Brian: Who/what were your first performance inspirations - Carol Burnett's wacky movie take-off skits - Elsa Lanchester in 'Bride of Frankenstein' - A beauty title hungry cousin?

Erin: Lucille Ball was my first inspiration. I was obsessed with 'I Love Lucy' and watched it in syndication over and over again. I think that's where my love of wacky, ditzy, cunning characters comes from.

Brian: As a veteran of many television shows, which experience did you find to be your most interesting and why?

Erin: The most interesting was actually the worst experience, but I learned a lot. I've had such a great time on most of the shows I have done guest spots on and I've usually found the casts to be both gracious and lovely. On one show however, which I shouldn't mention the name of, the lead actress was so rude I was shocked. She was on her cell phone during my coverage and it seemed she was screwing up her lines on purpose to throw me off. It was an awful day, but I learned a great lesson - I realized that you have to take care of your own performance no matter what they other actors are doing. I now consider it a gift when I get to work with great people who can elevate me, but I don't depend on it.

Brian: Usher, Usher, Usher! I am actually a huge fan of 'In the Mix'. (Oh, My Gosh I'm admitting that in print!) Do you have any enjoyable memories about working on this fun film?

Erin: I only worked a couple days on the film, but meeting Usher was great. He's such a nice guy. I think my most enjoyable memory from the film was the table read. A bunch of people couldn't make it and the casting director asked me if I could read several parts. I did different voices for each character I read, which was a little silly, but I had a blast pretending to be a 6 year-old girl, a grandmother and a sexy vixen all in one day.

Brian: 'In the Mix' was originally called 'Dying for Dolly'. As a writer your self, what kind of plotline would you come up with for a movie for that title - 'Dying for Dolly'? (Have fun!)

Erin: 'Dying for Dolly' is a film about Marjorie Jones: a poor eight year-old girl who moves into a new town where all of the little girls have beautiful doll collections. Unable to afford dolls herself, Marjorie begins to covet her new friend Julie Bluth's collection and becomes obsessed with one doll in particular: the Princess Shana doll given to Julie by her grandmother who has since passed away. For months Marjorie plots to steal the doll, but security at the Bluth's mansion is high and Julie will not let Princess Shana out of her sight. After many failed attempts, Marjorie decides that the only way to obtain Princess Shana is to kill the entire Bluth family, first creating a fake will which leaves Princess Shana in her care. Luckily Marjorie's father is a chemist and has a laboratory filled with potions that, combined correctly, can kill without a trace. After doing extensive research, Marjorie sneaks into her father lab and creates the potion, a vile for each Bluth is packed into her Hello Kitty backpack, and her afternoon play-date with Julie lethal. Weeks pass and a satisfied Marjorie meticulously cares for her new dolls: Princess Shana most of all. All is well until a series of close calls alerts Marjorie to the fact that she is being haunted, by none other that Julie's grandmother Siliva, the original owner of the Princess Shana doll. Silvia's ghost terrifies eight-year-old Marjorie, and convinces her that the only way to end the terror is to bury the doll along side her murdered granddaughter Julie. Marjorie complies, but while at the graveyard digging a hole for Princess Shana, the ghosts of the entire Bluth family arise and pull Marjorie into the hole burying her alive. Marjorie gasps for air and tries to climb out of her grave, but soon suffocates as dirt fills her tiny mouth. We end on a shot of Princess Shana alone at the graveyard the next morning. All of a sudden she winks at the camera and speaks! We hear the word "freedom" escapes from her smiling lips, and we are left to wonder if the doll herself did not have a hand in all of this so that she might be free from the confines of obsessive adoration. I guess we'll never know.

Brian: That's the way! Always keep us guessing! Now, speaking of films that you actually wrote -what was your original inspiration for 'The Murder of Donavon Slain'?

Erin: My original inspiration for 'The Murder of Donovan Slain' came about when someone tried to give me career advice by telling me not to take no for an answer. I had just moved to LA and I guess they were trying to be supportive, but it seemed like such silly advice. What did that mean, "don't take no for an answer"? Was I supposed to kill someone to get ahead if they stood in my way? I started thinking about creating a character who would take that advice literally. I called her Beth Mack, after another very ambitious character 'Macbeth'. What this turned into was a modern adaptation of the Macbeth story set in Hollywood.

Brian: You play three characters in 'Donavon' - difficult? Also what was the funniest moment in the making of this short, independent film?

Erin: I loved playing all three characters and finding the little things about them that made them different. Ultimately they were all overly ambitious actresses with a need to succeed, but what made each of them that way was a fun thing to explore. I think the funniest moment of working on the film was after I sat through a few hours of make-up to make me look dead. (We had a great special effects person who turned me green and rotting and created a fantastic bullet wound in my chest.) Anyway, after it was all done we took a bunch of pictures of me smiling and hanging out with everyone goofing around and they just looked so funny.

Brian: Are there any future plans for 'Donavon'?

Erin: I've been thinking of turning it into a feature for so-o-o-o long. The short was done very low budget when I first moved out to LA and I had a bunch of first year USC grad students on the crew. They were all great, but it looks a bit like a student film and the idea could play out so much better given the resources and experience I have now. Also, the short just touched upon this world that I'd love to flesh out more in a feature. We'll see.

Brian: You play the delightful, wacky Esme on 'Passions'. As a gothic soap (and our closest contemporary to 'Dark Shadows') what is the most bizarre thing you've been required to do on the show?

Erin : I don't really get to do the super-natural stuff, but something I had a lot of fun doing was chasing Fancy and Noah around with a shotgun after they'd played a trick on me. I love that this genre allows for such over the top reactions to being wronged.

Brian: How difficult is it for you to slip into Esme's unique voice and mannerisms? (And congratulations on becoming a contract regular!)

Erin: Thanks for the congrats - It's exciting. As for slipping into Esme... it's old hat now. When I first auditioned for the show I think I was just being silly with her voice. I wanted to give her something unique and kooky and was actually quite surprised they cast me. I thought they would have picked someone more like the Nicole Richie type they suggested they wanted in the breakdown. Esme sort of comes from her own world... and I really have no idea where that is.

Brian: Do you have any thoughts you'd like to share about the neo noir, 'The Box', you worked on with Gabrielle Union (and others)?

Erin: Everyone on that film was so amazing. I just found out they are getting distribution, so I'm very excited. The writer/director A.J Kparr is so talented and I'm thrilled he was able to get such a great cast and crew together for his first film. I know he's got a bunch of other projects in the works and I really think you'll be seeing some great work from him in the future.

Brian: Lastly, any future plans or words of wisdom (IE: Don't try to do Noel Coward with a pop star and a knife) that you'd like to leave us with? And thanks! It's been a ride!

Erin: Future plans are to keep creating my own projects and continue to find great characters to play. I think the trap in this business is to settle and think you're done when you've had a bit of success. You spend so long trying to make a living that once you do; you stop being hungry and start to expect things to come to you. I plan to keep driving forward. I want my own production company.