True Blood's Vampire Romance

Though she's an Oscar winner (at 11, for The Piano), Paquin, now 26, "fought hard" to get the role, which required her to acquire a southern accent  (she's Canadian by birth but grew up in New Zealand) and dye her brown hair blond. "Boys like to stare at blond girls," she has discovered. "It's amusing and quite lovely."  She also had to get used to an abbreviated wardrobe of "really tiny shorts. I'm practically naked," she laughs."But they give me this nice spray tan."

Living in L.A. temporarily while shooting True Blood, with occasional location trips to Louisiana, Paquin considers herself a gypsy, a word she prefers to homeless, which "has a garbage bag connotation." As for her off-screen relationships, "I don't have a type," she says. "I like smart people. I like nice people. I like good people."

While she wouldn't like to have Sookie's telepathic powers, Paquin says she's "totally fine" with blood, a good thing since some scenes are not for the squeamish. Don't let that aspect deter you though–True Blood is one of the best new series of the fall.

Photo courtesy of Jaimie Trueblood/HBO.