You played Michael Alig’s girlfriend Gitsie in Party Monster. Would you have any interest in looking up Michael when he gets paroled in a few years?
Ooh, I’m not so sure. I mean, he did a bad thing. But I knew all of them and hung out with all those guys, which is why I did the picture. I was looking through my brother’s photos and mementos the other day, and I found this letter that I’d sent to him from back then. I wrote, “You won’t believe what happened in the club scene! This guy Michael Alig killed this other guy…” I go on and on about what happened, and this was even before it was in the papers. I remember that Freeze and Angel would never sell me whatever drugs I was into, so I’d always have to ask my gay boyfriends to buy them for me. Those guys were threatened by me — especially Michael — because all the gay boys loved me.

Some view Big Love’s portrayal of Mormon fundamentalist polygamists as a metaphor for all alternative families, gay marriage, and anyone who feels shoved in a closet by mainstream society — especially since Will Scheffer and Mark V. Olsen, the show’s creators and executive producers, are a gay couple. Do you see it that way?
I do, very much so, and you see that even more this season. It comes out really strong with the political issues we’re dealing with, and it’s really spelled out with what Alby’s going through right now.

I recently spoke to Matt Ross, who plays Alby, Nicki’s brother, about how he’s often had to fill in the blanks for himself when it comes to his character’s backstory. As for Nicki’s backstory, how much did she know about Alby’s homosexuality before the fourth season’s revelations?
Surprisingly, she didn’t know anything up until this season. At first it’s hard for her to comprehend, but then she accepts it, and there’s a very sweet scene where she finds out and tells Alby it’s all right and that she still loves him. I had actually always assumed that she and Alby had had some sort of incestuous relationship, because that’s really rampant on those compounds between brothers and sisters, fathers and daughters.

Nicki looked sexier and more fashionable than ever during the fourth season. Was that any thanks to your influence?
No, and I prefer the old Nicki, actually. She’s going through some growing pains and she’s having her adolescence a little late in life, so she’s experimenting and finding herself through different hairstyles and fashions. I’ve kind of grown accustomed to the old hairdo, strangely enough. It’s easier to get in character with the old Nicki; with different hair, it’s not as easy.

Having a gay icon and a fashion icon to play dress-up with must be awfully tempting for Mark and Will.

[Laughs] I guess so. They are very involved in the costumes, hair, and makeup.

Did you have much interaction with Milk’s Dustin Lance Black when he was a writer on Big Love?
I did. The writers are always around, and they’re on set every day when their particular episode is filmed, so I saw him a lot. I was very happy for him with all his accolades, and I’m looking forward to his next picture.

Another gay Big Love writer, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, did an impressive job of fleshing out the Alby and Dale relationship in the “Strange Bedfellows” episode earlier this season.

He did. He invited me to some bowling benefit for Second Stage Theatre the other night, so I went out to support them and hang out with him. He’s actually writing a musical version of American Psycho right now, which is really odd.