You just play what a writer writes, in terms of what a character chooses to do and how a character chooses to deal with their various relationships.
Actually, I get a little say in what my character would or wouldn't do.
You're never going to see me playing a buffoon.
When I create a character, particularly my central character, I want someone who is interesting and feels real and who might have quite a few virtues but is unlikely to be perfect, who hasn't necessarily made all the right choices.
I always find myself gravitating to the analogy of a maze. Think of film noir and if you picture the story as a maze, you don't want to be hanging above the maze watching the characters make the wrong choices because it's frustrating. You actually want to be in the maze with them, making the turns at their side, that keeps it more exciting...I quite like to be in that maze.
For me, casting is critical. It's nice that social media and the passionate fans really corroborated choices and embraced kids to be characters.
To be honest, when you're running a series and you have an open end, you don't want to limit yourself too much with the choices you've got for a particular character.
Stories need stupid decisions that, at the time, seem absolutely rational and necessary. Without stupid decisions, the world isn't thrown out of balance, and so there's no need for a 'rest of the story' to balance it back.
There are Michael Scott moments, which are character choices, but there are also Steve's reads. Usually the things that I'm the biggest fan of are these weird reads that he does - just the way he's interacting with other people.
I've auditioned for animation stuff for a long time; that's a tough field to crack into. I don't think I have the strongest voice. I don't have a theater-trained voice or a radio voice, but I think I make good character choices.
Once into films, an actress can't say that she would only take on particular kind of roles.
Critics often say, 'Oh she makes films about strong women'. Wrong; I make films about complex characters and the choices they make.
I think there's something really positive about getting to explore a character for a long time on a TV show and live with that character and live with the choices they make, but it's also really great to step in.
