Memories From The Set: Anne Dudek
anne dudek bones
BONES
Even though Dudek was Seeley Booth's girlfriend in the very first season of the Fox procedural, she knew Tess' future from the moment she slipped on that oversize dress shirt. "The function of playing Booth's girlfriend was one of the first steps in that romance between [Booth and Brennan]," she says. "You're not playing a girlfriend that people want to have around."
anne dudek bug love
BIG LOVE
Dudek remembers being worried to tell producers of the HBO drama she was pregnant, fearing they'd write her character — Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints sister wife Lura — out of the show. "They were just like, 'OK,'" she says, laughing. She chalks it up to the FLDS ladies' fecund nature — "those women were just pregnant all the time" — and remembers that "it was never mentioned on the show, it was never referred to. It was just such a normal everyday thing... It was a total non-issue for wardrobe, for the plot, for everything."
anne dudek friends
FRIENDS
When Dudek was cast as Precious, the woman Mike dated while broken up with Phoebe, "I expected to feel really comfortable doing [a multicamera series], because it felt a lot like theater," she says. But rehearsal was quick, the series regulars' comic timing even quicker, and "I remember walking through rehearsal one day just thinking, 'Oh my God, these people are so out of my league on this show. This is really hard.'" Enter Aisha Tyler, who'd debuted on the comedy the season prior. Tyler "was driving her car and she saw me, and she slowed down, rolled her window down and she's like, 'Hey, how are you doing on the show?' And I said, 'So intimidating.' And she said, 'I'm stopping because that's exactly how I felt.' And it made such a difference in boosting my confidence."
anne dudek house
HOUSE
Dudek thought Dr. Amber Volakis was going to be a lot like Bones' Tess: There to annoy, and gone in a few episodes. "With Amber, though, I was a little wrong about that. I remember getting the first few scripts for House and thinking, 'They're going to write me off immediately. She's such a total piece of work.'" But having a female antagonist — a feminine version of the crotchety titular character — "was a lot of fun. There was a lot of gold to be mined in the writing from having a character like Amber," Dudek says. "They kept me around for a while."
anne dudek mad men
MAD MEN
Because series creator Matthew Weiner wanted everything on AMC's 1960s drama to be as authentic as possible, Dudek — who played Betty's neighbor galpal Francine — and the rest of the cast members wore era-specific undergarments. We'll let her tell it. "The bras... we ultimately stuffed those with tissue, and I have to tell you, I don't know how those women did that. Because to have tissue balled up in your bra all day isn't very comfortable. Everyone has these pointy boobs, right?... I remember at the end of the day taking this rough tissue out of my bra and just feeling totally relieved."
anne dudek six feet under
SIX FEET UNDER
Before she landed the part of Allison Williman, aka the first woman Nate slept with after Lisa went missing, Dudek had to get through the chemistry test with Peter Krause. Did we mention that Kathy Bates was directing the episode? "It was one of those, 'I can't believe I'm in the room with these people' [moments]," Dudek recalls. "My hands were shaking, and I thought, 'It's better if I just forget the words than have them watch my script go up and down, shaking so hard because I was scared." As you know, Dudek nailed it, and being involved in the prestige drama led to other parts of similar caliber. "It felt like one of the best things I'd had in my career up to that point, just getting that part."
Cause and Effect
THE FLASH
One of Dudek's more recent roles — The Flash's quirkily cute scientist Tracy Brand — earned her significant cool points with her son. "His friends at school, I think they maybe knew I was an actor, but this? Like, I hit it big time for the third grade. All of a sudden, it was like, 'Oh my God, your mom is in The Flash!"
anne-dudek-er
ER
Dudek's first American TV job was in a Season 8 episode of the NBC smash hit, and it was a huge upgrate — amenities-wise — from the small British series she'd appeared on before. "I had a trailer with a TV, a cappuccino if I wanted it any time," she says, laughing. "I remember thinking, 'I've hit the big time.'" Her part, a mother who'd accidentally shot her son, involved an extended scene with series regular Anthony Edwards. "He really helped make me feel comfortable and grounded so that I could do the work I needed to do, because otherwise it was this very intimidating environment. For real. For real."
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COVERT AFFAIRS
The USA Network drama might have revolved around globetrotting ass-kicker Annie Walker, but where would she have been without her down-to-earth sister, Danielle? "I was so excited to be a part of the show, because it's so exciting! It's a spy show! Wait... I'm the one who makes the peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches?" Dudek says, laughing. The actress got her chance at international intrigue when the show shot on location in Stockholm — "my one episode where I got to be involved in the espionage intrigue," she notes — and spent a significant amount of time simultaneously freezing and trying to disguise her burgeoning second pregnancy underneath a thin coat. "It was a really uncomfortable situation to be jetlagged... in a foreign country, pregnant, trying to hide it, with a tiny crew." Nevertheless, "They did such a great job."