Dorian Brown got the audition for Wilfred the day she was scheduled to leave for Africa.

If you’ve ever planned a trip and had an audition right before you leave, I’ll bet you almost 90% of the time you’ll get it. It’s happened to me a couple of times and it happened to Dorian. “I was a lot looser,” she said.

Three weeks later, she came home, they called her in again and “it was meant to be.”

Wilfred is one of my favorite new shows and Dorian is great as Kristen, Ryan’s (Elijah Wood) sister.

I talked to her at Comic-Con about the audition process, how she didn’t want her character to be a “one-note bitch” and more!

Wilfred airs on Thursdays on FX at 10pm.



For the full interview, click the audio link above or download it from iTunes.

How did the project first get presented to you?

Dorian Brown: I got the audition the day I was leaving for Africa which I think it led me to get so far into it because I was like, “Who cares about an audition. I’m going to Africa.” So I was a lot looser but the script was so funny when I got it, I would walk into the other room and tell my husband the jokes. Like, I would read the lines and I was like, “listen, listen to this” and he was like, “that’s funny. You should go out for that.” and I’m like, “Right, I know.” So I went in and I got nervous because the ones that you love the most are the ones that you never get.

But then I was like “I’m going to Africa. It’s fine. I’ll forget about it” and luckily they were still looking for people three weeks later. So it worked out.

It was meant to be.

Dorian Brown: Yeah, it was truly meant to be. It was bizarre. Because I wasn’t in the original so then they came back to me and they were like, “Can you read for Kristen?” and I was like, “ah, I guess?” I mean, I didn’t connect with this character at all plus I’m pregnant. So, yeah it really worked out.

So how did you tap into the character?

Dorian Brown: Yeah, well, it really worked out because even when I was reading it, I was like I don’t know how I’m going to pull this character off without just sounding like a one-note bitch. I just didn’t how I was going to do it but I still went in though and Elijah was in the room, and then they kept giving me this note… and Randall [Einhorn] and David Zuckerman, they said, “You know, she is really in the brink of a breakdown.”

So I was having morning sickness and kind of was like I’m newly pregnant, nobody knows. I think I can get there. I think I can have a mental breakdown in this room. So I took a moment, had a mental breakdown and got it. I mean, that was it. So it’s really cool. So, I probably I wouldn’t have gotten the show if I weren’t pregnant.

So career wise, how have things changed for you?

Dorian Brown: You know, I’m just about to find out because I just had the baby. So I’m going back to auditioning and reading and stuff next week, so we’ll see. I don’t know. I have been out of commission.