Angel

AE: You’ve also played a lot of roles that are not lesbian, obviously, and one of them was that really kick-ass chick on Angel. Do you miss playing those kind of roles?

LH: Yeah, I loved that role. … At that time I just lived in New York, I was just kind of doing my own thing, and I didn’t really understand the cult following of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. But it was really my manager who said, "You need to take a good look at this because I think it’s really good, and Joss Whedon writes really well, and the actors really love his stuff." And of course when I took a second look at it I was like, "Yeah, this is amazing."

They said that the prototype for the character was Ripley from Alien. They wanted an older person that had some edge and had a fight, military vibe, and I went in and read for them and I got in my car to go home, and they offered me the part right there, and that was really exciting. I was only supposed to shoot a few [episodes], and I think I shot eight. … It was really a wonderful experience because it was a strong woman that was angry and violent, and it had a lot of stunts in it. At a certain point you have to go, "Oh wow, am I ever going to really play an action hero? Maybe not, but I’ll play this!" And it was great.

And he [Joss Whedon] writes great stuff for women. All of his women are really edgy and there are a lot of metaphors in his writing, and there’s just a lot of sarcasm and tongue-in-cheek type of stuff. I think it taught me a lot, too, about not taking it all too seriously, and that it’s about character and it’s about good writing. … That was my first experience with long-term TV, and then I went right into L Word after we finished that season, and I just had so much fun.

I didn’t realize how many people watched Angel until right after it came out and [found out] that it had kind of a cult following. The funny thing is Jennifer Beals has watched all of Buffy and all of Angel. She’s a huge fan, and that cracks me up. [laughs] She loves it, and I’m really glad I did that part. I’d love to do something like that again.

My fantasy would be to do some version of The Brave One, the TV show version of it. I’m very fascinated by how people behave in moments of grief and loss. … I’m also interested in the ferociousness that motherhood creates and how animalistic we become after we have children, and ultimately what it means to protect them. Those types of things interest me.