Rosario Dawson relishes playing the lead role on new TV drama

Rosario Dawson has graced both the big and small screens, in everything from dramas to comedies to Marvel superhero projects, yet she’s rarely been cast as the lead in a project.

That has changed with her USA series “Briarpatch” where she plays fashionable political fixer Allegra Dill, who returns home to her Texas border town following the bombing death of her police officer sister. She’s turning over all stones, attempting to solve the murder in the quirky, gumshoe drama, which made its debut last month.

“I’m not used to being No. 1 on the call sheet and the few times that I have have been small little indie films that I’ve produced myself,” said Dawson.

She says she doesn’t take the series for granted: “I know a lot of actors who shoot pilots and then the show doesn’t ever get picked up and continue. And then we did.”

Dawson has consistently stayed busy both on Hollywood sets and political stages with former Democratic presidential candidate and current boyfriend, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (Booker sat in on the interview, snapping pictures with his phone). However, she calls this her toughest role to date, balancing the strenuous physical challenges of the role with her personal challenges as her father battles pancreatic cancer.

“It just was so interesting, vacillating between this incredibly raw emotional experience with my dad and then playing this character who is trying to figure out how to deal with her grief and even appreciating her grief because she just lived such a hard life,” said Dawson. “I’ve just never had so many of all of my faculties and energies being pulled out at once.”

Ursula Coyote/ Associated Press Rosario Dawson, as Allegra Dill, from her new series “Briarpatch.”