Even if you don’t watch the FX series Nip/Tuck, you’ll likely recognize Roma Maffia from any number of her previous roles--as a regular on Profiler, a guest star on Law & Order and ER, or from more than a dozen films, including The New Women, Double Jeopardy and Disclosure.

But for the past two seasons, Maffia has played lesbian anesthesiologist Liz Cruz on the edgy, controversial plastic surgery drama. On the eve of the third season debut, Maffia talks to us about what's in store for her character this season, which includes going into business with Julia (Joely Richardson) and sex-addict Gina (Jessalyn Gilsig), and having her first on-screen romance...with Julia?

AfterEllen.com: How do you think your character has changed since previous seasons?
Roma Maffia: I think she has become more compassionate--to the men she works with, and to herself in a way. And, at the same time, maybe a little more… I don’t know. It’s interesting: She’s gone through so much that I think maybe with the compassion comes a little jadedness. But I think this third season I’m going to be able to know more about who she is. Yeah, maybe not jaded. I’d say more compassionate towards herself and towards those young doctors she works with. Or, I should say, those bad doctors. [Laughs]

AE: And where do you think that compassion comes from?
RM: I think it comes from the fact that, even though it’s challenging to work for these guys, they have opened up doors, and she has met people in situations where she might not have before. And I think that since having gotten pregnant, and having to make such a big decision about her pregnancy, she’s just more compassionate. I think she just got more in touch with her own personal choices. Her wanting things and then it not happening, her own mothering instincts. So, all of that has led to being more compassionate.

Now, she’s been without a partner for a while, and so I think that has taken a toll, even though it’s been a great thing that she’s been without a partner and that she decided to leave her partner. But I think that her heart is getting…it was always big, but it’s a little less defended.

AE: So something that’s been going on, particularly with the pregnancy, has brought her defenses down a little bit?
RM: Yes.

AE: But you said maybe a little jaded. As in “been through it”?
RM: Um…maybe a little jaded about love. Jaded about, do fairy tales really happen? Are there happy endings?

AE: And that may be coming from the partner who she left?
RM: I think it’s coming from making the decision early on in the pilot to have left her lover, and I think maybe thinking life would be… I mean, it’s been rewarding, it’s been fantastic, it’s something she’s wanted to do, and she’s ventured forward. I think maybe she didn’t realize it would be so difficult. So, I think she thought, you know, I’ll have this new life, I’ll meet someone that I’m really happy with, and we’ll have a baby, we’ll move forward and I’ll have my career. And I think it’s been more difficult for her to fulfill those things. So even though I think her heart is more exposed, I think maybe she’s a little bit more, well, once-upon-a-time doesn’t happen to everybody. Or, actually, in her world it hasn’t happened to anybody.

AE: Is there a partner for her, or a love interest at all, on the horizon?
RM: [playfully] I think there maht be. I think there’s one a-comin’.

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