Jennifer Beals made her name playing steelworker-slash-exotic dancer Alex in Flashdance in 1983, and now the smash hit TV series The L Word has catapulted her back into the limelight. But how come the confirmed heterosexual is so good at playing a lesbian? And doesn’t she ever get sick of it? We asked you to ask the questions, and here’s what she had to say.

So, what are you working on at the moment?
Kendra, Hull
Nothing much. I’m just enjoying time off before shooting the series’ fifth season – that’ll take me up to November. And I’m about to start preparing for a reading of The Vagina Monologues.

The relationship between Bette and Tina is so realistic, I honestly thought you must be gay until I did my research. How do you manage to play such a convincing lesbian?
Louise, 21, Ormskirk
Because I play the love, and when Bette has sex I play the emotion, not the gender. To begin with, I was so focussed on Bette’s career when I started playing the part. I was thinking what it meant to be a museum director, and the following week it was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m playing a lesbian; what am I supposed to be doing?’ In the pilot before the first show, I realised the love scenes are about love between two people who are at odds with each other and who’ve been like that for so long. After that, I realised that doing a love scene is like any scene; you have to put as much into it as you do any other. Those scenes can be so varied, anyway. I have to think what kind of love it is. There’s a scene where Bette picks someone up in a bar and that’s just about sex, not love, so I play it from that emotion.

Have you questioned your own sexuality since playing Bette? Some of the scenes are fairly intense and emotional – in particular the make-up scene between Bette and Tina in Season Two. Is there a difference playing love scenes with women and men?
Tasha, London
I haven’t questioned my sexuality. If I had, I think I would be more ambivalent about the love scenes. Some people on the show did, and they had a really difficult time with it. I think that part of what allows me to play it the way I do is because I’m really clear about who I am sexually. I may not know a lot of things about myself, but I know that about my sexuality.



Were you concerned about getting typecast as a lesbian before you took the role?
Louise, Manchester
No, not at all.

Have you learnt anything about lesbians that you didn’t already know?
Di, Manchester
It’s such an insular community – at least, it is in LA. It’s so very small – really, that six degrees of separation thing where so many women have slept with so many others and all know each other. What’s amazing is how, when women sleep with someone, they might be enemies for a while when they finish with each other, but oftentimes they become best friends. I was talking to Ilene (Chaiken) about how lesbians can be best friends; it’s not like that in my world. And Ilene says, ‘Welcome to my world’.

If you were a gay woman would you be butch, femme or andro?
Carly, Liverpool
I have no idea. I couldn’t be butch, I have too much of a love for shoes!

What kind of woman would you go for if you were gay?
Hilary, Leeds
The only character I had a crush on was Ivan. Kelly Lynch did such a great job – maybe it’s because she looked like Johnny Depp.

If you had to date someone from The L Word cast who would it be?
Patty, Kilmarnock
Ivan – no contest.

What would you miss about men?
Karen, Orpington
If I was gay? That’s a bit of a strange question, but what I like about men is their smell and sense of humour. And their directness: men say what they feel and mean. Women can be really indirect, and I find that really very, very irritating.

Do you ever show your photography in galleries, and have you ever sold any pictures for charity, etc? Did you and Alexandra Hedison compare your styles of photography? I loved the black and white picture you took of Leisha Hailey running through the rails of clothes.
Kelly, Andover
I’ve had shows in my married name because I didn’t want it to get confusing, mixing my professional persona with my photography.
My photography is more of a hobby. I might have had exhibitions, but I don’t remember – it would have been a long time ago if I have.
I haven’t talked to Alexandra about her photography, but I love her pictures. There’s one she took of Ilene’s daughter that is so beautiful – it makes her look really grounded.

What’s the craziest fan mail you’ve ever got?
Hannah, Brixton
I’m gonna pass on that one.

How was it being pregnant while you were filming Season Three of The L Word?
Kay, Seacroft
It was difficult for the wardrobe department, but I was grateful I was at a workplace where people were understanding. It didn’t phase them at all.

Do you think that Bette and Tina are ever likely to get back together?
Liza, Croydon
I have no idea. It’s all in (executive director) Ilene’s hands. They have a great history and new loves in their lives at the end of Season Four, but who knows?

Bette’s career has always been in the art world. How involved were you in the selection process of the art that’s displayed in the show?
Lu Hudson, art student, Manchester
I’m not involved at all, although it’s always a lot of fun to learn about the artists we have on the show.
It’s much more difficult than you might think to feature art work on the show, getting clearance from the artists.



Even when you ask something really pedestrian like, ‘What coffee shall I buy?’, how do you make it sound so damn sexy?And the hair? It’s gorgeous. What hair products do you use?
Alex, Aston
That’s very sweet. I have no idea. As one of my best friends recently told me, my hair usually looks like a bird’s nest. My hair’s crazy. Who knows what the hormones are going to do or how it’s going to be when I wake up? Stylists use Kerastase products on me.
One day I hope to learn how to blow-dry my hair.

Your arms are awesome. Are you a kick-boxer, by any chance?
Jude, London
That’s very kind, but you should have seen me in Season Three. No, I don’t do kick-boxing, but I like to swim and do yoga, and I run.

Did you need to learn sign language especially for the storyline in Season Four? If so, how long did it take you and did you enjoy it?
Tinkerbell, Leicester
It was very difficult and lots of fun and I had several people who helped me – I went over it a lot during that season. I don’t sign, but I can do it for the show. Bette knows how to, but I’m remedial. I know it looks like I learned it really quickly; in real life it would have taken a lot longer!

You went to Yale with David Duchovny and Jodie Foster – are you still in touch with either of them? Would you like to work with them?
Charlotte, Lampeter
Yes, I’m in touch with Jodie more than David and, sure, I’d really love to work with them.

Why were you off our screens for so long after Flashdance?
Fuzzyball
I wasn’t off the screen, I just wasn’t in films that made such a big impact as Flashdance did in the UK.
I’ve made about 16 films in between Flashdance and The L Word – go check ‘em out on www.imdb.com.

If The L Word didn’t exist, what would you be doing now?
Sphinx, Kilarney
I don’t know - only God knows.

Where would you like your career to take you next, have you ever thought you might like to do something other than acting?
Sandra, Bath
I just want to do something that deepens who I am, and that lets me experience myself as fully as possible and enables me to learn something and give something back, too.
Oh, and being very well paid [for doing it] would be nice.


Addicted to The L Word? Good job Freeview’s FTN channel is repeating Season 3 from July 23rd at 10pm. Watch out for Season 4 on LIVINGtv later this year.