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Bridget Regan Finding What She Is Seeking

Posted on 20. Dec, 2008 by Administrator in Profiles

words by Eli Kooris, photo by Robert Todd Williamson

It is the afternoon before Halloween and Bridget Regan is excited about her costume; a T-shirt and jeans. That’s right — just a normal, comfortable outfit. “I’m in costume and hair and makeup so much these days,” she explains, reminiscing on the times just a few years ago when she and her girls would go all out on Halloweens in Manhattan. “This show has made me really low maintenance.”
Over the past six months Regan has called the picturesque terrain of New Zealand her home while shooting the first 22 episodes of the Disney / ABC Family series Legend of the Seeker, an epic fantasy series based on “The Sword of Truth” novels by Terry Goodkind. Think The Lord of the Rings trilogy as a television series — fewer battle scenes and no nosy little hobbits, but plenty of sorcery, sword-play, and dramatic sets to keep both boy and girl fans entertained. Regan stars as Kahlan Amnell, a beautiful witch in a mythical world who must guide and protect an unsuspecting young peasant — Australian newcomer Craig Horner — who has been deemed the legendary Seeker, the hero who will free her land and people from the tyranny of evil. “It’s amazing to play a character where I’ve literally had to transform who I am as a person, where I had to do more then blow dry my hair for an audition,” Regan says. 
 Her transformation involved riding horses at full gallop and running through rough terrain in a tight corset, which her costumers and, ahem, male demographic seem to favor. In fact, Regan’s now ‘pronounced boobs’ — as she calls them — are a running joke on set between her and the mostly male Kiwi crew, who the young and pretty American actress often makes blush. “New Zealand men are quite shy actually, as it’s one of the only countries in the world where men and women have always been treated equally,” Regan explains, citing an example of how she and one of her New York ladies who visited the set were completely ignored in a local bar. Regan laughs, “I never thought I would say it, but after a few months over there I actually wanted an aggressive New York stockbroker type to come hit on me again.”
It is this sense of isolation — not being able to call back home regularly because of the extreme time zone change, and being loud and foreign (she is the only American cast member and one of few on the set) — which has encouraged Regan to fully embody her character: A woman whose history has been erased and now has only one purpose in her life. Well, that comparison may be a tad dramatic, but Regan can at least distantly identify. Born in San Diego, Regan carried her love of theater with her through childhood, to college at the University of North Carolina and then up to “you couldn’t get me there fast enough” New York City in 2004. There she settled into the smaller, tight-knit acting scene in Manhattan and began scoring guest and co-starring roles on major (and oft canceled) network television shows like Law & Order: Criminal Intent, The Black Donnelly’s and New Amsterdam. After a recent stint on Broadway in the comedy “Is He Dead?” Regan finally felt safe calling herself an actress.
“I probably will never actually say I’ve made it. We’re insecure creatures, we actors,” she says. “But being on Broadway was a dream I’d had since I was little girl. And to have it come to fruition — it was fantasy, coming true.”

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Tags: Bridget Regan, Legend of the Seeker