Bridget Regan

Bridget: (on being a fan of the fantasy genre) I had caught movies here and there, but I definitely grew up in another realm of fantasy. I grew up as a child loving musicals and singing and dancing, that sort of alternate state of reality. But I love it. Imagining extreme things, letting your imagination run wild.

Bridget: I'm always drawn to who the character is and what the story is, not necessarily what the medium that it's being told in. But I love the idea of moving back and forth from different things. I love TV, I feel like it's such a cool idea, I mean it's interesting, it's somebody's house you come into and you're there every week, and I love the familiarity that it lends.

Bridget: (Gerald Freedman is the Dean of the School of Drama at the University of North Carolina of the Arts, where Bridget graduated from; in a November 2008 interview) I miss all the teachers there. I have such a fond place in my heart for those people. I called Gerald from New Zealand a couple of weeks ago. I will forever be in his debt for what he taught me. I know I wouldn't be where I am today without that school.

Bridget: I probably will never actually say I've made it. We're insecure creatures, we actors. But being on Broadway was a dream I'd had since I was little girl. And to have it come to fruition - it was fantasy, coming true.

Bridget: New Zealand men are quite shy actually, as it's one of the only countries in the world where men and women have always been treated equally. I never thought I would say it, but after a few months over there I actually wanted an aggressive New York stockbroker type to come hit on me again.

Bridget: (about portraying Kahlan Amnell on "Legend of the Seeker") It's amazing to play a character where I've literally had to transform who I am as a person, where I had to do more than blow dry my hair for an audition.

Bridget: (on who would win in a battle between Xena from "Xena: The Warrior Princess" and her character Kahlan on "Legend of the Seeker") Lucy Lawless is amazing - I've had dinner with her a few times and she's so cool. She did that show for so many years, that I'm sure she would totally kick my ass. After a few more years under my belt, I could try. [Laughs]

Bridget: (after playing a badass role on "Legend of the Seeker") [Laughs] I'm fighting large men like three times a week. Certainly, I'm not scared of bumps in the night anymore. I feel like I could take a guy. I feel pretty tough!

Bridget: (on whether entering the fantasy genre is intimidating) In the beginning it was a bit, because I was like, 'How are we going to make everyone believe in all this magic and mythology?' But then I realized there's so much freedom in it, you can say anything is possible because of magic.

Bridget: (on the challenges of working on "Legend of the Seeker") I think it's battling exhaustion. It's not like I don't love work. I love everyone on the set. I love the story that we're telling and what we're doing and everything but you know, I usually get up in the dark every day and do go to work in it every day and you work like a dog, but it's glorious, even when it's miserable. I know that years from now, I'm going to look back on this and be very proud and feel very blessed just doing what I do. But Craig (Horner) and I sometimes look at each other. It's just like our eyes are crossing cause he's in every scene. I get occasional early afternoons off but we do need stamina to keep going.

Bridget: (on the fans of "Legend of the Seeker") They are so lovely. I get it because I love the characters of Kahlan and Richard probably as much as they do. I love the enthusiasm, and when they get upset about the [show] not being like the book I'm with them. I'm like 'I get it man, I get it, I know what you want, you want to see the book,' because it obviously affected them. It's such a great world to get into. And I adore the fans, I feel so lucky that we have any sort of fan base at all to begin with. It was quite lucky to have that.

Bridget: (on preparing for her role in "Legend of the Seeker") When we came out here, they pushed the shooting twice, mostly because of the script and trying to get everything right. And we had enough time to work on riding, fighting and getting the costumes right and all those things. And I am so thankful because I needed that training, because I hadn't fought enough or ridden to make it look like I had been doing it my whole life, and I knew I had to make it feel like it was second nature in order to pull it off. The beautiful thing about playing a character from a book is that if you read the pages, she's described by Richard, and she's described by the people, and there's a section where it's actually in her mind and in her thoughts, and I just read the book like crazy.