After more than 20 years building her stage and screen resume, Ann Dowd has become a star thanks to her roles as Patti Levin on The Leftovers and the menacing yet maternal Aunt Lydia on The Handmaid’s Tale. Her characters are a product of the fractured worlds around them, but she manages to imbue them with depth and dimensionality that suggests their tragic origins. They’re villains, but ones who feel just as human as the protagonists they play against.

With season two of The Handmaid’s Tale confirmed and a host of other projects in the works, Dowd now finds herself one of the most in-demand character actresses on television. She speaks with Todd about her theater roots, what it was like to be filming the first season of The Handmaid’s Tale while Donald Trump rose to prominence, and how having children later in her career has given her valuable perspective and balance.