American Horror Story’s Alexandra Breckenridge on her character: She has “this overt sexuality that I’ve never had the opportunity to explore as an actor”

American Horror Story is one of the most talked about series of this Fall.  From co-creaters Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, the FX show boasts an all star cast line up, a seroiusly spine tingling story, and the likes of twenty-nine year old Alexandra Breckenridge, who plays the salacious, younger version of housekeeper Moira.

Pushing the envelope each week as her character persistently pursues Dylan McDermott’s Ben, Breckenridge recently told NBC that she only knew a little about her alter-ego.  “Even when I got the audition, which was only a page, it was just a character that I’ve never played before.  It’s this overt sexuality that I’ve never had the opportunity to explore as an actor, so that was what I was really excited about. And then I read the script and I about sh-t myself.”

Breckenridge also says that the role she shares with actress Frances Conroy  hasn’t been mapped out in terms of “behavioral continuity between the two faces” of Moira,  discussing how the two actresses share the same readings in the show.  “We are playing two completely different sides of the same character, so it was never really something that we felt we needed to discuss.  My character’s intentions are completely different from her intentions, so, really, when we do a scene together, sometimes we have to basically go in and play the same scene, so she’ll go in and read the scene and then I’ll go in and read the scene. And it’s mainly just a physicality – where we’re standing and the position we’re in and that’s it.”  

While, the Family Guy actress says she was at first surprised by her character’s sexual scenes, she is comfortable with that aspect of her job.  “I’ve done nudity and it doesn’t bother me, doing it or seeing it,” she says, admitting that the discipline she planned to apply to her workout regimen has waxed and waned. “I started doing Pilates for a little bit. And got sick of it. And started again. I’m not a big workout fan. But I try. I potentially could be showing my ass several times. You can show back, you can show side – you just can’t show the bits. You just can’t show nipple and hoo-ha, basically.”

American Horror Story airs on FX, Wednesdays at 10 PM ET.