Barbara Rosenblat has appeared in "VEEP," "Girls" and a little 1986 film called called "Little Shop of Horrors," but she is probably most recognized for her role as one of Litchfield Penitentiary's finest felons, Miss Rosa Cisneros.

Headlines and Global News spent a Saturday morning in March getting to know the madam of accents and vocal disguise, learning about being the dramatic child in her family, Miss Rosa's OITNB season three affiliation, and Rosenblat's upcoming role on Fox's dark series, "Gotham."

At the time of the interview, Rosenblat had one episode of "Gotham" in the can and was preparing for another. Her character – about whom Rosenblat was very hush-hush – appears on "Gotham" when the series returns on April 13. "Gotham" airs Mondays at 8 p.m. EDT on Fox.

HNGN: What can you tell us about the character you play in "Gotham"?

Rosenblat: Well, I probably can only tell you that I'm the owner of a bar, sort of low-life bar. That's all I can say.

And who are your scenes with?

Do you know, I don't know if I'm permitted to say! Before I get my foot in my mouth, I don't know that I can say that, but it's one of the leads.

You're originally from England. How long did you live there, and when did you come to the States?

Well, I was born there, and I came to the States when I was very, very young. Then I went back and started my career there, and then came back here. I'm a bit of a mixed bag.

What did your parents do?

My mother managed to get out of Germany after Hitler started showing his face. She managed to escape to England and was raised by a family there as a Jewish refugee. My father, meanwhile, was in the camps for quite a while, and when the Russians liberated the last one he was in, which I believe was Theresienstadt, he was able to secure the lives of about 300 young boys and get them to England. My mother was serving in the army, and they met in London; hence, I was born! Of course, it was a few years after my brother was born and a few years after they married.

What was it like growing up? Your parents sound like pretty courageous characters.

It was interesting. The greatest memory I have of my parents, who are no longer alive unfortunately - they died quite young - was the fact that they adored each other. I grew up in that kind of a household; it was an endless love affair for them. They found each other, and life was good. They made my brother and me, and they couldn't have been happier. We all came together on a big boat to America. My father was the kind of fellow who would say, "I don't want to talk about it, but you must never forget."

Is acting in film, for voiceovers, on stage and then in TV very different? How are you able to transition among those seemingly very different jobs?

Well, being a voice actor is very helpful in being able to modulate my voice and what I do. Someone once said "what's the difference between TV and film?" and the answer that came back was "60 feet." But that is wildly different from theater where you have to reach the gods, and your voice may have to do more work than your face can, because people are so far away from you. Each dramatic setting that you find yourself in requires a different set of rules to apply, which is why you've always got to bring your A-game to whatever it is you're doing.

HNGN EXCLUSIVE AUDIO:

To hear the full, unedited audio of Rosenblat talking about OITNB, Miss Rosa and what might lie ahead for the escaped convict, check out the audio file on Soundcloud available exclusively to HNGN readers.



Is that how you got involved in things like "Grand Theft Auto?"

I auditioned for it, like lots of folks did, and it was amazing. I was on Broadway a few years back doing "Talk Radio" with Liev Schreiber, and it was a Sunday afternoon after a matinee day at the Longacre Theater, and I was the last to get out of my makeup, and there were six English people waiting for me outside the stage door, and I thought, "Oh, they waited a long time." I came out and said hello, and they said, "Oh, my God, you're Reni Wassulmaier from 'Grand Theft Auto!' " They got so excited and would I sign their image. I'm like, "Yeah, as long as you send me a copy," because I'd never seen the image of the character I created for "Grand Theft," which was great.

I just finished work doing some full-body motion capture for a new video game. Well, it's not a new video game, it's another chunk of a pretty popular one, but it's top-secret. It's coming out in June, so I can't even tell you the name of it. They put me in this weird suit with bubbles on like they did for Andy Serkis when he did "Planet of the Apes." I'd never done that before. It was weird, because I'd auditioned for the role with my voice only, and they said, "Oh, you need to come in for a fitting." I said, "A what? For what?" (laughing) It's quite astonishing work, I have to say, but I'm kind of excited about that.

You do a ton of audiobook and voiceover work. Is being a voice and not having your body out front kind of constricting, or is that freeing?

It's very freeing, because my mind is very free to create as I go. I'm sitting now, this morning, with my manuscript for next week for "Out of Orange" and just imagining all these situations that this woman is in and the voices of the people she comes across and thinking I can picture this one. If I can picture him, you'll hear him. I guess that's the way my mind works when I read a book, and that never even changes when I read for pleasure, which is the busman's holiday. It takes me three years to read one novel, because I'm always in the middle of something or other, but I'm always trying to figure out, how do you pronounce that? What should he sound like? He's too young. Let's make him older or whatever.

Do you think having a musical ear helps with all the accents?

Absolutely, it does. In fact, when I was teaching the kids on Broadway – because I created the role of Mrs. Medlock in "The Secret Garden" – they hired me to be production dialect coach. I also taught the ongoing national tour and all the replacements that were coming into Broadway, because we were on Broadway for two years. It was exhausting, but I found that working with people who could sing and move, each had a natural ability to mimic what I was teaching. Not only did they have to speak, they also had to sing in dialect. I was recording millions of little takes for people to work on and coaching them and taking notes, and, meanwhile, I'm doing eight shows a week as the principal of the cast. (laughing) It was a lot of work. It was great fun, and it was one of the great theatrical moments of my life.

Was meeting Meryl Streep at the SAG Awards your biggest star-struck moment?

I think so. I think in all my life, the one person I have wanted to meet – because I so value the work that she does – is Meryl Streep. In fact, I've taught audiobook master classes for some time now, and I always refer my kids to her performances and her subtlety and her ability to create characters from whole cloth. It's astonishing work, and it's thrilling for me.

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