Heather Goldenhersh

Currently: On stage: Playing Sister James, the young nun in the center of a tug-of-war between a forward-thinking priest and a strong-willed nun in Doubt. Off stage: Enjoying being a Broadway newcomer and learning from Tony-winning stage vets like Brían F. O'Byrne and Cherry Jones.

Hometown: St. Louis, Missouri

Heather of Arc: Though she doesn't get to show it in her current gig, Goldenhersh is a ham, who would love to star in a "funny-ass sitcom like Third Rock From the Sun." Another surprise: the actress kicked off her acting career in musical theater, playing roles like Chava in Fiddler on the Roof. You won't catch her singing or dancing now, though-those days ended in grade school. Instead, she parlayed her natural penchant for "broad, goofball comedy" and English accents into a coveted spot in Julliard's drama program, a decision she looks back on cautiously. "I kind of wonder if it wouldn't have been healthier to go to a regular college," she says thoughtfully. "I think I didn't have an identity that was strong enough when I got to school. I felt like I was soft clay. You could kind of morph me this way and that way," she explains. "I wonder what it would have been like to roll around on the grass and go to parties and find out who you are." She also spent those formative years immersed in the Christian fundamentalist faith of her mother's family. "I felt like I wanted to be Joan of Arc or save the world," she says. She remembers the fleeting love affair with religion as "a little bit like being a nun," a lifestyle which unknowingly preparing the actress for her first role on the Great White Way.

Hide and Seek: A cast member from the first readings of Doubt, the self-proclaimed "laugher whore" was initially concerned that John Patrick Shanley's play was a bit too straight-laced both for author and actor, a hesitation she has since abandoned. She admits that she has never excelled at "corseted-up parts" and has always felt the most comfortable playing characters with "masks-crazy people, drunk people, alcoholics, drug addicts, people with accents or mentally ill characters." Although donning the traditional nun habit provided a bit of comfort, she has found along the play's successful journey to the Pulitzer that she agrees wholeheartedly with the comments she hears consistently from audiences-that this is a truly challenging and thought-provoking piece of theater. "People are just so happy to be seeing a good new play," she says earnestly.

A Perfect World: The least recognizable cast member of this high-profile play, Goldenhersh was initially worried that she wouldn't live up to the proven record of her director and cast mates. "I was worried about the reviews going, 'But the weak link is…' Thank god it didn't happen!" If the press had singled her out, however, it seems her positive feelings about her Doubt cohorts would still be hard to hide. She raves about director Doug Hughes, who she calls both "a godsend" and "obscenely eloquent." She admires co-star Adriane Lenox's "killer" acting skills and says she is, "one of the funniest ladies I have ever met." Cherry Jones is, "exactly what everyone would hope she would be," the newbie gushes. "She teaches me how to be graceful." And O'Byrne, whom she has started dating since the genesis of Doubt, awes her with his ability to "look at a scene in different ways" and his ability to push the envelope night after night. "They're the best kind of actors because they don't really feel like actors," she says with sigh of relief.

Without a Doubt: So how about the central question of this mind-game of a play-did he or didn't he? The consummate professional, Goldenhersh doesn't break character with her calculated response: "I know Sister James comes to believe that he's innocent. But I've had my doubts," she says, smiling. "Sometimes I look at Father Flynn's face when he's on the bench and she says she doesn't believe it…and the way he looks…I don't know if I quite buy it. I just don't know."