The former Maxim model tells us what it was like to get the role of a lifetime playing Meadow Soprano on The Sopranos, chats about her latest performance in the comedy flick Jewtopia, and answers the Same 10 Questions We Always Ask Everyone.

How was getting the role of Meadow Soprano on The Sopranos a pivotal moment in your life?
I think for obvious reasons of how it changed my career, but I had never been in front of a camera before, I had never been on a set before, so everything was brand new. I came from doing community theater on Long Island to being on that show. So it was my acting school, it was my everything school. I felt very protected on that set, I think being one of the only two kids on the set, Jim [Gandolfini], everyone, the whole crew, really looked out for us and made sure we were comfortable and confident, so it gave me everything for my career and my craft, and also just as person. And to have trust in other actors and things like that…It was nothing but positive. I really can’t think of one negative thing from that entire 10-year experience. And that’s really lucky to say.

At the beginning, was it like you were being thrown into the deep end? Were you completely unprepared?
For sure. I’d say my first few days, yeah. I think my first day on set I woke up early and blew out my hair because I thought I had to do my own hair. I didn’t realize I would have people do my hair and makeup. So for sure the first few days it was a little intimidating. But I was a teenager, and being 16-years-old you just kind of try and pretend like you know what you’re doing, or at least that was the kind of teenager I was. So you kind of fake it ‘til you make it. Had that experience come when I was 26 instead of 16 I think it would have been entirely different. It was probably better that I was a kid. When you’re young you’re less afraid of consequence, and I think that helped me.

Read my entire interview with Jamie-Lynn Sigler at Maxim.com

The iconic actor talks Ray Donovan, Seinfeld, and Deliverance, as well as playing Van Helsing in the new reboot of Dracula: The Dark Prince.

Let’s talk about your new hit series, Showtime’s Ray Donovan. Your character, Mickey, is remarkable. Why do you think audiences seem to connect with him, even though he’s a pretty bad guy?
Oh, he’s a bad guy. He’s a mess. But there’s also some good aspects to him. For one, he’s completely honest. That’s a terribly surprisingly element. He says what’s on his mind, and we admire it. He’s the opposite of politically correct. He tells you what he’s thinking. And sometimes it’s very shocking, but it’s also endearing in a certain way, too. I think that in some way, he’s an interesting portrait of a man – the male animal that we have pretty much attacked over the latter course of my life as a culture. That he’s still alive, I think we’re grateful for that. The positive side of Mickey is he’s a real male, and he’s funny, and he can be dopey, and he can be cruel as well, but there’s something that we respond to in that way. In other ways I think he’s like the characters that we’ve taken to heart like Archie Bunker or the Fonz, you know, these kinds of archetypes. I don’t know where Mickey fits into that, but there’s something like that going on, too.

Were you surprised by how iconic your Seinfeld cameo and storyline – about whether you were the previous owner of George Costanza’s used LeBaron convertible – became?
Well, yeah, it was a big surprise. It was so funny, but as I look back, at that time in my career it was helpful to me, and it still has an afterlife. People come up to me every week probably and say, “Would you bite a pencil?” or you know, other stuff from Seinfeld. And it had a long life. Of course, the Seinfeld show was a very great show.

So just for the record, have you ever owned a LeBaron convertible?
You know, the funny thing was, the writer of that show actually did buy a LeBaron convertible that was supposed to be mine. And he asked me when I came on the set to do my little piece, to bite Kramer’s arm, he asked me, “Would you come around the corner and just look at this car, and tell me if this was yours?” And I had to say no [it wasn’t], but the funny thing is my mother did have a LeBaron, a white LeBaron convertible, down in Florida, and after I did the show, she said, “Why didn’t you get me a new car? You could’ve gotten me a car!”

Read my entire interview with Jon Voight at Maxim.com