Sedgwick grows 'Closer' to her TV character

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Kyra Sedgwick is learning from her character on "The Closer.""I love the way she is full of power, and she is unapologetic about it," says Sedgwick, who is into her fourth season of playing the confident and empathetic detective, Brenda Johnson, on the hit series (9 p.m. EDT Mondays, TNT)."I love how funny she is, and yet, she is so clueless about her own emotionality. She is so intuitive about other people, but she doesn't have a clue about herself."Sedgwick has been nominated for an Emmy in the category of Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama. The awards will be presented next month. Brenda represents her first long-term starring part in television. Sedgwick wants the character to be a role model for women, which she says is a rarity on television these days."She's a fascinating woman, as an actress, to step into. For someone like me who always wants to talk about other people's feelings, she is totally not like that. She has no interest in it for herself," Sedgwick says."It's hard to find roles like that if you're a woman. There aren't a lot of good writers out there, and there are a lot who don't know anything about writing for a woman."Brenda is not a role that Sedgwick finds easy to walk away from. Also an executive producer on the series, she says it absorbs her life."It's like a marriage in that I literally give myself up to this character six months out of every year, and it literally takes up every single fiber of my being for six months," says Sedgwick, who has two children with actor Kevin Bacon."I steal an occasional moment to be with my family, but for the most part it is a total takeover. It's a total mind takeover. I have to memorize the lines, but I also give myself over to the character six months out of the year."Confident and connected, even Sedgwick confesses she has moments of helplessness."I feel powerless all the time," she says. "There are a million things I am powerless over. I feel that way every day."I am powerless over what people think of me. I don't think any actress thinks they care what other people think. If they do, why become an actress?"(E-mail Terry Morrow of The Knoxville News-Sentinel in Tennessee at morrow2(at)knews.com.)