Deborah Ann Woll Shares her Insight into Jessica Hamby

What do you get when you come across a teenage vampire? Lots of bloody trouble, of course! Deborah Ann Woll speaks candidly about her role as teen vampire Jessica Hamby on the HBO series True Blood. With the start of Season 3, Deborah's character Jessica has mountains of emotional and very real issues ever present. Season 2 left the viewers with a heart-broken and angry teenager who also happens to be a strong vampire with no real check on her actions. In the very first episode of Season 3, we see the consequences of this combination: a dead trucker. With Bill missing and Sookie frantic in her search for him, Jessica is left to face this dilemma on her own. Really though, hasn't Jessica always been lonely? In an interview with Debra Yeo from Toronto Star Deborah notes,

"Jessica...is going through a lot. Nobody wants to help her or be with her. She has incredible guilt and self-hate."

No one likes hanging out with a moody teenager, especially one who might suck you dry...literally, but Deborah seems to use that loneliness to her advantage:

"There is a weird part of being an actor that really enjoys a little bit of pain, maybe because it makes you feel alive."

In addition to the emotional struggle Deborah gets to portray in Jessica, she also gets to roll around in corn syrup and gelatin. Without any constraints, it's no surprise Jessica gets into some bloody situations, specifically in the first episode of Season 3; great for us and Jessica, but not so great for that truck driver! In a time when television and movies are saturated with vampires, Deborah is humbled and honored to be a part of Alan Ball's dynamic series, taking her role as a vampire seriously. Using her decade long experience in classical theatre, studying at both the University of Southern California and Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, Deborah observes the animal kingdom in order to portray Jessica. She spent a lot of time studying videos of animals attacking each other in order to understand the primal feelings and physical movements both predator and prey make. At 25, Deborah has been given the opportunity of a lifetime: being on a long term project under Alan Ball's guidance. Knowing this, Jessica jokes,

"I read every single script looking out for wooden stakes right and left...I hope they'll want me to stick around."

If the fans have their say, we'll see Jessica grow from insecure to mature with a lot of fangy grins in between. Source: Toronto Star (Photo Credit: HBO Inc. )

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