...A Lesson From The Barnyard

One moment I remember that taught me a very good lesson, especially working in the business that I am. I grew up on a farm and I have three other siblings, and we had to clean out the horse stalls, which basically entails shoveling manure.

I was pretty young, maybe five or six, and I was kind of too young to actually perform the manual labor necessary. So I proceeded to make fun of my older siblings that they had to clean and I didn’t. So I kind of did some, “Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah,” around them and was taunting them with the fact that I was free, and they all looked at each other in agreement and started picking up manure and throwing it at me. They pelted in the face, in the hair, in the eye, everywhere. I was crying.

That was a good lesson for me to never take delight in the misfortune of others. And I remember that on a daily basis.

...Small Town Memories

As a child, it was great because we had so many acres to play around on. The neighbors were a few miles away, so it was just our house and acres of land to run around on. It was completely safe. Nobody locked their doors. I was riding bikes or climbing trees, riding ponies; really sort of idyllic Laura Ingalls Wilder type of stuff. There were chores involved as well, but I just remember playing so much; building forts with my brother, and just playing in the flowers. We had cattle, we had horses, we had pigs for a while, rabbits. It was really wonderful.

The town closest was about 400 people. The high school was two towns combined; the two nearby towns combined. I think when I was in high school, the high school student population was about 115, 120, so my graduating class was 18. It was insanely small, which is why it was wonderful growing up.

The Silver Bullet was actually a small Dodge Ram. I don’t even know what year it was. All four of us drove that same pickup truck through high school, which was fine, because none of the kids had really supped-up, fancy cars. We were fine to drive the Silver Bullet. I didn’t have a boyfriend all through high school because you’d known these people since you were five, and it’s not like they’re suddenly mysterious to you and there’s an attraction that wasn’t there before. So the dating thing was a bit tough. Once I got to junior high and high school, I was clawing at the walls to get out.

...Hostess Years

I was a hostess at Morton’s Steakhouse in Burbank for seven years. I was even less than a waitress. I was so reluctant to quit the job, to sever that security cord, that I kept the job all through working on season two of True Blood. I didn’t tell anybody. I was sort of embarrassed about it. I didn’t let anybody know on the set, but I kept one Saturday shift. I had seen so many people get a pilot or get a great gig and they quit their job, and then that money runs out and six months later, come back to the restaurant. I knew that I could never do that. I could stick it out for long past what is practical. I could do that, but coming back after having quit, I knew I couldn’t do that.

My worst night? I think my rock-bottom moment at the restaurant was a Valentine’s Day, maybe ‘05, ‘06. We were so busy, we were overbooked, we were going down in flames, there was a room full of people screaming at me because they wanted a table and there were no tables to be had. My boss is yelling at me, everybody’s yelling. The computers are starting to crash. Everything is going wrong. And then the toilet starts overflowing, and it’s my job to go in there and clean it up.

So after working hours in this hellish position and getting yelled at, I have to go in and clean up an overflowing toilet and trash everywhere. I think standing there in that bathroom was my lowest point. I remember sobbing to the car at the end of that shift saying, “Please, it can’t always be like that!” And luckily, it wasn’t. That was my worst night ever, and it got better after that.

...True Blood

I play a character named Lorena who is the maker of Vampire Bill, who is the main vampire character on the show. I come back into present day and cause some trouble for Bill and his current girlfriend, Sookie.

When I auditioned for that part, it was listed as a “possibly recurring”, but there was no guarantee. It was just that one episode. It was a complete surprise when they called and said, “We want to bring you in season two as a serious regular,” and I had this amazing arc on season two.

I read five of the books, and they’re fun. In some ways, we stay close to them. In other ways, it’s completely different. I actually like the way that Alan and the writers have made changes and expanded the world of True Blood. I feel like the supporting cast is stronger in the series than it is in the books.

It’s a very tight group. Sadly, I don’t get to work with hardly any in the cast except for Stephen and Anna. This season, I work with a few new characters that are brought in who are fantastic. But I’m very close to Stephen and Anna. They’re wonderful people and a wonderful couple. We’ve become great friends. And the crew and the cast are very, very close. There’s a lot of bonding and going out for drinks.

...Vampire Mania

Vampires, it seems, have been popular forever, since they showed up on the scene. It definitely comes in cycles though. Why the popularity is cyclical, I don’t entirely know. I think there is a theme in the past few years across the board of our culture getting really into fantasy and science fiction. Maybe the current temperature out in the world is not so inspiring, and so we want to be taken away.

My theory on why vampires are so popular? Why I like vampires is that they retain their mind as compared to other supernatural creatures who kind of go into more of an animalistic state. Vampires still are funny and intelligent and passionate, and they have their memories.

I think that’s what makes them really sexy.

...NOH8 Campaign

It’s a cause that’s very close to me. A lot of people in my life that are very, very close to me, including my own brother, are homosexual. It was just really heartbreaking this past election when Prop 8 passed. So I do whatever I can do to help the cause to reverse that and bring equality.

My brother actually talked to me about it, and we posed together in one shot, and then I posed by myself. He had told me about it and that they were traveling around the country, and he gave me a heads-up that they were going to be in LA. So I made some calls and had it arranged so that we could do it together. It’s kind of the only place where I step out and I be political, but it just felt necessary.

Hometown: Endicott, WA.

Sign: Scorpio.

High School: St. John-Endicott High School.

College: University of Washington, Seattle.

First Role: Stage: Celia in “What She Found There” T.V.: Girl who gets blown up on Alias.

Hair color: Brown.

Favorite Three TV Shows: Mad Men, Twin Peaks, 30 Rock.

Favorite Three Movies: His Girl Friday, Amelie, Bullitt.

Favorite Music: Indie Rock. Such as Modest Mouse, Arcade Fire, The National, M. Ward, Shout Out Louds.

Favorite Books: The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood, The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro, The Waves by Virginia Woolf.

Favorite Food: Anything my brother cooks. He’s the executive chef at Yamashiro.

Favorite Car: The Silver Bullet. That was the nickname of the Dodge pickup she drove in high school.

Favorite Charity: St. Jude’s Children Hospital.