“Animal Practice” (Chris Haston /NBC)
“Animal Practice” (Chris Haston /NBC)
RED-CARPET READY: Crystal the monkey will star in this fall’s “Animal Practice”. (
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The monkey is hot.
A month before the new fall season shows start, Crystal, a capuchin monkey and star of NBC’s “Animal Practice,” already is the break-out star.
Crystal, who plays Dr. Rizzo on the show, made her appearance on a miniature battery-operated ambulance, riding in to deliver a message to NBC Entertainment President Jennifer Salke during a session with the show’s human stars. Even the crowd of typically cynical critics cried “awwww” and burst into scattered applause.
Crystal, 18, has been trained by and lived with Tom Gunderson, his wife (also a professional animal trainer) and their two children since she was 2 years old. Together, Tom and Crystal have traveled the world, including a two-month stint in Thailand where Crystal starred in “The Hangover, Part II.”
“Crystal does all of her own stunts, but safety always comes first,” says Gunderson. In “The Hangover, Part II,” a scene called for her to hang out of a window during a high-speed car chase, but a stuffed monkey stood in.
Crystal has a long list of film and TV appearances behind her, including “Night at the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian” and a recurring role on NBC’s “Community.”
“The Russos are very experienced directors, especially with animals, so they get it,” Gunderson says of “Animal Practice” directors Joe and Anthony Russo. “The writers and producers on this show are all very interested in keeping an open dialogue with us, as the trainers, to get to the truth about what can be achievable with these animals.”
Gunderson works for an outfit north of LA called Birds and Animals Unlimited that provides all sorts of creatures to movies and TV shows. Gunderson himself has worked with everything from “earthworms to elephants,” he says. “I did a job once with 1,000 giant night crawlers, another with 20,000 honeybees.”
Not all animals are as trainable as Crystal, who learns her tricks through a technique called “baiting.” First, she is taught what to do with quick rewards of yogurt, nuts and other monkey goodies, learning it over and over until she can do it with just a hand signal from 20 feet away.
The “Animal Practice” cast seems as delighted to work with Crystal as audiences are to watch her.
Says star Justin Kirk: “I was told when I asked Tom, who is the man behind the woman, ‘What’s the best way to ingratiate myself to Crystal, and bond with her?’ And he says, ‘Ignore her. Don’t try to grab her,’ and I said, ‘I’ve been doing that all my life. So it shouldn’t be difficult.’ She’s the most famous monkey in Hollywood, so you try to be cool around her.”
For Crystal, stardom is just part of her life. And even though she’s famous, she’s still working for nuts.