Memories From the Set: Charlotte Ross  

Ross\' adoration for the CW series is well-reported, but in discussing her introduction to social media (via

Glee), she can\'t help but revisit the topic again. "Everything pales in comparison to the fandom of Arrow. It is extraordinary and I am so grateful for how welcoming and supportive they have been," she gushes. "Social media plays such a major role now in our shows — like, I\'m going to live-tweet [the Nov. 10 episode] — so I thank God they love me, because I don\'t know if I could handle it otherwise!"

Ross\' first TV role — right out of high school — was initiation by fire, thrown as she was into a frontburner storyline that involved a lot of eavesdropping ("They called me The Lurker") and threatening the Frankie/Jennifer romance. "It was 40 pages of dialogue a day, but it was a dream come true," she recalls of her debut as Eve, a "bitch you love to hate" kind of character. "I went to work in the dark, I came home in the dark and there was no hiatus, but it taught me a wonderful work ethic." Freaky fact: On Days, Ross played daughter to Charles Shaughnessy, but four years later they were cast as lovers in a TV-movie. "I had to straddle him on a pool table, and I remember thinking this is the most incorrect thing!"

This Fox drama was envisioned as "Beverly Hills, 90210 meets The Commitments," following as it did a group of young, aspiring musicians. Says Ross, "I was the lead female singer and I played guitar," capitalizing on some of her other real-life skills. "This was a time when people like Tiffany would sing in malls, and I will never forget singing a solo while people waved their arms from left to right, in front of a Gap." The Heights would produce the hit single "How Do You Talk to an Angel," for which Ross still has a gold record hanging in her home office.

This CBS sitcom followed four women who shared one monster of a mother-in-law, played by Emmy Award and Oscar winner Eileen Heckart (who passed in 2001). "Loved Eileen Heckart, bless her soul. She was amazing," Ross warmly recalls. "I was the youngest of all the females, and in Judith Ivey and Harriet Sansom Harris and Beth Broderick you had these really seasoned sitcom/comedy actresses, so I was just a sponge to watch and learn from them." Very interestingly, after playing Bree on this Marc Cherry co-created comedy, years later Cherry would tell Ross, "I created the role of Bree on Desperate Housewives for you, but you were on NYPD Blue!"

Based on Brandon Tartikoff\'s run as president of NBC, this Showtime dramedy was centered on a "man with morals (played by Brian Kerwin) surrounded by a sea of sharks," Ross explains. "And I was the head shark! It was one of my favorite roles in my entire career, by far," in part due to Peter Lefcourt\'s "superb" writing, "but also it was very \'inside,\' like how The Larry Sanders Show was." Indeed, Ross says that her turn as development VP Lori Volpone had many in Hollywood guessing whom in real life she was based on, be it then-ABC boss Jamie Tarses or then-NBC exec Lori Openden, with a splash of "Faye Dunaway in Network" thrown in, Ross says. "It was such a great character!"

Boarding the estimable ABC cop drama in Season 8, as Det. Connie McDowell, was intimidating for Ross if only because "I\'m petite and blonde, so it was more of question of, \'Can somebody like me hang with a boys\' club and really get the job done?\' But Bill Clark, who co-created the show with [David] Milch and [Steven] Bochco, says he loosely based my role on his [then] wife, who was a petite, blonde lieutenant in the NYPD," and that gave Ross all the added motivation she needed. "Bill would always say, \'You can do it!\' -- and that was awesome." Ross likens Connie\'s evolution to what she now is experiencing as Arrow\'s Donna Smoak, in that "I replaced Kim Delaney but I wasn\'t brought on the show to marry [Sipowicz]…. These things kind of grow organically."

Though the cop drama disrobed many of its stars over the years, it was Ross\' backside and other bits bared in the February 2003 episode "Nude Awakening" that got ABC affiliates spanked with a combined $1.2 million in FCC fines — until a higher power chimed in. Years later, Ross is rather proud for her backside to have secured a place in the annals of TV history. "Yes, I showed my ass — so had Dennis [Franz], so had Kim [Delaney], so had a lot of other people. But for some reason, mine was the \'poster ass\' for how TV was changing.\' It was a 10 pm show that aired at 2 pm in the Midwest, so people got up in arms." But in the end, the actress vividly recalls, "It was ruled that Charlotte Ross\' ass was deemed \'decent,\' and that is now in the Supreme Court books!"

As Judy Fabray, Ross played mom to a quippy, pretty blonde. Hmm, sound familiar, Arrow fans? Making her first appearance midway through Season 1, Ross arrived just as Fox\'s musical dramedy began popping hard in the pop culture-verse, paving the way for the actress to make the transition from tallying postmarked fan mail to braving online engagement. "Social media was this whole new world I was slow to get into, but Glee made me jump right into it," she recalls. "Glee opened my eyes to all of that!" (Alas, despite her aforementioned musical talents, Ross laments that never got a chance to show off her pipes alongside TV daughter Dianna Agron & Co.)

Ross\' adoration for the CW series is well-reported, but in discussing her introduction to social media (via Glee), she can\'t help but revisit the topic again. "Everything pales in comparison to the fandom of Arrow. It is extraordinary and I am so grateful for how welcoming and supportive they have been," she gushes. "Social media plays such a major role now in our shows — like, I\'m going to live-tweet [the Nov. 10 episode] — so I thank God they love me, because I don\'t know if I could handle it otherwise!"