preston

When journeyman actress Carrie Preston was hired for the cast of the HBO vampire series True Blood, she knew her role was to provide the comic relief.

You can see what Preston did with the role of waitress Arlene during the first season of True Blood, which is on DVD. (And when the second season of the show starts Sunday, June 14, on cable.)

Pay particular attention to the first-season finale, where Preston’s role goes way beyond being a comic relief.

A huge chunk of the first season of True Blood — when it was not dealing with vampire lust, shape-shifting and bar fights — dealt with a murder mystery. It is Preston’s character who ends up being a key figure in that storyline, which resulted an uncharacteristic heavy emotional moment.

“It was a very emotional episode. But, it was really great to be given that task and responsibility. I was responsible for the gravitas of the situation,” Preston says during a telephone interview.

Filming for the second season of True Blood is three-quarters done. The Georgia native is working hard to find “the tragedy that comes in humor and the humor that is in tragedy.” She puts that kind of thought into a role, whether it is one line or 50.

Preston has played a wide range of parts. She’s made guest appearances on Private Practice, Desperate Housewives, Wonderfalls and Arrested Development.

One television role always generates interesting conversation. Preston appeared on an episode of the ABC mind-twisting Lost as the mother of series bad guy Benjamin Linus. The adult Linus is played by Michael Emerson, Preston’s husband.

“It was my idea to play his mom,” Preston proudly says. “They wanted me to do a guest spot. I said to Michael, ‘Wouldn’t it make the fans go nuts if I were to play your mother.’ The next thing I know I am giving birth in the jungle.”

She likes that her guest spot was someone connected so closely to her husband’s character.

There’s not a lot of sharing of information about the two series in the couple’s home. Emerson doesn’t mind hearing spoilers about True Blood. But Preston refuses to hear even the smallest detail of what is happening on Lost because she’s too big a fan to have any moments ruined.

This is a good acting time for the couple. Preston likes that she and her husband both have series on the air. She appeared in six potential series pilots before True Blood.

Until True Blood, her work had such variety that she rarely got recognized, which used to bother her.

“Now I look at it as a blessing. I get to make these great transformations. Even when Michael came to the set of True Blood, he couldn’t stop staring at me. This red-haired, buxom woman really is the furthest away from me as possible. I think Michael has a little crush on Arlene,” Preston says.