Morena Baccarin

Whether she’s assisting in a heart transplant in a hospital, or flying a shuttle in deep space, Morena Baccarin is quickly making a name for herself on television.

Known for her role as Inara Serra on the popular sci-fi series "Firefly," a role she revived in the film adaptation, "Serenity," Baccarin is back on series television as nurse Jessica Kivala in the TNT drama, "Heartland."

"Heartland" delves into the world of organ donation and transplants and stars Treat Williams as Dr. Grant, a surgeon who struggles to balance his personal life with the pressures of saving lives. Grant also happens to work with his ex-wife Kate Armstrong (Kari Machett) and his new girlfriend, Jessica. Although it seems rough having an ex-wife and current girlfriend by your side at the same time, the tension that comes with having relationships in the hospital isn’t that uncommon.

"I was asking a lot of nurses and our med tech on set ... ’is this really true? Does this really happen?’ " explained Baccarin in a recent interview with the Tribune from Los Angeles. "(One nurse) said ’Yeah, think about it. You spend sometimes 24 hours straight in a hospital in surgery with a specific doctor and you end up seeing your co-workers a lot more than you see your family. You develop these really close relationships."

The biggest difference between "Heartland" and other hospital dramas is the organ donation aspect, something Baccarin feels strongly about after participating in the show’s first season.

"You always see the organ donations on the back of your license, but I never gave it any thought," she said. "Now that I’ve been on the show and seeing how people wait on that list for so long ... it’s really heartbreaking."

The role required a bit of research as Baccarin was sent to UCLA to study the doctors and nurses there.

"We got to learn about the instruments and how to handle them properly and what they were called," said Baccarin of her studies. "(We saw) what the head OR nurses were like because they’re very different from ICU nurses. We also got some books on surgery to try and figure out exactly what the procedures were."

Today, Baccarin’s other show, "Firefly," is looked at as one of the best television shows to get cancelled before the end of its first season. Only 11 of the show’s 14 episodes were aired before the series was axed.

Fans of "Firefly" were outraged at its cancellation and soon the crew was back at it, filming the big screen adaptation of the show which resulted in the 2005 film, "Serenity."

The legend of "Firefly" has only grown behind DVD sales, books and Web sites dedicated to the show. Baccarin still loves having people approach her to confess their love for the crew of "Serenity."

"It’s a crazy experience to be part of," she said. "When a show gets cancelled, that means that nobody’s watching, so we thought ’well, we loved it, but I guess nobody else did.’ Then shortly after we got to discover that there really were a lot of people out there."

"Everyday I’m reminded of it. I’ll go to a bookstore and somebody will stop me," she continued. "I was eating at a restaurant ... and the owners are really huge ’Firefly’ fans. It’s so humbling ... because it reminds you that it doesn’t matter really if you think that nobody’s watching. There are people out there that really love it and it’s worth it for them."

"Firefly" isn’t Baccarin’s sole acting gig. She has a recurring role as Adria on the TV show "Stargate SG-1" and its upcoming movie adaptation. Her love of science fiction goes back to when she was a kid.

"I grew up watching ’Star Wars’ and ... ’Neverending Story,’ " she said. "I always loved fantasy and that sort of thing. I consider myself so lucky to have fallen into it. I feel like it’s a genre with a lot of creativity."

With what happened to "Firefly" and recent shows like Fox’s "Drive" getting cancelled after just two episodes, the landscape of television has evolved into a "what have you done for me this week?" mentality. It’s that approach to developing a series that makes for a stressful time during a show’s first season.

"It’s really, really stressful because, as an actor, I know I don’t take a project that I’m not really passionate about," Baccarin said. "I was in love with (’Firefly’) and we had such a hard time when it was cancelled because we loved it so much. It’s really stressful to be on a TV schedule, especially on a major network because they just don’t have the time to let a show go on to see if it will catch."

"Firefly" fans will have to accept the show’s fate and legacy as a moment captured in the annals of pop culture history as there are no plans to resurrect the show.

"I think it’s done. I think it’s over," Bacarrin said of the "Firefly" story. "I can’t see a scenario where a network picks up the show and then everybody can come back and do it."

As is the case with the rest of the actors on the show, Bacarrin has moved on. She’s having a blast portraying nurse Jessica and doesn’t mind that the story is a bit more down to Earth than some of her other projects.

"It’s really nice," she said of being a part of "Heartland." "It’s been a really fun show to work on and I’ve gotten to work with some really great people. That’s kind of the great thing about TNT is that they’ve been really supportive of us and it’s really nice to be on a network that cares about their projects and gives it time. They’re really behind it."