‘Dirty Sexy Money’ Star Gets Dirty Off Camera

LOS ANGELES (TNA) – Success has yet to go to the head of actress Natalie Zea, but a surfboard has once or twice.

Zea is a cast member on the new ABC drama "Dirty Sexy Money," and while appearing on a show alongside acclaimed actors like Peter Krause ("Six Feet Under"), Donald Sutherland (the movie version of "M.A.S.H.," "Animal House") and Jill Clayburgh ("An Unmarried Woman") might be a heady experience for any actress, she’s more concerned with the after effects of a recent run-in with a surfboard while in Costa Rica.

'Dirty Sexy Money' star Natalie Zea enjoys getting down and dirty on vacation as well.

"A surfboard hit me while in the water, and I got all weepy on the beach," Zea says regarding a vacation she took just before she started filming "Dirty Sexy Money." "I didn’t even surf for a whole day after that, but then I had two margaritas and I was fine."

Although she went to the first script reading just a few days after that, the surfboard incident hasn’t affected her character – yet.

Going to Costa Rica to rough it before filming a new series is somewhat of a tradition for Zea, who has previously starred on shows like the daytime soap "Passions," and the FX series "The Shield."

She says living in Los Angeles often feels like a vacation "because it’s so easy to live here," that she prefers to vacation at places that aren’t so cozy.

"When I go to Costa Rica, I’m fighting the elements and bug bites," Zea says. "It’s a great change for me. The thing is, I never remember all those bug bites. It’s like I have those hormones that give pregnant women amnesia about the pains of giving birth."

In a way, Zea is giving birth on "Dirty Sexy Money" – to her character anyway. She plays the lovelorn "Karen Darling," who is hot for the affections of lawyer "Nick George," who is played by Krause.

Although early press releases hint that her character has an air of desperation about her, Zea hopes that’s not the case. But, she admits, she’s trying to know as little about her character as possible.

"I am either a director’s dream or their nightmare, because I don’t bring anything to the table," Zea confesses. "I have intentionally kept myself in the dark about my character."

She figures the less she knows, the more real her reactions will seem to the various soapy shenanigans her character goes through.

"We, as actors, have our tongues planted firmly in cheek, but there are some beautiful and poignant moments on the show," Zea says, adding that the further along the show gets, the darker her character will become.

"I based Karen partly on Dyan Cannon’s character in 'Heaven Can Wait,'" Zea says. "Throughout that film, you keep wondering if she’s a dumb ass or covering up the fact she’s smart."

Zea says she’s not the type of actress who creates a back-story for her character, but admits she did make one choice for Karen: Turning her into a scotch drinker.

"I went to dinner with a friend, who is a beautiful, demure woman, and she ordered scotch and I decided then and there that Karen should drink scotch as well. And the writers have really picked up on it," Zea said.

" Dirty Sexy Money" debuts Sept. 26 on ABC.