Deborah Ann Woll makes a pretty convincing vampire—and not just on TV, as newbie bloodsucker Jessica Hambly on HBO’s True Blood. Take, for instance, her taste for blood. “It actually isn’t that bad!” she swears. (As Woll describes it, fake blood can either be syrupy sweet chocolate or pureed fresh veggies, depending on what kind of wound it’s fictionally leeching from.) She’s also, clearly, equipped with nerves of steel. “I’m not squeamish and I don’t get scared. A part of me really enjoys filming the gross or weird parts. I find that intriguing,” she says. And perhaps most like her character, the 25-year-old Brooklyn native underwent a major life transformation: At age 15, the towheaded Woll marched to the drugstore, selected the prettiest red dye she could find, and changed her life for good. “I had perfectly nice blond hair but I felt I was being overlooked. Now being a redhead is part of my identity. I might go blond for a role, but I’ll always be a redhead,” she says. (And yes, even to this day she still dyes her own hair.)

It’s exactly this self-willed, constantly evolving and fearless attitude that piqued our interest here at MARKTbeauty. What follows are frighteningly gorgeous photos of this red hot starlet. They might take your breath away—but we promise, she doesn’t bite.