LOS ANGELES — It's a fairly common — if decidedly rude — Hollywood question: Who did you have to sleep with to get the part?

But it's one that didn't have to be asked of Emmy, Oscar and Obie-winner Christine Lahti. We already know who she had to sleep with to get a starring role in the forthcoming WB series "Jack & Bobby."

She's married to executive producer Thomas Schlamme, a multiple Emmy-winner himself as both a producer and a director.

Which is not, of course, the only reason Lahti got the part. She has, of course, proved she's a hugely talented actress over and over again.

The bigger surprise is not that she's playing the offbeat mother of two teenage sons — one of whom will grow up to be the president of the United States — on "Jack & Bobby." It's that she's on a show on a network that has been aimed at viewers considerably younger than she is.

"No, I have never watched the WB, but then I don't watch television except for 'The West Wing,' " said Lahti, whose husband was an executive producer/director on that series. "And I wasn't completely faithful with that, either.

"I really just don't have much time. I have three kids and a career, and a husband that I see sometimes when he's not doing 'The West Wing.' "

At least by working on the same show, it seems likely Lahti and Schlamme will have the chance to see one another more often. And they've worked together before without any problems.

Well, at least without any big problems.

"We're still married," she deadpanned.

"The truth is, I love working with Tommy because we do have a shorthand. And when he directs me, he can say one word and I know what he wants. There's a communication that's pretty profound.

"I also find that he listens a lot better as a director than he does as a husband. I actually prefer working with him to being married to him."

"Twenty-eight years of this," Schlamme said, shaking his head.

In "Jack & Bobby," which premieres in September on the WB, Lahti plays an unconventional single mother who's also a brilliant college professor. And, often, a rather difficult woman. As was the character she played on "Chicago Hope."

Lahti was asked what appealed to her about both this character and the one she played on "Chicago Hope." One critic asked why she seems to gravitate to this kind of role. "Do you want me to answer that?" Schlamme interjected with a laugh.

"I just am drawn to complicated people," said Lahti, who recalled telling the "Chicago Hope" writers, "Please, let's not make her completely sympathetic.

"And Grace is like that. I mean, she's very complicated. She's dysfunctional. . . . She's also incredibly smart and loving. She's just complicated, and I'm drawn to people that are like that."

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E-mail: pierce@desnews.com