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AE: 2005?
DS: Yeah, spring 2005. At the same time I was working at my restaurant job in the West Village, and I was making myself a reel. I made myself a reel and sent that off to somebody who I'd known from the Bay area who was on the writing team at The L Word, and they passed it on to whoever, and after that I got another call saying, “Can you send us an audition tape?” which Bitch and I and my friend made. We set up lights in the house. It was all really DIY and it was all really last-minute, like “Can you have this thing to us in three days?”

AE: So what do you put on an audition tape?
DS: They tell you which sides they want you to read, which are in the script, and then you just…act it out. I'm not sure how people normally do it. I've seen that someone's agent would set up a little studio area and they would make it, but we just made it in our house. About two days after I'd wrapped on John's film, I was back at work. It was my first day back at the restaurant, and I got this call, it was a Thursday evening, and it was like, “Can you be in L.A.”—I'm in New York, right?—“Can you be in L.A. tomorrow at noon?”

So I said yes. And my friends were so great; they took all my shifts for me, and I just flew out there, spent my last money on tickets, and I did the audition. By the following Tuesday—so that was a Friday audition—by next Tuesday I got the call that I got the job. Then they flew me out Wednesday morning, and I actually haven't been back to New York until last night. And that was May 30th, I think. A town car came and picked me up at five in the morning, and by the next morning I was doing my first scenes.

AE: Wow . So when you went to L.A. for the audition, did you meet any of the cast at that point?
DS: Mia auditioned with me because my role is as her new romance. They wanted to see how we would work together.

AE: So tell me about the character that you're playing.
DS: Moira. Moira's really cool. [She's] this Midwestern butch; she's a computer technician; really gentlemanly. Actually she has a really sweet side also, as a lot of butches that we know do. In a way, she's a real gentleman. I feel like she's the type who'll open doors for the femmes, or carry heavy stuff, but also I feel like [she] has a real respect for people on the more feminine side of the spectrum as intellectuals. Definitely Jenny Schechter's character is really brilliant, and that's what Moira loves in her. I don't feel like she's condescending; she just likes to be the strong guy around to help her out.

Basically we see [Moira and Jenny] fall in love and make their way to L.A., and then in L.A., Moira starts to learn a lot about herself and…what's possible for her in the world, kind of feeling her way out—not just to fit into L.A., but just kind of taking up space in the world. We'll see the different trials, the cultural differences between [the Midwest] and L.A., and also a lot of class stuff. She's coming from a working class family.… She's a college graduate and has already started working in the tech world, but [she's] culturally pretty working class.

AE: Do you feel that you resemble her at all, or are you totally different from her? DS: Yeah, I feel like there are a lot of similarities, definitely. I feel like my world travels and my upbringing by really liberal parents—that's something that makes us different. But at heart, and on the spectrum [we are both on] the more boyish/tomboy side—and also the gentlemanly [behavior], we definitely have a lot in common. I just think Moira hasn't seen as much of the world as me, and also has had quite a different upbringing [in] a more conservative area. She was also brought up with Catholic things, unlike me—my parents were total hippie artists. [But] it wasn't a huge stretch for me at all. I could really sympathize with Moira, and of course I see myself in her in some ways.

AE: Does she get involved with anyone besides Jenny?
DS: Well, that's…I can't answer that one.

AE: What was your favorite part about being on The L Word?
DS: My favorite part? That's a good question; I should have a ready-made answer for you. I'm not sure about my favorite favorite, but at this moment when I think about it, I think it was really great to just be able to do the work, to delve into being an actor—and on such a scale like that and for so many months. To be concentrating on that for five months was great for me. I just learned so much. I guess another thing would be that the learning environment was so welcoming, and…I really feel like I made a lot of good bonds there with terrific directors. I just learned a lot.

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