GO NYC: How did you get started in showbiz?
Michelle Wolff: I started doing theater teeny-tiny. I remember I had this moment where I realized, “Wow! You mean you can do that for a living? That’s really cool!” I majored in theater arts at the University of Santa Cruz. I moved to San Francisco and I was trying to get an agent there; it was really hard. Finally, I came to L.A. for three months. Then I went back to San Francisco and I was flying back and forth and then finally I knew I had to either do it or not do it. There just wasn’t enough in San Francisco. So I moved to Los Angeles on April 1st, 2000 and that’s where I’ve been ever since.
For our readers with nothing but basic cable, please clue us in a bit to Dante’s Cove.
It’s supernatural. It’s super sexy. The sex is pretty graphic. We actually have the only female sex scene in the show. It’s mostly boys. Most of these guys are straight, too, as actors. I’m like, “Wow.” It’s intense. Everyone is pretty. It’s kind of goofy in a lot of ways. The whole witchcraft stuff is a lot of fun, but it’s definitely a guilty pleasure.
After seeing advertisements with lots of men with their shirts off, I thought it was a gay male show.
Exactly. That’s why it was really important to us that we had a really good hot lesbian sex scene. It was like, “Let’s not shortchange this now.” We really wanted to create something hot and sexy so it could be like one of those sex scenes, like the sex scene in Bound. Every lesbian knows about that scene and it’s hot. You’ll rent that movie just to watch the scene.
Do you relate to your character Brit?
Brit is interesting because she was basically just going to be in one scene. That was it. There was another character who was a bartender and they ended up merging the two characters and making her one. What I like about her is that she’s really cocky. She’s very intense. I think she could probably seduce just about anybody if she put her mind to it. I think Brit does have a real bitchy side to her, and yet I try to bring in this really soft vulnerable side, at least when they [characters Brit and Michelle] were together. She’s very protective. She’s an “I’ll pay the rent” kind of person, which I like. I can definitely fall into that in my own life.
Is it just a coincidence that you scuba dive in your spare time and Brit is a scuba diving instructor?
Yes, it’s a coincidence. I was like, “Are you kidding!?” It turned out to be a good coincidence too, because I knew little things and they didn’t know what they were doing. I said, “Well, if I’m her instructor, I’m not making her carry her own tanks.” And I also went to bartending school; Brit’s a bartender as well. I had it all working.
One more thing you and Brit have in common—you ‘re both gay. Are you concerned about typecasting?
I guess some people get really scared that, “Oh, it’s going to hurt my career.” Honestly, I don’t know if it has or hasn’t. It’s not like anyone’s ever said, “Well, I’m not bringing you in for this, just so you know, because you’re a lesbian.” I don’t know! I just know that a lot of the stuff early on that I was booking had gay content and as long as it was good, I wanted to do it. I didn’t feel like it was something that I had to worry about too much. And not only that, but I can’t imagine living my life in the closet. There are way too many people out there who would out me anyway.
What’s your opinion on TV’s portrayal of lesbians?
I would love to see more, obviously. I hear these people being like, “Ooh, The L Word.” It isn’t my favorite show at all, but I just get tired of people being like, “I feel that’s not a correct portrayal of all lesbians in L.A. or anywhere else.” And I’m thinking, “Well, duh.” No show is going to be a correct portrayal of everything. It’s not like the Cosby Show was a correct portrayal of every single African American who ever lived in the United States. I mean, come on, it’s one show.
I wonder how ghosts feel about their portrayal on Dante’s Cove! Do you believe in the supernatural?
Absolutely. I believe in ghosts. I’ve seen them; so I know I believe in them. I do have a very keen sense of that mystical aspect, but I think that a lot of the way that’s portrayed is kind of silly. I don’t know that it’s that concrete. I think it’s a little bit more ethereal than that.
