Natalie Zea, who plays the character, gives some background in a brief Sept. 12 Hollywood Exclusive article. Among other things, she talks about getting the look right:



This is a wire service article that will appear in many papers, but I've edited the link to point to the original source.

Natalie Zea (Karen Darling) gives a long interview to UndergroundOnline.com, career background plus some DSM specifics:

Didn't see a thread for her. And I thought she was the standout among the Darling kids.

I just hope she isn't Nick's half sis. Because, if so? Eeewwww.

Mods, my bad, please delete. I just saw this is on a page 2, which my eyes did not see.

Apologies all around.

I really enjoyed Karen in this first episode, and I thought she had some great chemistry with Nick. She seems to be the most grounded of the Darling kids (not that that's saying much) and just mostly seems to be unhappy, not crazy.

I thought she was pretty crazy, but very appealing. But I do love characters that blurt out officially inappropriate things believably, which she did! Great fun.

She is so totally Nick's half-sister, no doubt. Yes, it's creepy, but DELICIOUSLY so. I can't wait for this reveal.

I liked her on Passions (yeah, I know) and I really liked her here. I look forward to learning more about her character and see where she goes with Nick.

[small voice] Me too; she was a pretty good recast for Gwen.

She's a good actress. I really dug Leticia telling her that she was the strong one, because I think the initial impression of her is that she's a pushover. I'd like to see some of that.

I'm not too sure about that. I think they might want us to think that but she knew about the affair which implies to me it she considered there was a chance of them being related she wouldn't still be working that inappropriate chemistry with Nick. Would she?

I still really like her though, she cracks me up.

Well, she may not have found out about her mother's affair until she was in her twenties. The thing with Nick was in their teens.

But there's more than one possibility for parentage, and several that avoid incest.

Nick might be Tripp's son while Karen is Dutch's daughter.

Nick might be the son of Tripp's brother (mentioned for the first in this episode as deceased), and taken in by Dutch as a service to the Darlings. That way Karen could be Dutch's daughter and there still would be no technical incest.

The genetic relationships might indeed be the same as the legal ones, with Nick Dutch's son and Karen Tripp's daughter.

So we'll see. But I think there's clearly more than one possibility.

I wouldn't rule out the incest angle here yet. Think about what Tripp said to his namesake last night -- Patrick's prediliction for transvestites and/or transsexuals can be dealt with by the Darling family. When you're that rich and powerful, you can get away with things that other people can't -- the rules no longer apply. While you're not necessarily quite above the law, you are, so to speak, above the folkways and mores of society.

And my, was Ms. Zea breathtaking in the bridal foundations last night. Watching prime time TV these days, one becomes accustomed to seeing beautiful girls, even in their underwear. I can't say what it was about seeing Natalie Zea in that particular garb that struck me as so especially sexy -- it probably goes to matters of taste -- but, well, wow!

I agree that the shot in "The Lions" of her in her unmentionables or whatnot was rather striking. I did not think she was shot as being so immediately attractive this week, but her interaction with Nick was perhaps more appealing than the visceral impact the previous week. Or something like that.

Karen's my least favorite character so far. You feel bad for her for a second because she seems to marry users, but that's waaayyy overshadowed by the irritation at her for constantly bringing up her and Nick's past relationship. What she does is both pathetic and mean. He's obviously pretty happily married, she already had her shot long ago, and she's supposed to be getting married.

Just leave it alone woman.

I wish I looked like her in my underwear. I rarely think that upon seeing actors semi-clad.

I am so over her. She just went from amusing to pathetic and horrible. And that look told me everything -- she is a pretty snake. I am so on Team Lisa.

ETA: Although I think Nick has moved on while Karen didn't, I think that they have unresolved issues...I think that they got pregnant and he wanted it and she didn't.

This episode, Karen seemed very passive. She had the one night stand with Georgio, and then just hung around waiting to see what Tish would do. Her scene with Nick particularly bugged, since although she could claim innocence when Nick confronted her, she had just passively sat around drinking while her mother had tried to sow the seeds of discontent in Lisa & Nick's marriage.

I like sassy, Patrick-blackmailing, runs-her-own-charity foundation Karen a lot better than the Karen we saw this episode.

Oh, and just to clarify, did she actually get turned on by the nameplate on Elder's car before she had actually seen Elder? And this is the woman who is heartbroken because men don't see her, they just superficially see her money? Well, boo hoo (not!).

I've got to agree. Karen is usually one of my favourite Darlings (along with Jeremy), but in this episode she just wasn't any fun. It seems like she's trying to break up Nick's marriage for sport instead of love (or infatuation), and really, isn't she supposed to be tired of fake relationships by now?

I don't think she's Dutch's daughter, because Tish does not seem crazy enough to actually help Karen snag her own half-brother. Because honestly, that would be gross. There's no other way to say it.

Yeah, I think Karen is the one Darling who I'm positive IS Tripp's, because Tish would not be advocating a Nick/Karen union otherwise.

I love, love Karen Darling.

I've really been impressed by Natalie Zea's performances: she can often be laugh out loud hilarious but also very good with the dramatic content (The Wedding was a great one for her, obviously). Sure, Karen is often quite vacuous but that to me is the fun of a show such as this, I don't want my New York's richest family to be noble philanthropists -- Karen's style is much more entertaining. For instance, the closing scene of 'The Nutcracker' with Tripp and Karen's reveal that they had been manipulating Simon -- so the kind of trashy-juicy thing that this show could thrive on.

Despite that, though, I don't think she is without heart, and really does care about Nick.