FHM Collections
Autumn/Winter, 2003

Back to mine...
Star of Channel Five's slick forensic drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, boyfriend of Lisa Snowdon and he lives in a pad like this. Gary Dourdan is one cool chap indeed

Unlike a slew of LA-based models/actors/musicians whatevers, 36 year old Gary has been and still is all of the above, and he owns an ultra-contemporary home in a neighbourhood where $2million is a starting price to prove it. "When I first saw the house, I walked in and said, 'I've got to have it, get me into this place, I don't care what it takes.' 'I had to talk a lot of shit...I'd just got my job a year before that and my credit was never fantastic." "I've always been looking for a place where I could put everything together," he explains. "A recording studio, a place to live and a place to do my film projects...a work/live property where I wouldn't have two rents, or have to leave my house to go and record some music or cut some film stuff.

A year later he's still working on turning the 4,300ft²' concrete, glass, iron and wood space - described by local architects, David Hertz and Michael Rendler as "a box that's been cut open to provide light" - into the ultimate work and living environment. With that all important "woman's touch" supplied by Ms Snowdon, his girlfriend of 11 months." "Whenever she comes back from London she always adds a little touch...little dainty female vibrations. Like flowery fucking cushions and things like that...ha! Why do women like cushions so much? She's a real photography buff, so she likes to take pictures too and put them in frames. Pictures of herself, so when she's out of town people know!" Not that he's complaining. Well...just a bit.

"I do like it, but you rebel against it after a while. I think it's a male trait. You're loving it then all of a sudden you go,'My God, my home is being taken over by this female!' I have two sisters and they get in my house and start throwing things around, and next thing I know it looks all dainty and shit. But I'm a community family oriented guy... not much of bachelor, bachelor.." Unlike the unusual accessory that originally came with the house, a tenant. "This guy-personal trainer-just came with the house as he'd signed a lease with the old owner. But I paid a lot of money so I wasn't happy, and it took a little while to get him out. He was here for the first couple of months and I tell you...he was getting laid a lot."

The tenant's former love den is now a fully-equipped hi-tech recording studio, the garage is an office and soon-to-be video production area, and Gary's working hard on "mixing medium". "I want to do it all," he say. "I release records, I want to direct music videos that aren't about booty, plus I'm working on a film project about the life of Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy, which is based on his mum Philamena's book." Plus of course there's the small detail of the day job. "I never thought I'd be a working actor...it's really hard to believe."