Instead of sitting in the hot loft where a couch had been set up for interviews, Lea asked if we could sit outside so he could have a cigarette. What was I going to do, say no? Of course not! We struggled with the double doors leading outside and finally got them open. He laid down on his back on the cement sidewalk, I sat cross-legged on a curb and we began to chat. It was like being with a friend of my brother or something. Really cool. He's taller in person, not as thin as he looks on TV (but he looks great) and his eyes twinkled the whole time.

J. Hitchcock: What's been the most unusual experience on the tour?

Nicholas Lea: Doing Saturday Night Live in New York (he appeared in the opening segment on May 9, which David Duchovny hosted). Meeting Jimmy Page there. The moment when I stepped on stage, it was the most amazing moment I've had yet on this tour. It's been a lot of fun, but that would be the weirdest one for sure.

JH: What'd you think of the skit they did?

(Note: The skit had "Janet Reno" played by an SNL regular coming into Mulder's office and professing her lust for him; she ends up bringing Krycek in as her toyboy)

NL: I thought it was pretty funny, they're all pretty silly, but funny. It was just such a ball to be there. It was all David's (Duchovny) idea.

JH: Besides SNL, what's been the most unusual thing that's happened?

NL: Someone buying the chair I sat on (while on stage doing a Q&A) and signed for $500 in New York. It was a little crazy. It's all been great - I had a guy give me a personal tour of the Metropolitan Museum (of Art) on Monday when it was closed.

JH: What's next for you besides the X-Files?

NL: I'm doing a guest appearance on an episode of the Outer Limits

JH: Have you been to D.C. before?

NL: No, this is the first time. I'd always heard of this place because of the show, but had never been here in person

(We're interrupted by a security guard opening up the sticky doors; we watch him struggle for a few minutes, then both of us get up to help him out, then sit back on the ground again)

JH: What's the weirdest question you've been asked?

NL: When someone asked me for my water bottle after I'd finished it.

(Security guard says, "Wasn't it when that girl asked 'boxers or briefs'?" We all laugh)

JH: What do you think of all this hoopla, with the X-Files, the movie, the game, the EXPO? It must have changed your life tremendously.

NL: Yes (emphatically). It's changed my life in many, many, many ways. When I was on SNL, all I could think of was it was unbelievable how much this show has brought me. It's obviously made me financially independent, which is nice. It's allowed me to be on camera with other actors and be a part of something that is really special.

JH: What about walking down the street? Can you still do that?

NL: A friend of mine said in New York that this would be the last of my anonymity. I hadn't really thought about it before. Right now all I've been thinking about is in the terms of the next good job. Everything else is just a by-product of it.

JH: Have you been chased down the street yet?

NL: In Dublin, I got chased down the street. They were shaking our car and screaming. It was wild.

JH: I saw you on a show recently and you were talking about your character, how he's not the bad guy and he's not the good guy, but the antihero. Can you expound on that?

NL: First of all, it's an awful idea to see your character as either good or bad. But you know, he (Krycek) does some bad things occasionally; you hope to find his redeeming qualities as well as his bad ones. I think it's somewhat ambiguous as to why he does the things he does. Is he bad or is he just trying to regain some power and control and get some revenge? When we first met him, he was working for the FBI, and he was trying to get ahead. So was he trying to be successful in the job he was doing? So I don't think of him as bad.

JH: Do you like the way your character is going in the show?

NL: It's a great arc, actually (going from FBI agent to anti-agent). I've seen him in some wet and wild situations. If I was on a show like ER, I'd be in the emergency room or at home. On the X-Files, my character is all over the place. It's great, because you have to bring all your imagination to the set.

JH: Are you moving to Los Angeles for the show? The series moved it's shooting location from Vancouver to Los Angeles for the next season

NL: Nah, I'll commute (from Vancouver). Prettiest city in the world. You ever been? JH: So tell me, what *is* the truth?

JH: No, but I've always wanted to go there.

NL: He sits up straight and gets excited Go like in early or late summer. That's the best time.

We discuss touristy spots in Vancouver and the weather, then I get down to my last question

JH: So tell me, what *is* the truth?

NL: I don't know, I'm still looking. That's our job isn't it? That's our job as people. That's what it's all about, finding the truth.

With that, we go back inside. It's time for Lea to go onstage and face his fans. He's tired, but enthusiastic and asks for some peppermint tea (his favorite, if you didn't already know). He passes by me and puts his arm across my shoulder - something I didn't expect at all. I jumped a bit. "You asked some great questions. Take care of yourself - it was really good meeting you!" I told him to stay the way he was and never let Hollywood change him.

I hope it doesn't.