"A little spray tan, a leap of faith by Alan Ball and a lot of bleach," Anna Paquin says.
Those are the ingredients, the 26-year-old Oscar winner says, for her dream role.
Is she talking about a Shakespeare heroine? A Broadway lead? A gorgeous superhero? No. Paquin, who describes herself as "the palest brunette on the planet," has turned into a perky, blonde, well-tanned Louisiana waitress named Sookie Stackhouse. Sookie, who is also a mind-reader, falls in love with a 173-year-old vampire in Ball's new series "True Blood," launching tonight on HBO.
If you're wondering why an Oscar winner would rhapsodize about a television show about the undead, simply ask Paquin.
"Sookie is tough, strong, sweet, a hopeless romantic and really outspoken when she thinks that she's in the right," she says breathlessly, speaking by telephone from New York. "She's a good person and completely fearless. I get to do so many crazy, cool and wacky things because of the supernatural element to our show."
When she was 11 Paquin charmed the world as she stood speechless at the podium before accepting an Academy Award as best supporting actress for "The Piano" (1993). She quickly discovered, however, that the golden statue didn't guarantee a lifetime of great roles.
"Finding three-dimensional parts is so hard," she says with a sigh. "I've had more than my fair share of interesting female roles, but they were usually supporting characters, as opposed to the ones getting into all the trouble."
Not this time. Sookie is the lead in "True Blood," which is based on a series of novels by Charlaine Harris. The 12-episode first season deals only with the first novel, "Dead Until Dark" (2001).
The story twist is simple: Thanks to an artificial-blood product called Tru Blood, vampires can now buy their sustenance instead of draining it from their victims. Although they are still relegated to life after dark, otherwise they can lead a relatively normal existence - if other people will only let them.
Ball, who is also the writer behind "American Beauty" (1999) and HBO's "Six Feet Under" (2001-2005), has described "True Blood" as "a metaphor for gays, for people of color in previous times in America, for anybody who is misunderstood and feared and hated for being different."
Paquin agrees.
"Depending on your interest or sensitivity," she says, "you can see whatever parallel fits into your life. We talk about vampires 'coming out of the coffin.' I like shows or films or books that have messages but don't beat people over the head with them. 'True Blood' is about the drama, the relationship, the sex, the violence and the vampires."
And it's about food service, which actually gave Paquin pause at first.
"I'm probably one of the only actresses who has no waitressing experience," she says. "It looks like hard work and not a lot of fun. A few people on the set showed me how to carry a tray, not have all the heavy things on one side. I've never had a non-acting job, because I've pretty much acted full time since I was 9."
Paquin was born in Canada but moved to Lower Hutt, New Zealand, when she was 4. After answering an ad in the local paper, she was cast as the daughter of Holly Hunter's mute character in "The Piano."
"I went along, and they said, 'Oh yeah, you're the right height,' " she recalls. "I had a few auditions and then a screen test. I thought it would be really neat to do, but I didn't have a clue how they made movies. I'd hardly seen any."
After winning her Oscar, Paquin took a couple of years off before playing the young Jane Eyre in "Jane Eyre" (1996) and a girl who leads a flock of migrating Canadian geese in "Fly Away Home" (1996). She then portrayed Queen Isabella II in "Amistad" (1997), a teenage runaway in "Hurlyburly" (1998) and a girl coming of age in "A Walk on the Moon" (1999).
Although Paquin had a small role in "She's All That" (1999), she was never a teen-movie staple.
"When a lot of those movies were being made about 15-, 16- and 17-year-olds and I was that age, they were casting kids in their 20s," she says. "So it wasn't really an option and, anyway, those weren't the most interesting parts. I was usually the young person in serious adult films."
Paquin became an international star again when she played Rogue, the mutant who has the ability to steal powers and life energy, in "X-Men" (2000). She returned for "X2: X-Men United" (2003) and "X-Men: The Last Stand" (2006), and in between shot smaller films, including "Buffalo Soldiers" (2001), "25th Hour" (2002) and "The Squid and the Whale" (2005).
Big, showy roles escaped her, however, until "True Blood" came along. That's a thing of the past now: Audiences will see a lot of Paquin in the series, in both senses of the term.
"I'm not shy per se," she says. "Going through puberty on film kicks it out of you. Being half-naked at work is now something I'm completely used to. I don't have one single outfit that covers my entire body. Either my boobies are up by my eyeballs or half of my butt is showing.
"It was a little odd the first few days of filming," she admits. "It's like the way a corset feels the first day: 'I can't breathe,' and then you get used to it."
Paquin is enjoying her new look.
"People are more friendly toward blonde, tanned, happy people," she says.
Even so, the actress insists that glamour is not important to her.
"If I could go through life without ever having to look in a mirror," she says, "that would be OK. I've never been very interested in looks."
As a child Paquin talked about being a lawyer, but acting won out. She left Columbia University after her freshman year.
"I'm pretty confident that the curriculum at Columbia is not going to change very radically," she says, "and that I could go back and learn the same things. But you're only young and an actress once, and that same, specific, amazing role won't be around 10 years later."
When she dropped out, Paquin turned not to movies but to the theater, including a 2002 London production of "This Is Our Youth" in London that co-starred Jake Gyllenhaal and Hayden Christensen.
"I'd never been onstage in my life," she says, "and I did five plays back to back. It was the best education for my job that I could have gotten. It's not like I blew off school to go lie on a beach and become vapidly famous."
Although her parents, both teachers, split up when she was 13, Paquin credits them with keeping her grounded.
"I have a supportive and really stable home life," says the actress, who has a 31-year-old brother and a 28-year-old sister. "My family doesn't value the fame part of it. It just goes along with my job."
Two things she has avoided are drugs and alcohol.
"I really like my job," Paquin says. "And I really like being good at my job, and I like being well slept and having learned my lines and showing up in the morning and not being the person about whom they say, 'Oh, God, what are we going to do about that?' I get a massive high off of being respected in my chosen profession."
Paquin has watched with interest as Abigail Breslin and Saoirse Ronan have followed her path to Oscar night as children, though neither nominee has actually won. Has she any advice for the next generation?
"Look after yourself," Paquin says. "Sometimes girls have a tendency to not stand up for themselves if they think it will make them seem difficult. It's kind of icky when you see that play out. So stand up for yourself.
"Maybe someone won't love you today, but you'll still respect yourself tomorrow."