Eliza Dushku's in the "Dollhouse"

Hot brunette actress Eliza Dushku grabbed our attention as bad-gal vamp Faith in the "Buffy" series. Now, she and that show's creator Joss Whedon are reunited as Eliza plays Echo, an operative in the "Dollhouse", an underground group of experts for hire. Each has his or her memory wiped clean between assignments so they can be imprinted with new profiles and personas to carry out various missions. Hey, an operative could do a lot of no guilt partying but then, they wouldn't remember what a good time they had. Bummer.

We chatted with Eliza about her new show, working again with Joss and the most interesting episodes she'd shot so far. Picture the actress wearing a hot-looking shorts and black jacket combo with crystal-studded belt and very high black heels. After our interview, I ran into Eliza in the hotel ladies' room and asked if she was wearing her own outfit. She let me know that a stylist picks her outfits because otherwise, she'd just go everywhere in t-shirts and sweats. Ah, a girl I can relate to. Let's talk "Dollhouse".

TeenTelevision: Echo has some glitches and flaws. She might start to remember a few things. Will she collapse on assignment as a regular thing?

Eliza: Well, yes. Echo has glitches and flaws. We're on Episode 13 and she's absolutely glitching and starting to become self-aware, and, you know, the memory wipes are not entirely working. So things can, you know, set them off and throw them off.

TeenTelevision: If something happens to Echo in between imprints, does she remember that?

Eliza: It's back to square one each time. That's why they focused upon, when we're in the Dollhouse, are we grouping? Are we starting to sit together? Are we starting to become self-aware? Are we starting to develop human instincts that would make us recognize one another and ultimately know what we're not supposed to? They don't want that but, again, I'm the "glitcher". Echo is unlike the other dolls. She's evolving and she's powering through her wipes a little bit.

TeenTelevision: This role seems an actor's dream; a different character every week. Do you feel that way?

Eliza: It's Eliza's dream role for sure. Joss and I have known each other for ten years since the "Buffy" days, and since we met when he wrote "Faith" and picked me, I loved that part. So it's a dream role because I'm constantly changing and I'm constantly on the move and since I'm a little ADD, the idea of being in the same costumes every day is a little conventional for me. So when Joss and I sat down to talk about what we could do, we just thought 'let's do everything'. At the end of the show, you have the clip of me saying, 'I want to travel around the world on a plane that I pilot and design and do everything. Is that too much to ask?' And that's kind of a little bit me.

TeenTelevision: Ah, Eliza the adventurer! Which of Echo's personas that you've played so far, have you enjoyed the most? They said you play a girl in a religious cult?

Eliza: Honestly, that one threw me for a loop and I thought, 'this is going to be so crazy for me' and I loved it. I was playing this blind woman. They implant cameras into my eyeballs and send me into a cult so that they can get information through my eyes. The woman I'm imprinted to be is a woman who was blinded at age eight and she's this religious, open, kind of hippy Garden of God mama so she is led by God to this compound. It's actually really fun and I did some research. We had a lovely woman come down and spend the day with me. She also went blind after having had sight for the first years of her life.

TeenTelevision: Sounds challenging. I heard you were doing that episode on Election night?

Eliza: Yeah. We were shooting up in Piru, sort of up near Santa Clarita. We were on this cult compound, and we were all dressed very Amish or something. It was this interesting wardrobe, and we were all gathered around this little television with like crank knobs and, you know, sitting on a stool out in the middle of nowhere watching Obama take it. We will all remember that for sure.

TeenTelevision: You researched the blind girl character. So you do research each character you play every week?

Eliza: Yeah, just doing the research and trying to realistically and authentically play each character as a person, as an authentic individual is what's cool. That one was very exciting for me. And also Tahmoh [Penikett of "Battlestar Galactica"] and I have a roughhouse scene where I'm imprinted as a sort of a highly intelligent, super fierce assassin and that's one of my favorites as well.

TeenTelevision: Learning all these different skill sets each week for each character on a TV schedule, how to you cope with that?

Eliza: It's on the fly, I'll tell you that much because we would get an episode and we're shooting the next day so it's like 'hey, can I get a tape of this kind of accent?' Or, 'get a tape of this language' but it's a good thing that I'm a quick study and I'm a pretty good mimic so that's helpful.

TeenTelevision: Do you have to do physical training for the different characters?

Eliza: I work out every day and I've been physical since I came out of the womb. I grew up with three older brothers and I've always been game for everything and that's one of the connections Joss and I had way back in the "Buffy" days. I showed up and was like 'what? Who's that girl dressed like me? I don't need a stunt double. Throw me in! Show me the action! I love it'.

TeenTelevision: Then is it hard from week to week to give up some of those special skills because the next personality might not do it or have it?

Eliza: Sure because then you're imprinted as a young woman who's being abused or beat down and you go 'damn, those Ninja skills would be cool right now!' [we laugh].

TeenTelevision: In the pilot you are having a great time partying with a cute guy and then your memory is erased. Can you ever go back out with that guy?

Eliza: [smiles] We had a really good time. He might call up and ask for a second date. I don't know. It's possible. I mean, absolutely there are people, as we're going along that call back and request the same "Active" or sometimes the same one with a few things switched around. I think that's, again, some of the very cool elements of the whole plan.

TeenTelevision: Ah, so he might want you as a blonde next time? Are there moments that you wish you didn't remember in your own life?

Eliza: Absolutely. But, they're all parts of who I am. My grandmother passed away this year and she was going through dementia in her final years and it was just fascinating because we spent so much time together, to see that immediate switch and confusion and it's heartbreaking but it's a fascinating look at our brains and our make-up.

TeenTelevision: So it isn't difficult doing this show where you have to be somebody new every week?

Eliza: Well, that's why I'm in this business. I love people and I love different stories. My mother is a political science professor and we've traveled around the world since I was very young and one of the things we did was just hear people's stories and people just want to be heard. I think Oprah said that somewhere. The greatest gift you can give to someone who is impoverished or anyone you meet, you can give them the gift of a promise that you'll share their story and I feel like that's what I have the opportunity to do in this business. Again, as authentic and realistically as I'm able to do that, the more I enjoy the work.