The Women of True Blood Season 4
Sookie Stackhouse, as you may very well know, is the lead character in True Blood played by actress Anna Paquin.
Sookie is a gifted telepath who works as a waitress in Merlotte’s in Bon Temps, Louisiana. She grew up thinking that her gift of being able to hear people’s thoughts is really a disability. Her parents send her to a therapist as a child who convinces her that she is naturally able to read people’s body language. After she loses both her parents in a flash flood, she and her brother are raised by her maternal grandmother. She has never really dated because she can hear their crude thoughts and that has always lead her to alienate herself from people… until she meets Bill. Bill is a vampire whose thoughts she cannot hear which leads her to eventually fall in love with him. Bill later introduces her to the world of supernatural elements where she discovers that she is actually part faerie.
Anna is a Canadian born, New Zealand actress who has the record for being the second youngest winner of the Academy Award. In 1994, at the age of 11, she won the best supporting actress award for her role in the critically acclaimed movie ‘The Piano.’ She has since done a string of successful films such as ‘Almost Famous,’ ‘She’s All That,’ and ‘X-Men.’ Anna has more recently won Golden Globe’s best actress award for her role as Sookie in HBO’s True Blood. Anna is now married to her on screen lover Bill played by Stephen Moyer. “Maybe it should be weird, simulating sex with your husband in front of people. But it’s really not. When it’s a love scene with someone you actually love its no ‘Can I touch him here, can I touch him there’ You know what your boundaries are, or aren’t I suppose,” said Anna in an interview. About her role as Sookie she said: “Sookie is always in distress, it wouldn’t be True Blood if someone wasn’t trying to kill her.”
Tara Thornton, like Sookie, grows up being a pariah in society. Her childhood in an abusive home with an alcoholic mother has made it hard for her to fit in with normal society, but this has also made her tough and quick to anger. She is a natural when it comes to reading people’s personalities and she has no qualms about telling them openly what she thinks of them. This I’m sure can only alienate her even more from society. Tara and Sookie are best friends as children and continue to be good friends, understanding and helping each other through life. After the death of the only man she ever loved, Tara leaves Bon Temps, hoping never to return. With the start of season 4, we see Tara in New Orleans working as a cage fighter and in a lesbian relationship with another fighter.
Tara’s role is efficiently played by American actress Rutina Wesley. According to Alan Ball, the creator of the TV series, “[Wesley] was the first person who showed [Tara's] vulnerable side.” When asked what she thought about her character’s sudden change in sexual preference she says “I don’t think she (Tara) was expecting it. I think it just happened. I think it was one of those things where you just fall in love with who you fall in love with.” She goes on explaining, “I don’t think she labels herself as one thing or the next. She just started hanging out and the next thing you know, she was in love.” Wesley went on to say “I think she (Tara) is finally going to love herself in a way that is beautiful. Her self-esteem is back up and that’s opened her up to love someone else. I think she also needed a new lease on life. She totally comes back more zen, and she’s a feisty season one Tara who we all loved.”
Pamela Swinford de Beaufort is another century old vampire who is fiercely loyal to her maker – Eric. Although the show doesn’t explore too much into Pam’s background, we often see Pam and Eric speaking to each other in Swedish. She has also mentioned a few times that she was once a prostitute. She is often portrayed as one who is completely devoid of feelings and apathetic to human suffering. Eric is probably the only one for whom she has any feelings at all! Even so, she is not in love with Eric, in the traditional sense of the word. She has also portrayed strong lesbian tendencies on the show.
Pam’s character is played by Kristin Baure van Staten, the American TV and film actress best known for her role in True Blood. She is also known for her roles in popular movies such as Dancing at the Blue Iguana, Room 302 and 50 First Dates. She has also guest starred in several hit TV series such as LA Law, Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond, Dark Angel, Two and a Half Men, etc.
Jessica Hamby is a character that is exclusive to the TV show… by that I mean, you will not find her character in ‘The Southern Vampire Mysteries’ series on which the show is based. Jessica is a very young vampire having only been recently turned by Bill. Throughout the show we often see her making those amateur vampire mistakes like draining a person to death! She lives with Pam and Eric for a while on Bill’s request, but soon they are annoyed with her and return her to Bill’s care. She is involved in a romantic relationship with Hoyt but they drift apart after she attacks his mother. With season 4, we see them together again.
Deborah Ann Woll is an American actress of Irish and German descent. She has played guest roles in many popular shows including ER, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, My Name Is Earl, The Mentalist and Law and Order SVU.
