Andrea Bowen: Desperate House-Daughter

Once brunette now, bombshell blonde 16-year-old actress Andrea Bowen plays Susan Mayer's daughter Julie on "Desperate Housewives". Julie morphed from perfect good-gal daughter to a little bit of a wild child and Andrea has been having fun playing the transition. Fans may not know that the actress performed on Broadway at age six playing Young Cosette in "Les Miserables". She played Marta Von Trapp in the Broadway revival of "The Sound of Music", co-starred in "Jane Eyre" and started appearing in TV guest shots on "Law & Order" and "Third Watch", "Boston Public" and "That Was Then", "One Tree Hill" and "Nip Tuck" before coming to "Desperate". Andrea continues singing and performing on stage.

We found her talking to friends at the ABC all-star party in Pasadena and the young actress was happy to chat about her role and what she wishes the writers would let Julie do next....

TeenTelevision: As one of the younger cast members on "Housewives", are you happy that the teens on the show are getting some attention?

Andrea: The writers are phenomenal. I think they see the younger cast getting older and growing up and that's where they get their ideas from. "Desperate" is one of the few shows that cast the teenagers with actors in that real age range which is rare now. You always see 25-year-olds playing 15 so it's nice that we have that. Especially with this season, you've seen the younger characters being explored more, like mine. I'm having a blast with it because I love working on the show.

TeenTelevision: Julie has gone a bit wild lately.

Andrea: A little wild, yeah. Eventually, it was gonna happen because she is such a good girl. I knew it was going to go there and I'm just enjoying seeing people's reactions to it because it's so different from what people usually see with her.

TeenTelevision: When you sit down to watch TV, what do you watch?

Andrea: "Grey's Anatomy". I'm a huge fan. I love Dr. McDreamy. He's so gorgeous and I love the show "Entourage", a bunch of cute guys and I love the show "Weeds". I think it's brilliant. I also love "The Office".

TeenTelevision: What about musical favorites?

Andrea: A huge mix of things. Today I was listening to Beyonce's new album and I love it. She's incredibly talented. I think people expected her to be brilliant in Dreamgirls and she was. I grew up doing Broadway so I have a lot of that music that I'm into and I love Bob Dylan and James Taylor and I'm a huge Beatles fan.

TeenTelevision: Are you going to do a movie on your break?

Andrea: I would love to but we don't have a very long hiatus. It's hard to find something to swing in there.

TeenTelevision: You probably won't be involved in scenes with Marcia Cross in her bedroom, since her doctor put her on bed rest at home, will you?

Andrea: Probably not. She's doing really well actually. The whole bed rest thing is strictly precautionary. With twins it's pretty normal to be put on bed rest so she's just.. well resting.

TeenTelevision: What guest star would you love to play a scene with?

Andrea: Meryl Streep, no doubt about it. I don't know who isn't in awe of that lady. If I could bring anybody on it would be her. I just want to work with her someday because I think she's wonderful.

TeenTelevision: When you got this part was it a long process?

Andrea: No, I knew pretty quickly. I've been acting for twelve years so I was pretty used to the whole process. I had the initial audition and then a call back and then met with the producers and the screen test and I got it so it wasn't too long.

TeenTelevision: Who do you feel closest to in the cast?

Andrea: Well, of course the younger people and I get along really well. Joy (Lauren) who plays Bree's daughter.. here she comes (the two girls hug). We're really good friends so I'm really comfortable with her. Also Teri (Hatcher, who plays her mom). We've grown really close because we have a personal relationship in real life and a personal relationship on the show. Throughout the years we've become very close and I have amazing respect for her. She's a wonderful woman and I love her.

TeenTelevision: What has your character Julie not done yet that you really wish they would let her do?

Andrea: I really want Julie to baby-sit Lynette's children. I think that's a good storyline. She could go over there. She's a teenage girl and she'd be a good baby sitter, responsible. It would be fun to interact with them.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.