bikini’s going to work then."

You say that your American accent is actually one of your challenges, but you seem to carry it off flawlessly. Why is it that English actors and actresses like yourself have such an easy time playing Americans? "Thanks, but I have to disagree with you! I hear terrible versions of American dialects when I hear my fellow British thespians attempting it I confess. But I think that a lot of the American audiences are oblivious to the sounds that are not quite right. And when you’re struggling to be like them, and most of the audience for Burn Notice are indeed American, so I feel like I have the worst critics watching and listening to my every move."

"So I think I struggle with it because I like to not be thinking about what I sound like, what I look like, what I smell like for that matter. But it’s difficult to do that when you’re trying to sound like somebody other than yourself, at least it is for me. But I appreciate your vote of confidence."

What has been your most memorable moment you’ve had since filming the show? "I don’t know if I have just one moment. Every day that I’m working on that show I really feel incredibly blessed to be there. And I’m really not kidding you. I know that’s an awful cliché to hear, but I really mean it. I just have a series of memorable moments that are strung together which makes me very happy, because otherwise I’d just be hoping to relive the lost memorable moment. But I’m actually looking forward to going back to work. It’s something I haven’t often said."

This is a character where you have to have a lot of guns, a lot of bombs. You have to be very physical. At the same time, like you said, you’re doing a lot more sort of bikini scenes this season. These are the kinds of things that not every actress would be necessarily comfortable with doing. Talk about the challenges of having to, number one, be in a bikini, number two, have retail of all these guns and bombs, and what are some of the things that you like about the challenges that the role offers you? "I’m very glad that we have a wonderful weapons master who knows what he’s doing with a weapon, because I’m clueless. Without the crew, I would look absolutely ridiculous, which is basically the way I look when the camera’s not rolling. I’m really enjoying the fantasy of it because, obviously, it’s not really a role that I’ve been offered in the past. So I’m really relishing the fact that I think I’m tough. It’s challenging to really make it look like I know what I’m doing."

"Jeffrey’s actually pretty good with self-defense, and he’s quite technically minded. He’s very logically minded mostly because he’s male and I am sort of a mishmash between being super feminine and being super feminist. I’m enjoying that aspect of my character in both Fiona and in myself."

Are you finding it more comfortable within your role as the season goes on? "Perhaps. I’m still covered in bruises from the first day of shooting to the last! I can be a little clumsy. I’m quite petite, and a lot of these weapons are designed for big burly military men. They’re actually cumbersome and rather heavy. And when you drop them on your bare toes in a pair of stiletto heals it’s no fun. I could use a pair of combat boots every now and then I think."

Finally, if Michael and Fiona wouldn’t have a traditional relationship, what would a Michael/Fiona relationship be like? "Dangerous!"

Watch the 'Burn Notice - Season 2' Finale on Thursday, March 5th at 10pm/9c on USA NETWORK!

In the explosive season finale, Michael learns some surprising facts about Victor's past, and is forced to take on Carla in a final showdown!

Season 3 will premiere in July, so stay tuned!

www.usanetwork.com/series/burnnotice