Hawaii Press Conference in LA 2004

Sumika, who was trained as a ballet dancer at the Juilliard School, said landing the role is her big break in television. She was one of hundreds of actors auditioning for the part.
"We did a chemistry read," Eastin said. "
Sharif was cast first, and Aya came in, and it was great because it was just the two of them in the room.
"They were really shockingly, amazingly good together. The second she walked out of the room ... everybody looked at everybody and just said, 'She's the one.' There really wasn't any concern she hadn't done anything before. We were actually kind of excited about that."

BALFOUR, SERGEI and Sumika rode along with HPD officers to train for their roles. Sumika's mentor was "a woman named Jack."
"We were in Kalihi. ... She was the only woman in the sector that I visited, and she was one of the only women who graduated in her class, so it was so helpful. The day-to-day process that a cop goes through is ... similar to acting in the sense they have to react in the moment professionally to anything and everything that comes at them."