Creating a character and living truthfully through her is a whole different ball game. It's all part of the same person but it's a much newer medium for me.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I love the creating part of taking on a character. It is fun to be another person and create what it would be like to be that person.
I've written original material before, where I've come up with the idea and the characters myself, and that's definitely very different to working with someone else's characters and stories.
If I prepare myself for a character, for a role, I always try to understand her.
When you're portraying someone that really existed, there has to be a time as an actress where you leave reality and move into the fantasy world so you can do your job of creating a character.
I've been fortunate to play many different types of characters thus far. However, I really enjoy playing roles that are different than who I am personally. You can have these small fantasy worlds where you can be people you would otherwise never get to be: a doctor, a lawyer, a ruthless business woman.
The goal is to have every character take on a life of his or her own. Sometimes characters will come into the story that I haven't planned.
I'm not saying that I am all of my characters, but for me to bring a character to life, you've got to be able to find your own truth.
That's always fun to play: the person who can be truthful and blunt, and people take it because that's who she is.
I like playing characters that are true to life, and there's no guarantee that any of us are going to be okay, but we intend to be, and we take the time to try to be. I don't think it's any different for a character.
Unlike life, you've got more or less complete control over what's going on in your stories. That's not to say you can make characters do whatever you want them to - they usually have a life of their own if you've done your job properly.