How Tovah Feldshuh of 'The Walking Dead' Brings Realism to the Zombie Apocalypse
Tovah Feldshuh, who plays Deanna Monroe on AMC's hit series
We love the gore and guts on AMC's "The Walking Dead" as much as the next guy, but what really keeps us watching is the sense of realism the actors bring to the story. (In addition to the guts and gore, of course.)
Needless to say, it takes top-notch acting chops to portray a believable character on a show about zombies — especially a character who experiences so much loss in such a short amount of time. How would an actor or actress even go about preparing for a role like that?
"When you play any character, you want to hook low and be authentic," says Tovah Feldshuh, who portrays Deanna Monroe on the hit AMC series. "So the exigencies that Deanna's under — after all, she loses her son and her husband in season five — what is that really like? Those challenges are enormous," she says, mostly because she's been living a non-zombie world where her own husband and children are (thankfully) healthy and safe.
Like any good actor, though, Feldshuh has her methods for stirring up emotion for a performance.
"I've had the death of parents," she adds, revealing that she recalls and substitutes those emotions when they're needed. "You take the agony of a death, and you put it in the scene as a subsitute for the agony of Deanna losing Reg."
For more from Tovah, including her reasoning for why co-star Andrew Lincoln might be the nicest guy ever, be sure to watch our exclusive interview above.
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