Lindsay Pulisher : City Link

On True Blood, Lindsay Pulsipher plays Crystal Norris, the troubled, inbred werepanther torn between her meth-dealing family and a tumultuous love affair with backwoods babe Jason Stackhouse. In real life, she’s a bubbly blonde artist who was raised by a Mormon family in Utah. Off the set, Pulsipher has had a heck of a time keeping the details on her character a secret from family and friends who are obsessed with the popular HBO series created by Alan Ball. Pulsipher, who will appear Saturday at the Seminole Coconut Creek Casino, recently talked toCity Link about learning to move like a cat, working with Patrick Swayze and being surrounded by a set of fake blood.

What’s a typical day like on the True Blood set? 
It’s one of the friendliest, most easygoing sets I’ve ever been on. The crew is so friendly and welcoming. Being a newcomer on the show, I couldn’t have felt more at home right away. That being said, it’s a very hard-working set, as well.

Your character on True Blood has such a heavy Southern accent. When your fans meet you, do they expect you to have that accent? 
Yeah. I play a character who’s so different from who I am in regular life that people are kind of taken aback. When they first meet me, they’re like, “Are you Crystal? Wait, you are Crystal.” True Blood fans are so gracious and so cool. It’s been such an amazing experience just meeting all the fans.

How do you prepare to play a werepanther? 
The writers do a wonderful job of keeping us in the dark about what’s actually going to happen. I had read that she was a werepanther in the books, so I kind of thought they were going there with her. Early on in the shooting process, there were a couple of scenes where Jason and Crystal are getting to know each other in the woods. There’s a moment where Crystal smells something in the air and kind of springs up, and she’s very felinelike. They kept alluding to the fact that she’s catlike and prowling. So I was thinking at that point they were probably going to take her to the werepanther world. I’ve always had that in my mind. I’m a visual actor when it comes to preparation, so I always had the visualization of panthers and my interpretation of a what a werepanther would be.

What is it about Crystal that has Jason Stackhouse so enamored and locked in? 
It’s funny, because Jason is quick to fall in love and he has had quite a few girlfriends. But here was this girl he had never seen around Bon Temps. She was living out in Hot Shot — this little community. Her mystery really drew him in.

You got to work with Patrick Swayze on his last project, The Beast. Do you have a favorite memory of him? 
Patrick was just such a personable, warm guy. He had this amazing sense of humor and a way of drawing you in that made you feel like the most important person in the room. He had a huge heart. I feel so blessed I was able to work with him on his last project. I feel it was some of his best work because of what he was going through, and he really gave himself to that role. My favorite moment with him was in the makeup trailer. It was a long day and he had been so tired from the chemo and had worked himself to the bone. We were taking off our makeup, and there was this very familial moment. I could see in his eyes he was just happy to have made it through the season. We did it. I will never forget. It was one of the last times I saw him, too, so it was really special.

Are there just buckets and buckets of fake blood on the True Blood set? 
Yes. I actually haven’t had to work with any of the fake blood because Crystal hasn’t had any vampire bitings, but I’ve heard there’s two different kinds of fake blood. One is kind of sweet to put in your mouth and it’s not disgusting. Then, there’s the other one they just splash everywhere.

Do you spend a lot of time in the makeup trailer since your character is often bruised? 
When we first started, my makeup took about five minutes because they didn’t really do anything. They didn’t want to make Crystal too fancy. And then, when I got the black eye, I had to stay a lot longer so they could bruise me up.

Do you get recognized on the street now? 
Yes, and that’s always interesting and fun. All of my co-stars were warning me to get ready to be recognized. I didn’t believe them. The day after my debut scene, I got recognized. One time, I was shopping for underwear and the salesgirl and I were talking undies, and when we were done, she said, “I love you as Crystal and I’ll see you tonight.” It threw me off so bad, because here I am shopping for the most private piece of clothing there is. That was pretty funny.