RADNOR, Pa. (AP) – When Louise Lombard landed a role as the new crime-scene investigator on “CSI,” a producer suggested she prepare by visiting a morgue.

“I turned to her and said, ‘That’s where the acting comes in,”‘ Lombard said. “There’s no way I’m going to see a corpse just in the name of research. I’m dedicated, but not THAT dedicated.”

Lombard became a household name in the United Kingdom on the BBC series “The House of Elliott.” She had a costarring role in the movie “Hidalgo.”

On “CSI” Lombard plays a crime scene investigator demoted to work on the graveyard shift with star William Petersen.

“She’s not a scientist by instinct,” Lombard, 34, told TV Guide for its Dec. 26 issue. “She’s a cop. Her interest is in justice.”

Still, Lombard hasn’t been able to avoid the grimier tasks of her pseudo-job. In her first scene she inspects a pool of vomit, and it didn’t get any better.

“The next shot was me putting my hand down a toilet,” she said. “I’ve waited my whole career to do that.”

‘Spanglish’ star plumps up for role

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Renee Zellweger isn’t the only actress packing on the pounds for plum roles these days.

Sarah Steele, the 16-year-old actress who plays the overweight daughter of Adam Sandler and Tea Leoni in the comedy-drama “Spanglish,” had to gain between 15 and 17 pounds for the role.

“And then I had my fat suit. It was cotton and spandex. It was pretty uncomfortable,” the 5-foot-tall Steele told the Los Angeles Times.

Steele normally fluctuates between a size 1 and 2. She said she did not use a special diet to gain the weight because the food on the set was so good.

“I was the only actress who could eat it,” she said.

Steele, a junior at a private Philadelphia high school, said playing the role of Bernice gave her an opportunity to explore teenage obesity for audiences who usually don’t see it in movies.

Zellweger gained weight to play the British heroine in “Bridget Jones’ Diary” and again for “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.”