A Crystal Clear Discussion with Lindsey Pulsipher: A TrueBloodNet.com Exclusive

One of the first recurring roles that Lindsey Pulsipher played was as Heather on the show, "Touched by an Angel" and now she's playing Crystal, a character that's been touched by anything and everything but an Angel. We're fascinated by the unlikely concept of someone able to tame Jason Stackhouse, but with Lindsey lending her wistful, angelic face to the role of Crystal Norris , she may just manage to capture Jason's heart. She sure caught and held our attention! Lindsey was great to talk to, very fun and energetic and we at TrueBloodNet.com really appreciate her taking the time for us! Oh.. and you'll just love her new little friend, Mars. What a cutie and who can resist that face!

TBN.com: You mentioned in previous Interviews that you were inspired by your mother to get into acting? Can you elaborate on that? What was your very first performance? Lindsey: Well my first experience in acting was at a small community theater in Salt Lake City, Utah, called Hale Center Theater. It was such an exciting time for me as a kid. I loved the creativity of acting, and the freedom to be whomever I wanted. I was definitely encouraged by my mom to pursue any artistic dreams I had. TBN.com: Was your mother an actor as well or was she just supportive of your becoming one? Lindsey: My mother acted in plays, but she decided to have six kids instead of pursuing a career in acting. One of my first inspirations was seeing my mom performing "You Can't Take it with You." I remember seeing her all dressed up in her stage makeup, and thought "Wow! I don't even know that woman; she looks so different from my mom." It just opened up this door, this creative door, for me. I really got inspired by her performance. TBN.com: So your first performance was? Lindsey: My first professional television performance was on "Touched by an Angel." They actually filmed the show in Utah so local actors were very fortunate to get some television experience before deciding they wanted to pursue LA or New York or Chicago. We had that opportunity, and we were all very grateful for it. TBN.com: And did you go on to study acting? Lindsey: I did. I studied and took classes in Utah. And later I moved to Los Angeles where I've been doing mostly private coaching and scene study classes out here. TBN.com: You also starred in "The Beast" along with Patrick Swayze. Can you give us a little more insight to your character? A little more detail about the show? Lindsey: Rose, my character on "The Beast" was the complete opposite of Crystal. Rose was extremely refined, strong woman who knew what she wanted out of life, with her head on straight. Crystal, is completely opposite of that. It was really fun to play such different characters in the same year. And Patrick Swayze was an amazing person to work with. He will always be remembered by me as an inspiration, knowing what he was going through every day, coming to the set and working so hard was very inspiring.

TBN.com: Oh yes, how amazing that he managed to do so well under the circumstances. And referring to Crystal, congratulations on getting the role of Crystal Norris on "True Blood." Could you share with us how you got the role? How did your audition go? How did you know about the role? Lindsey: I have an agent and manager here in Los Angeles that are really great on getting me in on really good projects. When this came up I have to say I was just really, really excited. I had two auditions, both of them were with Alan Ball, and the second one Ryan Kwanten read with me. A few hours later I got a call from my manager telling me I had booked it. I don't know if I've been happier about booking a role. TBN.com: How did you prepare for the role? Did you read any of the books in creating the character? Lindsey: I think I wanted to see Crystal more through the eyes of the True Blood writers first, before i read the books. Once I got a sense of where they were going with her I thought, "Okay, I'm ready to read Charlene Harris's character and take it from both sides". It's been an incredible journey and the character is, oh, she is just so fun to play. She has so many layers going on and just amazingly written. TBN.com: Crystal plays a huge role in the story line of Jason Stackhouse. How would you describe her and her interactions with Jason? Lindsey: Crystal is revealed slowly in the third season. Jason sees her during a drug bust at Hot Shot which is where she lives. He's out there and he catches a glimpse of her running through the trees and they have this special, electric moment where they first see each other and then she takes off running. Later she and Jason run into each other again in Bon Temps and they have this really funny exchange, a very classic Jason moment. And their relationship develops from there. Ryan does such a good job of playing Jason. This season is really about their relationship and how it grows. As we all know, Jason loves the ladies, and he has had quite a few of them. I think Crystal is somebody different and special for him and they have a really magical relationship that develops, and takes shape this season. TBN.com: Being the new girl on the set, what are your experiences on the show? Is it an easy crew to fit in with? Lindsey: Actually a couple of the new actors and I were talking about that today. It's amazing how you can tell walking onto the "True Blood" set that everybody there absolutely loves their job. Everyone is very close and friendly with each other, there are no egos on set. It's just a warm, familial environment. It's such a pleasant surprise because sometimes you walk on set and you're the new girl and it's not always that way, so to walk in and have everybody be so welcoming and truly happy to have you has been a great experience.

TBN.com: Have you acted with any of the other cast besides Jason? Lindsey: Crystal does meet up with some of the other people in Bon Temps through out the season. She creates some chaos in the town, but for the most part, it's been with Ryan. TBN.com: So far, what's been the most rewarding and the most challenging aspect of working on "True Blood?" Lindsey: Crystal has been challenging to play because she's a complex character. If you read the books, you know that she has a lot going on and that she's a strong spirit. In the show she also has a lot that she's dealing with. She comes from a very sheltered, back woods home, where they cook meth. She's been home educated and hasn't really been out in the real world too much and doesn't have a lot of real-life experience. She's had to grow up fast living the way that she does out in Hot Shot. So it's been a challenge to stay true to all of the struggles that she is going through and play them all truthfully. A challenge is very good for me. I tend to thrive when I'm challenged so it's really rewarding in that way too. TBN.com: You know "True Blood" is such a phenomenal success. Are you prepared for the "True Blood" fans? Lindsey: When people ask me this, I don't know what to say because it just seems a little surreal. It hasn't really affected me yet. I haven't seen any of the fan reaction to Crystal yet, since she's just being introduced. I think it's always going to be exciting when you have such a huge fan base; it makes it more magical. I don't know how to address it yet, but I'll cross that bridge when i get to it! TBN.com: Are there any questions you would like to ask the fans? Lindsey: My friend Matt has this question he likes to ask, and I think it's a question that would fit in well with the True Blood fans. "If you had to be bitten by a Vampire, a Werewolf, or a Zombie, which would you choose and why?" My answer to the question was, "A Zombie, since they travel in groups, I would never have to be alone. " TBN.com: Has "True Blood" reshaped how you think of good and evil? Lindsey: I think "True Blood" is constantly bending the rules of "good and evil" who can be trusted, and who can't. Who's the enemy, and who's the hero? I think that's one of the most fascinating aspects of the show. TBN.com: If Crystal died, what would you like on her head stone? Linsday: ::laughs:: That's a great question. I guess something along the lines of "God knows she tried." TBN.com: During "True Blood's" hiatus, do you have anything else coming up? Lindsey: I'm in the works for a couple of different things. We have a nice shooting schedule on "True Blood." Six months on and six months off. But I love staying busy, so work is always a good thing. TBN.com: Do you have any charities or causes that are important to you? Lindsey: Yes, absolutely. I support this wonderful organization called Stand up to Cancer. Patrick Swazye was actually really involved with them before he passed. I also lost my father to cancer, which was an extraordinarily hard thing to deal with. I fully support furthering the research, and finding a cure for cancer. They are a big one that I support. Standup2cancer.org Another one I fully support is a dog rescue based out of Los Angeles called The Mutt Movement. I actually just rescued a little dog from them a few months ago and she's changed my life. Themuttmovement.com TBN.com: Awww. What's her name? Lindsey: Her name is Mars … like the planet. TBN.com: And what type of dog is she? Lindsey: She is a hairless Chihuahua mix. She's really cute, she's bald underneath with a little peach fuzz and she has a coat that goes from her head to her tail but it's only on top, like she has a mohawk!

TBN.com: Do you Twitter and would you like your fans to know what your Twitter name is? Lindsey: You know, I actually don't Twitter and I don't have a Facebook. Although we did discover that there's a couple Facebook pages dedicated to Lindsay Pulsipher, and Crystal Norris that I didn't create. TBN.com: Do you ever read about yourself on the fan sites about "True Blood" or "The Beast?" Lindsey: You know, I generally try and stay away from that stuff. It hasn't happened very often, but of course it's going happen – you read something negative about yourself that might or might not be true and it starts to affect you. So I try not to read anything that's going to conjure up comments. I do try and research and go on the websites or the magazines that I'm going to do interviews with and get an idea of what the vibe is and what it's all about. I looked at your site before I talked to you. TBN.com: Oh, to make sure we weren't serial killers or something? ::laughs:: Lindsey: ::laughs:: Oh no, not even that, but just to see what your style was and gage it and yeah, I do that stuff but I try not to read about myself. I have a couple of films that I recently completed. One is called "The Oregonian" Directed by Calvin Lee Reeder. It's a sort of esoteric, art--horror film. It's the journey of a young woman who gets into a car accident and doesn't really know if she's alive or dead. It's a really, really cool, out-there film. It will be doing the festival circuit later this year. The other one is called "Do not Disturb." I shot it with Eric Balfour. Directed by Petro Papahadjopoulos. It's a series of short film vignettes that they have edited together into a feature and all of the short films have a similar thread that binds them together. It will also be out later this year. TBN.com: Are you in just one of the short films? Lindsey: Yes, It's called "Rocket Man" and it's kind of this throwback to the 60's sci-fi films. TBN.com: Just going back to Crystal, your character. How did you develop her personality? Did Alan Ball state how he wanted her presented or did you develop her character or was it a collaboration? Lindsey: Actually a little of both. The writers do such an amazing job of creating these characters that they make your job easy because they're so well written and so easy to work with. There's definitely things that I did on my own, like the physicality Crystal would have. Those things I came up with on my own. For the most part she was just written so well in such a specific way that I stay true to that and I think the final product is going to be pretty cool.

TBN.com: How many episodes will we be seeing Crystal in? Lindsey: Crystal will be seen in nine episodes this season. TBN.com: So she is a major player! Lindsey: Like I said, she is introduced slowly which is fun. She is revealed mysteriously and by mid season she starts to heat up. TBN.com: Was it planned all along that she would be in a lot of episodes? Lindsay: I think there were varying numbers. I think when I first auditioned it was for six episodes. And I ended up being in nine. TBN.com: So they must have liked how the character is going … Lindsey: Yeah, I hope so! Having had a chance to be introduced to Crystal in "True Blood" now, we here at TrueBloodNet.com can certainly understand why HBO committed to more Crystal! She's fun, mysterious, beautiful and has Jason going six ways from Sunday! The onscreen chemistry really works well and we're excited to see where the relationship goes in the future. It seems to us that Jason has always loved women without liking them. With Crystal, there's a lot to like.. although who knows what lurks behind that bright surface! Finding out is half the fun! Thanks again to Lindsay and HBO for a the opportunity to interview the woman within Crystal Norris. (Photo Credit: First Photo: JSquared Photography, Mars: Lindsey Pulsipher, All Others: John P. Johnson/ HBO )

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