Sedgwick On The Big & Small Screens

Kyra Sedgwick is one of the most respected actresses on the big and small screens. Next week, she returns to both.

Soon, she's starring in a film called "Loverboy" that is very close to her heart. She's also back for a second season as tough Deputy Police Chief Brenda Johnson in the hit TNT series "The Closer."

Sedgwick spoke Thursday with The Early Show co-anchor Julie Chen about her two very different roles.

On "The Closer," Sedgwick's character is smart, tough but always a lady. Hailing from Atlanta, Brenda Johnson has to play hard ball with the boys of the LAPD.

But her character is flawed.

Asked where she draws from to create Brenda, Sedgwick replied with a smirk: "Gosh, I don't know. I'm so perfect. Flaws are so hard to conceive of. You know, I think, really, the most important thing for me is that she is accessible. And that she is someone that people can relate to. And I have all the same flaws or similar ones that Brenda has."

For one, Sedgwick loves doughnuts and sweets.

"Absolutely. But also, you know, I think she really struggles with trying to do the right thing, be the right person, manage her life, you know, not follow her heart and her mind, but she struggles very much in her personal life in trying to manage all of that," Sedgwick explains. "And I think it's something that everyone can relate to."

There's a hint of a love triangle as the show heads into season two June 12. Asked what will happen, Sedgwick says: "You know, we'll see. I mean I think it's all sort of messy in a good way. You know, I think that … she's conflicted and she's ambivalent and I think she never makes the perfect decisions. I don't want to give away too much. But there is some conflict."

When "The Closer" debuted last summer, it was an instant success, garnering two nominations for a Golden Globe and for a SAG award.

Sedgwick says she found the nominations shocking.

"I just didn't expect any of it," she says. "Which was the greatest way to go into it. With no expectations, you're never disappointed. Everything was just a wonderful surprise."

"I think we definitely can't repeat ourselves," says Sedgwick, speaking about the second season. "I think in a way, it's better this year. I mean I feel like we're a more cohesive group … I feel as an actor even better and I think that the fans will just really think they're going to be not disappointed."

Speaking about her new movie, "Loverboy," Sedgwick acknowledges the book had a pretty profound effect on her. The film was directed by her husband, Kevin Bacon.

"There was something about it that haunted me," says Sedgwick. "This idea of this exclusive love that she wants to have with this child is something that I think every parent can relate to and that moment, and she creates this world with him, there's no father, you know, she gets rid of the father, or he's just not around and, you know, this wondrous, wonderful world she creates for him and then there becomes that time when he needs to let go and it's scary time."