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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.”

She laughingly concedes that, in the first season, when it came to her blue vocabulary, “I took that part of the work home with me. My father snapped me out of that when he made me realize just how unattractive it was around the dining room table.”

Home was Louisville, Kentucky, where she was born in 1979 and educated in Catholic schools before choosing a life in the theatre, but it was all her own decision.

“I’ve never had stage parents and they didn’t push me into anything, but they love me very much and they’ve always watched for what I wanted and needed in my life.

“I committed at a very young age to live an extraordinary life. To be aware of my choices, and my trajectory. And the folks in my home town all hoped and believed in me.”

It certainly helped matters that she lived in the same city as one of the finest of all American regional theatres, the Actors’ Theatre of Louisville and that she can name its iconic founder, Jon Jory as “a friend and one of the very first directors I ever worked with.”

She journeys back into her childhood memories to recall the moment when she first understood what acting really meant.

“I was doing a play and I remember that an actress playing my mother was onstage crying, when I entered and pushed a box of Kleenex at her. That’s all I thought I was doing.

“But Jon sat me down and explained what was behind that gesture, that at that moment, I was growing up, maturing on the spot, learning how to take care of my mother. And my head exploded and I went ‘Yes, this is something I want to do for the rest of my life.’”

When the time came to leave home, she was accepted as one of the 20 select students taken each year into the theatre division of The Juilliard School in Manhattan and ventured into the big, bad world outside of Louisville.

“I cried for about an hour missing my parents. And then I entered into the sweetest time you could imagine.

“It was the best campus in the world. Everything was electric. Everyone was exactly where they wanted to be, doing what they wanted to be doing.”

For Carpenter, that meant the theatre. She found herself getting cast in shows while still in the program and she even made her Broadway debut before graduating.

And not just any Broadway debut. She played Mary Warren in the 2002 revival of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, directed by Richard Eyre, starring Liam Neeson and Laura Linney.

“I loved working on that show so much I would show up every day for rehearsals, whether I was called or not.

“And on opening night, I stood there during the bows, holding Laura’s hand on one side and Arthur’s on the other. I really didn’t think it could get any better than that.”

But it did, very soon. Within 3 years she was playing the title role in the film The Exorcism of Emily Rose and a year later landed her role on Dexter.

“I think my first year on the show, I was very green, doing a lot of heavy emotional scenes, shooting 12-13 pages a day, learning how to act in front of a crew who were always there, having new pages flung at you at all the time. Wow, it’s a wonder I survived!

“All I could do was play what was there in front of me and I really didn’t have any time to think about it. By the second year, I had the tools and I could start to figure out who Debra really was.”

She’s a very complicated character. She works in the Miami Police Dept. as a street-wise detective who was just promoted to Lieutenant this season.

Her adopted brother Dexter is a blood-spatter expert who, unknown to her, is a serial killer who tries to justify his “dark passenger” by only slaying other multiple murderers.

I ask her about the “exchange” that she says has taken place between her and Debra over the years of the show and she thinks about it for a moment.

“Playing someone like her lets me exorcise a lot of things, because I’m the kind of person who always puts a tap on her emotions because she wants to be good, while Debra lets herself explode and then makes adjustments after the fact.

“I’m teaching her about slowing down a bit, because I know her secrets the way no one else ever could.”

We discuss a scene earlier this season, where a new detective on the force treats Lieut. Morgan with a cheeky dose of chauvinistic disrespect, but instead of shouting him down, she hisses her displeasure with an even deadlier whisper.

“That’s just what I mean,” Carpenter says happily. “In rehearsal, I exploded, like Debra would have done in the past, but then I started thinking about her new position and a bit of me got into her by the time we did the final take.”

This kind of careful modulation has also been necessary in other areas, since Carpenter and her co-star, Hall, found themselves married and divorced, all in the course of the past two years, while shooting the show.

The deeply personal Carpenter won’t discuss any of the tabloid rumours as to why the marriage ended, but simply says, “Michael and I are friends and we work together like we always did.”

Watching Dexter at home can be a deeply disturbing experience, especially in those scenes where Hall dispatches his victims, so I ask Carpenter if it’s as difficult to live in that world as a performer.

“I don’t feel like I work on a dark show because I don’t see all that Dexter does. I never see the kill room, I never see the preparations for his murders.

“I just visit a lot of crime scenes and sure, some of them are upsetting, but no more so than on any other cop series. For most of us, this is a show about a police team, not a serial killer.”

Of course, one of the most fascinating elements is wondering whether Debra is ever going to discover just what her brother is really up to and Carpenter admits that “I’d like to find out.”

But when it’s pointed out to her that that kind of discovery would probably have to result in the demise of either her or Dexter, she has the perfect answer.

“Well, life is all about change and death is the biggest change of all.”

FIVE FAVE PEOPLE JENNIFER CARPENTER HAS WORKED WITH

Jon Jory — He was my first professional director and I owe him a lot. Even though I was a kid, he made me see how important every choice you make as an actor is.

Richard Eyre — Another great director. When we worked together on The Crucible. Everybody got the attention they needed from him, not just the big stars like Liam (Neeson) and Laura (Linney).

Laura Linney — She’s a great woman and a great actress and I’ve been fortunate enough to be in projects with her on stage and screen.

Rajiv Joseph — I was in his play, Gruesome Playground Injuries, this past winter off-Broadway. He has the same Catholic upbringing I did, but, also like me, a lot of his work enjoys going to the dark side.

Michael C. Hall — He’s still one of my best friends, no matter what’s gone down between us and the concentrated intensity he brings to his work still amazes me.

Carpenter: “Just because the marriage ended doesn’t mean the love isn’t still there.”

Dexter costars Jennifer Carpenter and Michael C. Hall may have ended their marriage, but according to the actress she still has nothing but love towards her ex-husband.

She admits that the vibe on set has changed since the split late last year, but she still considers him a great friend.

“I mean, he is and always will be one of my best friends in the world,” she told E! Online. “And just because the marriage ended doesn’t mean the love isn’t still there. We take very good care of each other and our cast, we always have, and I’m just really lucky.”

Carpenter, who play’s Michael C. Hall’s foster sister, Deb, on the show, says not only does she feel lucky to have a good relationship with her ex-husband, but also lucky to have a successful show.

“I’m grateful that it is successful,” she said. “Because, you know, six years in and to still be challenged by the work and proud of the work is quite an accomplishment.”

As for whether she thinks Deb will ever find out Dexter’s big secret, she doesn’t count out the idea.

“I think that [Deb] has always suspected something dark, sort of like a dark undercurrent with him. There are just too many gaping holes with his schedule with how he connects and disconnects from her and other people,” she said. “So I don’t think that she would say that ‘He must wrap people in plastic, and drive knives through their ribcage.’ You know?…I don’t think it’s quite cut and dry like that for her, but there is always a suspicion, and I feel like…I’ve always been right there with you the audience.”

Source: The Celebrity Cafe

The Good Wife is taking a page out of Dexter.

Jennifer Carpenter has booked a guest spot on the CBS legal drama, The Hollywood Reporter confirms, for an episode scheduled to air by the end of the calendar year.

Details are scarce on who Carpenter will be playing, who is best known for playing Dexter’s profanity-loving sister Deb Morgan on the Showtime series. Dexter and The Good Wife air in the same time slot — Sundays at 9 p.m. — which would make for an interesting head-to-head matchup should the episodes air on the same night. (Both series belong under the same parent company.)

Since it launched, The Good Wife has racked up a rich slate of guest stars, including former House regular Lisa Edelstein, Denis O’Hare, Ana Gasteyer and Martha Plimpton, just to name a few.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

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].


What was your reaction to learning that Deb was going to be promoted?
It’s pretty unbelievable. I mean, only on TV would I skip so many levels and shoot straight up to lieutenant. But my insecurities about the fictitious promotion were exactly where I needed to be with the character. So it all sort of worked. It’s odd to be Batista’s boss, when I feel like he really did earn it and has been a mentor; it’s awkward. But she’s really taken the lead on every major case that’s come through the office.

Although she’s missing the one obvious thing, which is that her brother’s a serial killer.
Exactly. That is a very good point [laughs].

How is she missing all the clues?
Yeah, it’s harder and harder to justify, actually. Because she is so smart, there are so many holes. Why wouldn’t she for once find out where he’s disappearing to? Especially now that he has Harrison, too, you’d think she’d be more in touch with his schedule. I’m sorry, I’m kind of rambling. But you’d think Harrison would be on her radar and she would see how little he’s there and how much he leans on the nanny.

So do you follow the rule of, “It’s TV, you have to be willing to suspend disbelief”?
This year I’ve been so busy — Deb having the promotion means more time on set — I almost forget that it’s supposed to be a show about a serial killer [laughs].

Does the inevitability of Deb finding out about Dexter, if you consider it that, haunt you? I imagine it will be difficult to shoot.
Well, I think the audience is ready for it. I’m certainly ready for it. I feel like having skipped ahead a year, all of the characters are a little more settled. We’re not on the heels of Rita’s death, it’s been some time since Lundy’s passing. So it would be a good time to find out. And I think audiences are craving it. So I want to give it to them. Now, the scene in the parking lot where Lundy passed [in Season 4] was one of the most difficult days of work that I’ve ever had, because it was incredibly emotional. And there is a part of me that has a reflex about going back to a place like that. But I’ve been doing this since I was eight. I think I’ve found a healthy way of processing it all.

I didn’t realize you’ve been acting that long. You went to Juilliard, right? How did you wind up there?
Well, I made an announcement to my family at 8 that I wanted to be an actor, and I focused like a laser beam on it. I never had a fallback plan. My family was great in that they never said no to me, they just asked, “How?” Which meant you had to get a game plan together. And so I just found out which schools were the best and applied.

Is your family okay with Deb’s cursing? Have they come to terms with it?
After the first year I went home and I had a mouth on me and I can’t remember who it was, but someone made me aware of it. I don’t know if it was a face or a comment, but I put it in check right away. It is so unattractive. But it feels quite natural as Deb. It’s like, there is only one real four-letter F-word, but you can deliver it 50 different ways. So while it sounds like she has a very narrow vocabulary, in her mind, they all mean something different. I’m kind of numb to them at this point. And I often find myself either extracting them, because I don’t feel like that’s where she’d cuss, or calling the writers in the middle of the night saying, “I have a new cuss word.”

That’s amazing. What’s one you’ve made up?
I had one for Episode 12, but the episode had already been written. Hopefully they’ll use it for next season. There’s one that I love when Quinn tries to touch me in Season 5; he opens the door and I’m coming to spend the night and I tell him not to put his “sausage fingers” on me. That’s not a cuss word, but … Next year, I want there to be a comment that Deb’s life is “double-dip fucked.” Hopefully. Because she’s been fucked again and fucked again and fucked again [laughs]. Maybe they won’t use it now that I’ve given it to you.

Are you interested in doing comedy?

I am. It’s where I’ve always felt more comfortable. In school I was always being cast as the clown. And then I did The Exorcism of Emily Rose, and once people hear you scream, they can’t un-hear it. But I don’t mean to say that I’ve been typecast, either. I just feel like, you know, comedy is a lot of fun. So maybe it’s just getting people to see me that way and getting invited into the club, you know?

One last silly question: Dexter says “dark passenger” a lot. Is there anybody on set who’s counted how many times?
Not that I know of! I agree with you, but what’s funny is I don’t hear it as much because I’m not in those scenes. But there have been a couple of times when I’ve had a few lines like, “There’s gonna be another kill.” And I was like, “That’s Dexter speak.” We’re police. We would say killing. I think everyone’s so into the voice of Dexter that sometimes you have to pull them back and be like, “We’re not all serial killers.”

Source: NYMag

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.

THR: She received two big proposals in Sunday’s episode. Which of the two scares her most?

Carpenter: The lieutenant proposal for sure because it means that she is sort of surpassing her father’s career, which is intimidating. She has no marker for what right and wrong look like beyond Harry, as far as being a cop. I think she knows exactly how to handle the proposal from Quinn; I think she’s pretty certain about where that should go.

THR: She ultimately doesn’t want anything to change with Quinn. Why does she decline his proposal?

Carpenter: I think they are a great fit. I think for once in her life she’s honoring what’s true for her and not concerned about whether it’s going to hurt other people or what other people will think of it. She’s really living her own life and has enough with trying to do right by everyone else; that hasn’t really worked out. So now she’s going to really operate from what she knows to be true inside.  

THR: How will her promotion impact her relationship with Quinn?

Carpenter: It is incredibly difficult not only to negotiate her relationship with Quinn but Bautista – it should be his job. He’s earned it, he’s got seniority, he has been a mentor to her and it is just shady politics and spite that get her to that desk. While she was, I think, born to be a detective and be and be a public servant, I think there’s a lot of learning to do there. Look at how she uses her vocabulary: she throws f-bombs like weapons and you can’t really do that when you’re trying to lead. She has to find a new way.

THR: Will Deb have to change her “f-bomb” approach now that she’s a lieutenant? They’ve almost become her trademark.

Carpenter: That’s who she is. She’s trying to find a way to live her life in her own skin and still be successful. So will she find a way to make the f-bomb work? Absolutely. (Laughs.)

THR: How will her promotion impact her relationship with Dexter? Will she lean on him the way she did in those early days of Vice?

Carpenter: I think she leans on him less and less. She’s trying to be really present and accept the relationship for what it is and not try to manipulate it and let him hopefully come to her in his own time. What makes it really interesting is that now there’s nothing to slow Deb down. So when she gets a lead, she can chase it immediately and not have to run through the chain of command. So Dexter has to work that much faster, that much smarter, that much harder so that she doesn’t find out the thing he’s trying to keep a secret.

THR: Will Deb’s promotion help her get closer or further to finding out Dexter’s secret, especially since LaGuerta was typically a desk jockey.

Carpenter: I think she’s on his heels anyway as far as staying on top of everything that goes through the office. She’s always getting closer, every second of every day of every episode, every season. Definitely closer.

THR: What kind of fallout will there be with Quinn after she turns him down and becomes his boss?

Carpenter: She’s going to suit up and she’s going to do the job and act as if everything is all right and hope that he’ll fall in line. They both have their own ways of coping, which will be interesting for Quinn.

THR: What’s Deb’s way of coping?

Carpenter: I think her way of coping is to focus on the job. I think there’s a grieving period but I think because she honored what she knew to be true, there will be reward in that as well and she’ll be afforded some comfort and strength. It’ll jut add another sturdy building block for her to keep making the right choices – finally! Healthy choices!

THR: Is this the end of Deb and Quinn romantically?
Carpenter: I don’t know about that. I just know it’s not time for them to get married. (Laughs.)

THR: Deb also has her first press conference coming up. How will she handle the public spotlight?

Carpenter: She’s thrown in with the sharks by LaGuerta and she’s as green as I felt the first season, so she’ll do her best. With Deb it’s always about getting the bad guy; it’s always about protecting what’s right and wrong. So when she tries to do right thing and wear the right clothes and say right thing, inevitably she trips and falls. But when she stands in her own shoes and speaks from her gut, then things usually fall in line.

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