Lively Addition

One of Eric Lively's duties as the newest cast member on the set of Showtime's lesbian soap The L Word, which returns February 13, has been unofficial canine-sitter. "All the girls in the cast have a dog except me," Lively reports. "The fiasco of the day is that I offered to dog-sit and now I'm left in a house with six dogs."

Lively, a 23-year-old Abercrombie & Fitch model turned actor, joins the cast this season as Mark, a scheming straight guy and porn director who specializes in snuff films, hidden cameras, and anything shocking. Mark is making a documentary about our favorite group of lesbians, whom he befriends in Los Angeles, and he treads a thin line between exploiting these sexy women and feeling guilty about using his friends to make money. Lively related to Mark's awakening to lesbian culture. "I had a very limited perspective of the life of your modern-day lesbian. This show has opened my eyes. It's fascinating how these women live in Los Angeles but protect themselves by not integrating completely."

As the token male actor playing a straight character, Lively is replacing Eric Mabius, who played Tim last season. Being male on a set where the cast and crew are mostly women has advantages. "The girls feel very protective of me. With all these women, it's surprisingly not competitive. But it wouldn't fly for a guy to make a titty joke."

Like L Word costar Jennifer Beals, Lively has a passion for photography. When he started taking pictures, Lively adopted the alias Morton Bertoli (borrowed from Morton salt and Bertoli olive oil). But in his new role on The L Word, Lively is happy to be credited as himself. "I was really afraid when I decided to do The L Word," he admits. "I thought, God, all these women! But I'm having such a good time. I've never liked a group of people so much."