These days, actress Jamie Gray Hyder feels at home with the Shreveport werewolf pack, but her origins are solidly Washingtonian.
Hyder, who grew up in Annandale, made her HBO debut on this season of “True Blood,” the vampire/shapeshifter/werewolf drama starring Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer. Hyder plays the werewolf Danielle, whose in the same wolfpack as the oh-so-hot Alcide, played by Joe Manganiello of “Magic Mike” fame. “Joe is awesome — once you get past the initial shock of the eye candy part, you realize just what [a] genuine and intelligent person that he is,” Hyder revealed to Yeas & Nays.
But before she was rubbing elbows (or paws for that matter) with some of Hollywood’s freshest stars, Hyder was very much a D.C. version of “Glee’s” Rachel Berry — singing, playing piano and doing tons of community theater. “I was very ADHD, my parents realized once I was on stage and I could focus for two hours at a time this is probably what I should be doing.” She eventually worked with modeling agent Lynda Erkiletian of the late “D.C. Housewives,” and made the move to Los Angeles in 2008.
Now she’s hoping her small part on “True Blood” will be her break-out moment. “Once they’ve seen that HBO has trusted you then, you know, a lot of other people feel comfortable working with you at that point,” she said.
