It’s always fun to spot a favorite stage actor in the movies or on TV. And in the case of HBO’s hit vampire series True Blood, stage vets are everywhere! Given the fact that show creator Alan Ball began his career as a playwright, it’s not really surprising that so many theatrically trained performers have taken up residence in the Bon Temps bayou—and in this new feature, we’ve gathered production shots of 10 vamps and shape-shifters (and the people who love them) as we enjoy seeing them: live and on stage!

Anna Paquin
You know that True Blood’s fearless heroine Sookie Stackhouse was one of the youngest Oscar winners ever in real life (for 1993’s The Piano). But Anna Paquin is also a skilled stage actress, as she proved in a Drama Desk Award-nominated off-Broadway debut as a baby-faced serial killer in 2001’s “The Glory of Living” (pictured above, with Jeffrey Donovan). She went on to co-star in Neil LaBute’s “The Distance from Here” and was terrific opposite former flame Kieran Culkin in “After Ashley.”

Read more about the other True Blood cast on stage at Broadway.com

Paquin, who plays heroine Sookie Stackhouse in True Blood, added that kissing real-life fiance and series co-star Stephen Moyer was “Sharp. Dangerous. Those things are actually really expensive and quite fragile! They are not toys.”

The fake blood they use in True Blood, she said, was disgusting.

“The actual blood makes me want to gag!” she said. “It’s some kind of sweet corn syrup. They try to make it taste relatively good-flavored, but there’s an aftertaste that’s less than pleasant after the tenth take. In season one, they asked me if I wanted sugar or sugar-free. I was like, ‘Sugar-free blood? Sounds great!’ Big mistake. Because then it only tastes like the latex plastic tubes it’s coming through.”

The Twilight Saga features Kristen Stewart as the mortal Bella Swan and Robert Pattinson as her love, the vampire Edward Cullen. The third Twilight film, Eclipse, opens on June 30 and its Los Angeles premiere is set to take place on Thursday.

Source: OnTheRedCarpet

Anna Paquin may be the star of HBO’s hit vampire series “True Blood,” and one half of a Hollywood power couple (with fiancee and co-star Stephen Moyer), but she won’t be changing who she is now that she’s a paparazzi target.

“I’m newly initiated into the followed-by-paparazzi crowd, and I’ve had to stop caring what people I don’t know and will never meet think about me. If I did, I’d never leave my house,” she told Self magazine, according to Popeater, which published excerpts from the mag’s July 2010 cover story on the star. “It’s like, OK, I’m sorry that at 6 AM when I walk my dog, I don’t look ready to hit the red carpet. That’s me! I don’t always dry my hair if I’m not going out. Ooh!”

The fiercely independent Anna said the attention has gotten so bad, she’s been goaded for being safety-conscious.

“I wear a helmet when I ride my bike. Seriously, I was made fun of for wearing a bicycle helmet,” she told the mag. “I was like, OK, that would be a really stupid reason to die. At that point, I was done.”

Another reason Anna has been on the paparazzi hot list is due to her recent admission – via a public service announcement – that she is bisexual, and Anna said her family has always been completely accepting of her lifestyle.

“Everyone who is in my life who matters to me always knows what’s going on,” she told Self. “I understand why it’s a big deal to some people, but to me, it’s not. I’ve probably always known I was bisexual. I’m really lucky; I grew up in an open-minded, supportive family, so my sexuality was never stigmatized or scary or out of bounds. I’m comfortable with who I am, and it’s not an issue.”

Source: Access Hollywood

If Stephen Moyer and Anna Paquin’s pals are stumped on what to get the engaged duo as a wedding gift, perhaps they should consider an investment in Skype.

“I wish I had bought shares in Skype, because we Skyped every night for three or four hours,” Moyer, 40, tells Playboy in its July issue, of being in a long distance relationship with Paquin, 27, during True Blood‘s first season. “I felt as though part of me had been removed when Anna and I were apart.”

Video chatting may have helped Moyer and Paquin’s relationship survive the test of distance, but it was being honest from the very beginning that solidified things for the couple.

“I’ve never been in a relationship before in which, literally within the first three days, all the cards were laid out,” Moyer says. “I have never trusted anybody like I trust Anna.”

“We trust each other so implicitly that there’s never anything hurtful; it always comes from a loving place,” he says. “It’s not as though people I’ve been with before haven’t been loving, but with Anna it’s just about pure trust – on camera and off.”

Paquin and Moyer have been engaged since August.

Source: People

Yep, people are still talking about that, but I found this very sweet, by Examiner

Millions of True Blood fans were shocked to find out that Anna Paquin is bisexual when she announced it back in April 2010. Stephen Moyer, her on and off screen love, was not shocked by the news.

“It wasn’t something she kept from me,” Stephen tells Playboy. He goes on to tell the mag that Anna was extremely forthcoming about her past. Read more about Stephen and Anna’s honesty here.

In an online public service announcement for the Give a Damn Campaign, which is aimed at promoting gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender equality, Anna says, “I’m bisexual, and I give a damn.” Paquin, an Oscar-winning actress, hasn’t elaborated since her unexpected disclosure.

“I condone what she has done 10 percent,” Stephen tells playboy of his fiance. “It’s her business to talk about it, not mine. It doesn’t change anything. I’m proud of who she is.”

In the interview, Stephen also opens up about his own sexual awakening. “I was quite young when I started doing all right, below legal age and with somebody I knew very well,” he teases about losing his own virginity.

Nude scenes? That’s a breeze, says True Blood star Anna Paquin. But having to drink vampire blood — well, that just sucks.

“I get a kick out it, but the actual blood makes me want to gag!” Paquin tells Self in its July issue on newsstands Tuesday. “It’s kind of a sweet corn syrup, I think, with an aftertaste that’s less than pleasant after the 10th take,” she adds of filming scene for the popular HBO series. “In season one, they asked me if I wanted sugar or sugar-free. I was like, ‘Sugar-free blood? Sounds great!’”

Big mistake: “It only tastes like the latex tubes it’s coming through,” says Paquin, 27, who, in one particular scene had to feed “ravenously from Bill’s arm so I drank probably a gallon. Never again.”

Kissing a vampire, says the actress, is “sharp [and] dangerous” and those famous fangs are top-quality props they’re not allowed to take home.

“Those things are actually really expensive and quite fragile! They are not toys,” she says.

As for why she and fiancee Stephen Moyer, 40, kept their relationship a secret for the first 10 months, Paquin explains the the two costars simply “had a job to do.”

“You don’t want to bring personal stuff to work,” she says. “I’m of the opinion that if it’s nobody’s problem, it’s nobody’s business. But who knows who knew what and when? Clearly Alan Ball, the show’s creator, cast us because we had chemistry!”

By Eunice Oh

Gallery link:
Magazine scans > 2010 > Self – July

by Stuff.co.nz

Kiwi beauties Anna Paquin and Anna Hutchison have united in a celebrity battle against a killer beast – cancer.

True Blood babe Paquin and Underbelly hottie Hutchison are among a galaxy of stars who will appear in The Beauty Book, compiled by Australian celebrity photographer Darren Tieste.

Tragedy struck Tieste in 2008, when one of his best friends, fashion designer Natalie Sattler, lost her fight with brain cancer.

Inspired by her courageous struggle, the 35-year-old decided to raise funds for cancer research by doing what he does best – getting behind the camera.

Tieste chased down every major star he could get his hands on and committed them to a photoshoot to appear in the 260-page coffee table book, to go on sale worldwide in August.

Famous Kiwi faces in The Beauty Book include Outrageous Fortune and Ugly Betty hunk Grant Bowler.

Tieste said getting Paquin involved was a real coup.

“Anna’s a great girl, we had three hours with her. She was a big one to get, and the sweetest girl, so down to earth and easy in front of the camera.”

All of the proceeds from the book will go to charity including Snog, or Sydney Neuro-Oncology Group, and Abta, the American Brain Tumour Association.

Tieste told Sunday News it took a lot of hard work fitting into the schedule of the celebrities.

“We’re talking about some of the busiest people in the world here, so finding time was really difficult.”

He said his efforts got a boost when Hugh Jackman, his first A-list star to sign up, agreed to be involved in the project.

Tieste got his big break with a cover shot for Dolly Magazine when he was just 20 and has since then travelled the world shooting pictures for clients such as Coca Cola, Samsung, Nokia and Visa.

In 2003, the Sydney born-and-bred photographer relocated to Los Angeles, where he has since worked with Christina Hendricks, Rosario Dawson and Sam Worthington.

Pre-order at www.thebeautybook.org

by PR Newswire

Team Todd, Plum Pictures, Benaroya Pictures and Four Of A Kind Productions announced today that Paramount Famous Productions has picked up all U.S. and Canada rights for “The Romantics.” The film, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, was written and directed by Galt Niederhoffer, and produced by Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Jennifer Todd, Suzanne Todd, Michael Benaroya, Ron Stein and Daniel Hendler. Featuring an all star cast including Katie Holmes, Josh Duhamel, Anna Paquin, Malin Akerman, Adam Brody, Dianna Agron with Candice Bergen and Elijah Wood, “The Romantics” is about a tight knit group of college friends who reunite for a wedding of two of their own.

Daniela Taplin Lundberg said, “The response to the film has been extraordinary and I am delighted to have Paramount Famous Productions as our domestic distribution partner.”

“We are thrilled to be in business with the talented team at Plum Pictures and their partners. We have been tracking several of Plum’s projects and “The Romantics” is a great way to start,” said Louis Feola, president of Paramount Famous Productions.

The film was repped domestically by John Sloss of Cinetic Media.

The finished version of the film will screen in Cannes. Simon Crowe of SC International will sell the remaining territories.

Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom ( VIA, VIA.B), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The company’s labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio Group and Worldwide Television Distribution.

by Ben Barna

I feel kind of stupid saying that music inspires me,” says Anna Paquin, during her morning commute to the set of HBO’s vampire drama True Blood, in which she stars as Sookie Stackhouse, a big-hearted waitress with a thing for the undead. “I love music, but when I try to narrow it down, to describe it, I feel dumb.” The 27-year-old Oscar winner recently acquired a new outlook on the power of the playlist. “I just learned to drive, and I’ve discovered the pleasure of good driving music,” she says, “especially now that I’m confident enough to have noise around me when I’m behind the wheel.” Fully immersed in True Blood’s third season, which premieres next month, Paquin admits that she has been too busy to search out new songs, so it’s helpful that Stephen Moyer—her real-life fiancé and love interest on the show—came into her life with a large music library. “A lot of the music I listen to comes from him,” she admits. “I think he has half of iTunes on his computer.”

Lady Gaga’s “Teeth.” I’m sure that everyone else on the planet jumped on the Lady Gaga bandwagon long ago, but I was just introduced to her music last month. She has this amazing voice and, honest to God, it sounds like this song was written about our TV show. It’s great workout music.

Marilyn Manson’s “The Beautiful People.” This one is a throwback to my sad, little goth-girl adolescence. It’s been on my playlist since I was 14, when I dyed my hair black and wore kneehigh Doc Martens. I went to a Marilyn Manson concert about two years ago, and there were no teenagers in the audience.

Radiohead’s “Talk Show Host.” This is embarrassing, because my taste in music hasn’t changed much since I was a kid. This was on the soundtrack for Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet, and it wasn’t on any of Radiohead’s albums at that point. Stephen and I got tickets for the Haiti benefit they did a few months back, so I finally got to see them in concert. It was a tiny, amazing gig. I’ve missed hearing them perform so many times that I’d stopped trying. I’d get tickets and then get a job far, far away, almost to the point where if I were superstitious about it, I’d have started buying Radiohead tickets just to get the jobs I really wanted.

Johnny Cash and June Carter’s “Jackson.” This was my theme song when I was auditioning for the role of Sookie. June Carter has a sassy Southern galtype
voice that my coach and I worked with to get Sookie’s accent just right. I love their banter at the beginning of the song, him saying naughty things and her being cute and flirty about it.

Kings of Leon’s “Sex on Fire.” I love bands that still make rock music.

Anna Nalick’s “Wreck of the Day.” She’s a singersongwriter in the vein of Aimee Mann, very sweet and slightly melancholic. When I’m trying to get into the mood for a scene, I’ll listen to a song like this. Sets are noisy places and if you’re trying to get into a less happy place, it’s good to have some way of tuning all that out. I usually put together a playlist of songs that make me cry, and this is one of them.

Mark Ronson’s “Toxic.” This is a cover of a Britney Spears song. Mark Ronson and Ol’ Dirty Bastard covering Britney is pretty funny.

Modest Mouse’s “Bukowski.” I have to plead complete idiocy because I’ve never actually read any Charles Bukowski. I may seem it, but I’m not particularly book-smart. I don’t sit around reading important philosophical texts. There’s a perception that if you’re not someone who smiles all the time, then you’re someone who sits around reading tortured literature. I’d rather ride my bike to the beach.

The Puppini Sisters’ “Crazy in Love (The Real Tuesday Weld Remix).” They’re an electrosinging trio, a throwback to the ’60s and they remixed the Beyoncé song. I was obsessed with this one for quite some time.

Fiona Apple’s “Parting Gift.” I’ve loved her for so many years. She’s an icon for sad-girl singer-songwriters everywhere. I don’t think you’re allowed to be a tortured teen, in the most on-the-nose pretentious way possible, without having listened to Fiona Apple. This song has interesting insight into relationships—but not the one I’m in right now.

Sorry for the lack of updates guys. I have been pretty busy in real life and I barely have time for myself. I hope everything gets back to normal in June. I’ll update the site with new news an old news today starting with the first image of True Blood third season photoshoot:

Also talking about True Blood, the site Television without pity listed the worst episode of great shows and this was the show one:

True Blood
Worst Episode: “The First Date”
Why It Sucked: This show has an intriguing premise, but boy did it start out slow. It was hard to convince people to watch at the outset, and this second episode really didn’t help matters. So many wrong things with this one, it’s hard to know where to start. There’s a “tornado” (which was Bill killing some local jerks) and the bumbling cops in town never question that this is a weird anomaly that seems to have no relation to any actual weather systems. Sookie finds out that Sam has feelings for her, which she somehow actually never noticed before, even though she’s worked for him for years, it is blatantly obvious, and she is a mind reader. Jason has kinky sex with a girl and finds himself tied to a bed… for a whole day, after he had to watch some vampire porn video in a police station, and was suspected of murder. Arlene is a bitch to Sookie for absolutely no reason at all. Lafayette and his cousin Tara go to a party, and it seems weirdly like a date. Tara and Jason get all judgmental about Sookie’s new undead boyfriend, but given that Jason is a murder suspect and Tara’s kind of a fearsome rageaholic who can only get a date with her cousin, they shouldn’t really have started throwing stones. And the scary vamps who freak Sookie out in the cliffhanger moment, spill over to the next episode in a disappointing way that leads Bill and Sookie to break up and Sookie to masturbate on her front porch in the middle of the day. There’s nothing more horrible than a bad episode that continues to have after effects in the next episode.

Go to the source for the rest of the list.

And for the last, True Blood has already 2 mini websodes featurind Eric, Pam and Jessica. You can wacth them here and here.