“Devious Maids” entertained Lifetime’s drama-loving audience during its premiere June 23 and now ShockYa is excited to share our interview with one of the maids on the show, Melinda Page Hamilton. Read below to see what Hamilton has to say about her character, what it’s like working with the cast and more. “Devious Maid”s airs Sundays at 10/9c. on Lifetime.
I’m looking forward to the “Devious Maids” when it comes on. What can you tell me about your character, Odessa Burakov?
Melinda Page Hamilton: Odessa is the housekeeper for Latin singing superstar Alejandro Rubio, played by Matt Cedeño, and she is an incredibly strict, militant runner of the house. [She’s] secretly a little in love with her boss…and deeply threatened by the arrival of very beautiful, very talented Carmen Luna to our household, played by Roselyn Sanchez. [Odessa] is pretty much determined that Carmen will not get to Alejandro at all costs, and pretty much her agenda through most of the season is keeping Carmen in her place.
Ah, I see. What’s it like to be a part of this show, because it’s got a very well-known cast? It reads like “Desperate Housewives,” but with maids, in a way.
Melinda Page Hamilton: It does have some similarities–the tone and the humor and the satire, I think are similar. But it’s actually be a phenomenal experience–a tremendous writing staff, a tremendous group of actors, a tremendous crew, so every single day at work was pretty more giddy-making. It was so much fun.
To go along with that, what’s it like to work with this cast?
Melinda Page Hamilton: It’s fantastic. I work most closely with Matt and Rosalyn and Wolé Parks, who’s also a member of our household, and all of them are not only phenomenal actors, but terrifficialy fun, delightful people. It was really a joy. And getting to see the larger cast at the table read was really fantastic. It really is a powerhouse cast. Pretty much everyone is a phenomenal actor. It was kind of great to get to watch and giggle and laugh at the other storylines.
Marc Cherry is behind this show, and behind “Desperate Housewives.” So what’s it like to be a part of the Cherry franchise of successful TV shows?
Melinda Page Hamilton: Well, it’s pretty great. I had worked, not directly with Marc, but on “Desperate Housewives.” I played a crazy nun on “Desperate Housewives” [laughs] and I had such a good time on that show–the ultimate moment for that character on that show was being set on fire in a church, so that sets the bar pretty high in terms of what I’m up for [laughs]. And, certainly, the writers didn’t disappoint. I get plenty of hard knocks…in this series and all of it is a lot of fun to do.
