The Star interview with Jennifer!
When I sat down to talk with Jennifer Carpenter, I found myself feeling a fair bit of trepidation.
Not because she’s got a reputation for being difficult, far from it.
But the 31-year-old actress has become famous for playing Debra Morgan, the foul-mouthed sister of Michael C. Hall’s serial killer, Dexter, on the hit series (now in its sixth season, Sunday nights at 10 p.m. on The Movie Network) with such total believability, consistency and depth, that I wondered just what toxic cluster of f-bombs she might unleash on me.
For example, the most recently aired episode found her berating her ex-lover Quinn for having compromised a major case by sleeping with one of the witnesses.
“I could give a f—k who you f—k!” she railed. “Just don’t f—k with my investigation, you f—k!”
See what I mean?
With a sigh of relief I rapidly discovered Carpenter is not at all like the character she portrays, even though she admits, “the more time I spend on the series, there’s definitely been an exchange between Debra and me.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Dexter’s Jennifer Carpenter: ‘It’s Harder and Harder to Justify’ Deb Not Realizing Her Brother Is a Killer
As Dexter‘s Debra Morgan, Jennifer Carpenter has a way with foul words and overlooking the obvious: her brother’s Dark Passenger. When we left her last week, she had just been promoted to lieutenant over the more seasoned Batista (the squeaky fucker gets the grease), leaving us to consider: Does her ascension to the top mean she’s that much closer to finding Dexter out? Or are we just that much closer to our televisions next time we yell, “Ask him why he’s always the first person to arrive at a crime scene!” (Please, God, don’t let Dexter get caught.) We spoke with the Kentucky-born actress about her character’s blind spots, why they drive her crazy, too, and the dirty Debism she’s saving for next season.
Congratulations on the show’s best season-premiere ratings yet.
Oh, wow, thanks. I don’t really pay attention to that, but I’m glad it’s doing well. I sort of enjoy the fact that we’re in a bubble when we’re shooting it. I feel like if I were imagining people really watching it, or the pressure of numbers, that maybe I wouldn’t work as well [laughs].
Read the rest of this entry »
New interview with Jennifer by The Hollywood Reporter!
Sunday’s Dexter saw Jennifer Carpenter’s Debra Morgan step out from her brother – and father’s – shadow when she was promoted to lieutenant of Miami Metro, a position higher than anything her father, Harry, had achieved in his career.
While the promotion may have been out of spite – Matthews (Geoff Pierson) promotes Deb instead of Batista (David Zayas) to get back at LaGuerta (Lauren Velez) – it serves as a culmination for the character who first started as a gangly Vice cop still learning the ropes in Season 1.
As things are looking up for Deb’s career, Carpenter says Deb’s response to Sunday’s other proposal is an example of how much her character has grown and learned how to finally start making “healthy decisions.”
The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Carpenter to discuss Deb’s evolution, Quinn (Desmond Harrington) and how her “f-bomb” ways will change now that she’s a lieutenant (hint, they won’t!).
The Hollywood Reporter: How has your approach to playing Deb changed since the early days of Season 1 when she was a rough-around-the-edges Vice cop?
Jennifer Carpenter: The first year was absolutely an education in how to work in television and I appreciate the learning curve the audience gave me. I feel like I’ve been able to mature as an actress alongside of Deb. I feel like every year she makes huge leaps – not as a cop but how she’s evolved as a woman. This year she’s fine-tuned her tools a bit; she’s a little better about masking her feelings so that she can charge through the work and also be a little more creative about how she tries to penetrate Dexter’s walls.
New video interview with Jennifer by Access Hollywood from the Emmy’s!
Jennifer Carpenter doubts she’d be where she is now without the belief and help of another Showtime star.
As the Sunday, Oct. 2, start of her sixth “Dexter” season approaches, the actress – often hilariously profane as Debra Morgan, the Miami police-detective half-sister of the title forensic sleuth and secret serial killer (current Emmy nominee Michael C. Hall, Carpenter’s former husband) – is hugely thankful to Laura Linney, the also-Emmy-nominated star of Showtime’s “The Big C,” for her career and fame.
“Laura Linney is responsible for me getting ‘The Exorcism of Emily Rose,’ which led to ‘Dexter,’ so I owe her everything,” Carpenter tells Zap2it about the 2005 thriller that earned her an MTV Movie Award. “We did ‘The Crucible‘ together [on Broadway], and after that, she was attached to ‘Emily Rose.’ She’s the reason I got to audition for that.
“She’s still a very good friend,” Carpenter adds of Linney. “I’m so grateful, not only for how she’s helped me navigate my career, but also for what a really beautiful person she is. She’s an amazing woman, and an incredible actress … but you know that.”
With guest stars including Edward James Olmos, Colin Hanks and Mos Def, “Dexter” begins its newest round one year ahead of where Season 5 left off. Carpenter likes that creative conceit, which initially sees fellow detective and love interest Joey Quinn (Desmond Harrington) “being weird” around Debra, or so she tells him.
“I guess you get hints” of what happened during those 12 unseen months, Carpenter says, “but you didn’t miss anything substantial. We got to move through the most boring things, and now, you can see all the exciting stuff while you’re in your living room on your couch.”
Source: Zap2it
Enjoy the read!
The modern American TV family comes in all shapes and sizes – and species.
Six actors gathered for a roundtable recently to discuss the elastic definition of “family” on television. The actors spoke about what drew them to their roles, the identity of their characters in relation to others and how their own lives have been informed by their performances.
Following are edited excerpts – moderated by Los Angeles Times television critic Mary McNamara – with Emmy Rossum (“Shameless“), Katey Sagal (“Sons of Anarchy“), Peter Krause (“Parenthood“), Cloris Leachman (“Raising Hope“) and Jennifer Carpenter (“Dexter“).
Read the rest of this entry »
Even one more interview!
The modern American TV family comes in all shapes and sizes – and species. Some hail from biker gangs. Some from traditional families. Others from vampire kingdoms. Some must cope with an alcoholic patriarch or a barely lucid grandmother who parades around in her bra and colorful stretch pants. The really unlucky are unaware that a sibling has a habit of killing people.
With the Emmy race in full swing, six actors gathered for a roundtable recently to discuss the elastic definition of “family” on television – or at least they tried to when panelist and funny woman Cloris Leachman wasn’t interjecting. The actors spoke about what drew them to their roles, the identity of their characters in relation to others and how their own lives have been informed by their performances.
Read the rest of this entry »
A new interview with Jen!
The fact that Jennifer Carpenter has yet to garner any Emmy attention for her turn as dirty-mouthed, heart-of-gold, unlucky-in-love detective Debra Morgan on Showtime’s accolade-adorned Dexter is a crime far worse than any committed by the series’ titular character. Will this be the year that the actress’ often arresting performance cops some recognition? One can hope, though Carpenter calls the role itself the best award she could possibly ask for.
TVLINE | Season 5 of Dexter seemed to lift the veil from Deb’s eyes a bit, almost enlightening her about what’s been going on around her for years. On your end, was that a purposeful approach?
It wasn’t a conscious decision. I feel like I’ve requested to know less and less about what’s going to happen during the season so that I don’t start prematurely playing into something instead of letting it unfold naturally. John Lithgow’s year was the season of grieving, and it was really heavy to play and to come home with, so I felt a little release because [Season 5] was a new chapter in a new book. The audience might have gotten a sense of that lightness about Deb. Deb is incredibly insecure — as am I — about her work, but she happens to be very good at it and people are giving her more responsibility. And she’s really adapting well to it.
Read the rest of this entry »