The beauty and charm of Rose McGowan is far more than skin deep. From her debut role in Gregg Araki’s cult The Doom Generation to her newest summer blockbuster release Conan the Barbarian which is due in theaters on August 19, her range and ability to play a vast array of characters is staggering. Raised in Italy in a Christian cult, emancipated from her family at the age of 15, and discovered as a movie star shortly after on a friend’s sofa, these are the things Hollywood legends are made of. Admittedly with no formal training, Rose eats, lives and breathes her characters intuitively without pretense and a chock full of unabashed humanity. In addition to her active career, she finds time to fight for various political causes, champions animal rights and is an outspoken ambassador for gay marriage. We were lucky enough to spend some time with her on our recent trip to Hollywood. It was a sunny Wednesday afternoon, and Rose greeted us in her suite at the Chateau Marmont wearing an elegant bathrobe and pink lipstick. As we enter her suite, a bevy of clutches and purses were carried in by bell boys.

Rose: Never hold your clutch under your arm. It makes your arm look fat—it needs to have a wristlet. This one is cute. but I think it’s too small.

Brian: No, it will fit a Blackberry. Let’s see…

Rose: Nope, doesn’t. Let’s try another bag. My friend from New York says this is the best part of my job.

Brian: Speaking of Blackberries, do you have a charger? Mine is dead.

Rose: No, but I can call down for one at the front desk. (calls down to front desk) “Hello, do you have a charger for a Blackberry? What shape, skinny or fat?

Brian: It’s more of a rhombus.

Rose: A rhomboid?

Brian: Actually, my rhomboids are always really sore.

Rose: Do you sleep with your arms up? You need to train yourself. I had the same problem.

Brian: That’s hysterical! Well, you are in great shape and your skin is flawless in person. Speaking of which, tell us about your new skincare line.

Rose: Well, I was asked to do many skincare campaigns that would require that I sign a non-compete clause, so I decided to do it myself with my aunt. She’s gorgeous! People don’t realize the tremendous amount of work that goes into it.

Brian: You have such fair skin. Is it super-sensitive to the sun?

Rose: It’s super-sensitive to life. I was in Afghanistan and got a terrible sunburn for the first time since I was 14.

Claude: What were you doing in Afghanistan?

Rose: I was performing for the troops as part of the USO.

Claude: That’s amazing. What a great tradition of leading ladies that have done that. I am sure the boys overseas loved you!

Brian: So what are you skin care secrets?

Rose: Pretty basic. Wash your face and don’t rub, pull or touch your skin. I am allergic to all water other than water from Los Angeles. I can get perfectly clean water from a mountain well and my skin will freak out. I actually don’t like doing my hair. I have it done every three days, which is why I am super excited about my new project—I am actually a partner of a new salon called Dry Bar. It’s a fantastic concept and we are opening in Los Angeles, Scottsdale, Dallas and next month in New York. It costs $40 for a blow out, and it’s the closest I can become to a guy who doesn’t have to worry.

Claude: People always compare you to the great stars of the silver screen. Do you draw inspiration from them when you’re preparing for a role?

Rose: Absolutely. There was a movie I did called Jawbreaker. My inspiration came from a character that Gene Tierney plays in Leave Her to Heaven. In the film, she’s at her height of beauty. She plays a sociopath who gets rid of everybody in her boyfriend’s life. She eventually pushes his child on a wheelchair off a mountain. When her lover asks her why she did it, she says, completely deadpan, “But darling, I thought we needed more time together. When actors often play evil characters, they don’t really commit to the challenge, because they want audiences to like them.

Brian: We love your show on TCM.

Rose: Do I feel like I was born in the wrong era? Maybe I should have had my heyday in the ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s? Yes. With that said, I am not about to go around like a period silver screen actress. I went on TCM at first as a guest programmer. You pick out 10 films and they narrow it down to four. The Night of the Hunter was my first. The other one I love was A Place in the Sun. That’s the first film that made Elizabeth Taylor fall in love with acting. I thought it was my destiny to meet her, but I guess it wasn’t.

Claude: Do you prefer to play a sociopath or a sweetheart?

Rose: Totally sweet is dull. You need to have some pathos for something to be interesting. Whenever I play a character who is lying, the audience has to know I am lying, but it still has to be real enough so the other character doesn’t know I am lying. The thing is, in a film as opposed to theatre, the camera is tight and close on your face. A tiny eye movement can be very evocative even though it is small. I try not to think about the process too much. The life unexamined. I am not a method actor—I think it sounds ridiculous when actors talk about their process. I don’t even like to call myself an actor. In fact, I was held up in Romania because I wrote student on my immigration entrance form.

Brian: Maybe you should just write ‘thespian!’ We loved you in Charmed. It was an amazing post-modern experiment for you, completely ahead of your time in terms of the wave of film actresses doing provocative and interesting TV roles. Tell us a little about it!

Rose: I was called by Aaron Spelling and offered the role in Charmed when I was in Romania doing a movie. I started laughing and hung up. “Aaron Spelling from Dynasty? He would never call me.” And then, he called back and I realized it was him. I had never been offered to do a TV show before. I thought how funny it would be to do something so popular. At that point, the show was already a big hit. I thought I would be in my own art project. Well, 4 episodes turned into 5 years, and my art project turned into golden handcuffs. I was barely with my dogs, family, friends… And during time off, I thought I’d be doing a movie, but I was too exhausted.

Brian: So who are some of your favorite actresses?

Rose: Barbara Stanwyck is my all-time favorite. She was a workaholic. Sometimes I wish we were still in the studio system, because it was all about faces! Speaking of which, one of my other favorites is Bette Davis. Which reminds me of a great story. When Johnny Carson asked Ms. Davis during an interview if she had any advice for young actresses coming to Hollywood, she said, “take Fountain,” the street in L.A. that has the least traffic.

Claude: You’re known for your incredible fashion sense and sophisticated finishing. Is it a lot of work?

Rose: It’s armor to be finished and look presentable. I see people running around in sweatpants or work out outfits and to me, that would be a vulnerable thing. Even though I’m not wearing makeup today, I put on lipstick. In New York, the paparazzi will get you when you come back from the gym in your sneakers. I think there is a positive thing about shame. It’s like when someone spits on the street, and I think, “Is there no shame?” It keeps the fabric of society together. Have some class, have some shame!

Brian: Tell us what you want to be when you grow up, and tell us about your family.

Rose: I want to be forensic pathologist. One of my sisters is an art history professor, the other is an aeronautical engineer, my brother is in medicine, and my baby brother is in Afghanistan. As you know, I grew up in a religious commune, and luckily, we were placed in Italy.

Claude: Did you learn to cook in Italy?

Rose: I bake because it is precise. People who are cooks don’t like to bake, and vice versa. I can’t deal with raw things, so baking is more pleasant.

Brian: We read that you would also like to curate. Who is your favorite artist?

Rose: Edward Hopper. He totally understands solitude and loneliness. One of my friends worked on the Hopper exhibit at the Whitney, and one of the most amazing things I got to do is be alone with it the night before it opened. I remember being at a 7-Eleven once at a very low point for me and at that exact moment, the clerk looked at me and said, “You must feel like the luckiest person in the world!” Hopper’s work is so great at displaying the disparity between outside and inside, like that very moment. I have a lot of blue periods, so I relate to his work.

Claude: So what about Betty Boop?

Rose: It’s a faux trailer for a biopic that doesn’t exist. It was so much fun! I rarely will say that I love my work, but I am really proud of it! My dad used to watch Betty Boop, and it was great to work with Billy Zane.