Scuba diver, accomplished actress and out lesbian Michelle Wolff gives us the lowdown on her latest endeavor — tackling the role of Brit on Dante's Cove.

So, tell me first, what attracted you to the show?

Well I actually had not seen the first season. I had done some work for here! I was their on-air host for their here! at Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival ,and their Here at Sundance. I had a film, Mango Kiss, that was playing at Miami ... and they said, “Hey, you’re going to be there anyway... Would you be interested in doing some on-air hosting?” ... So I ended up doing it and it really went over well, so they ended up hiring me to do Sundance the next year. So that was kind of my first in with here!

And then I didn’t really have much to do with them anymore for a little while, and then they cast me in a film called Trapped ... and they really liked the work that I did, so they called me and offered me the part of Brit in Dante’s Cove... So it all kind of grew out of other projects I had done for them.

There were a couple other parts ... and they ended up turning it all into one part. They kind of liked the idea of doing this third woman on the show [who would] be a little bit more butchy and a little bit more edgy and a little bit more — gay —I think... It’s like, all the other girls have the long hair and the real feminine appeal. So the idea of having a little bit of balance was appealing.

A lot of lesbians were really excited about The L Word, but I know there’s definitely an audience out there that’s like, “But I don’t really watch drama. I really want some kind of genre show.” So it’s nice to see that.

I’ve heard a lot of lesbians grumble about The L Word. because they’re like, “I don’t feel like I’m being represented.” ... You have to accept it for what it is. Don’t try and make every project be for everybody — that’s the whole point. It’s a very diverse community. Let The L Word be The L Word. It has its audience. Let Dante’s Cove be Dante’s Cove . Don’t try and make it more serious than it is. Don’t make it, you know, deeper than it is.

You’ve been out your entire career, right?

Yes.

When you started your career, did you have any idea that we were going to have this development of LGBT programming?

No. Well, I mean, I hoped. I honestly hoped. But most of the stuff I was doing was straight stuff. I was doing gay theater and I was doing a little bit of dabbling in gay film. Then when Mango Kiss came along, that was really my first staring role, and that was full-on like, “Okay, here we go, this is the gay role, you know?”

It’s exciting to see where they will be going from here, what risks the networks will be able to take.

It’s really up to the community though, to support it. If there’s not the money, you can’t do the programming... If you didn’t vote, you don’t get to bitch about the president, you know? If you’re not supporting these networks, I don’t want to hear the fact that you don’t feel like you’re being represented. Get out there and support them, because the more that you do that ... the more money there is to create all different types of networking.

Let me take you back just a little bit. One thing that’s interesting is that you’re a scuba driver in real life and then the character in the show, Brit, is also a scuba diver.

She’s a scuba instructor.

Besides the diving, what other ways are you like Brit?

I think one thing about Brit is that she’s able to use her sexuality, to kind of get herself into situations that aren’t the healthiest. I think that’s definitely been a characteristic of mine at times in my life, maybe not always the ones I’m most proud of. But I get why, especially if you’re good at that, why people use you... You know, but I think we’ve all been in a similar situation.

So I like that...[Brit also] likes to intimidate a little bit, and she likes to be the protector. She jumps into protect [her girlfriend] Michelle and she uses her body and her confidence and her sense of self... And I can kinda tap into that as well, that desire to be needed like that... So I think it is kind of interesting to play around with those roles.

One thing I heard is that you have somepretty hot sex scenes this season.

Yeah.

And I think [co-star Erin Cummings] told me that you really had to be the lesbian expert on that scene.

I did. Well, I’m the lesbian, so... [laughs] I had [sex] scenes in Mango Kiss as well, and the actress had never, you know, had never had sex with a woman... Both the women I’ve had serious onscreen lesbian sex scenes with ... were straight. And that has been an interesting thing for me, because I do end up being like, alright, well, this is what I would do, and this is how I would do it, or this is what I think would be sexy.

Dante’s Cove shows a lot of skin. And they wanted it really, really hot. I mean, there’s a lot of lesbian love scenes that are just kind of mediocre. They just don’t push the envelope at all. And Dante’s Cove, in pushing the envelope with the boys, said they wanted to push the envelope with the girl stuff, too.

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