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As a teen, Utah actor Lindsay Pulsipher would attend screenings at the Sundance Film Festival and imagine herself one day coming back as the star of her own feature-length movie. That fantasy is coming true this week.
Pulsipher has returned home to promote her new movie, "The Oregonian," a psychological horror film that's playing in the Park City at Midnight series.
"That was definitely a goal and a dream of mine to come back," she said. "It feels amazing, especially growing up in Salt Lake."
You might recognize the emerging actor for her role as Crystal, a shape-shifting were-panther in the HBO hit TV series "True Blood." In her Sundance film, Pulsipher plays a woman in a car accident who doesn't know where she is — or even if she's still alive.
"It's a very strange exploration film, a kind of a psychosis of the mind," Pulsipher said. "She doesn't know if she's alive or dead or in purgatory, and it's her journey on where she's going and who she's going to become."
It's Pulsipher's fifth film, including four shorts and this feature-length film, with "The Oregonian" director Calvin Lee Reeder, whom she also is dating. They live together in Los Angeles.
"She's game to do strange films, she's very pliable," Reeder said of his star. "She doesn't need dialogue to get the point across. And she's very much in control. She's very present."
Ever since Pulsipher was 8 years old, the former Cottonwood Heights resident wanted to become an actress. She attended South Jordan's Valley High School and took acting lessons at Hale Centre Theatre's acting workshop before getting bit parts in "Touched by an Angel," the television drama filmed in Utah.
But her career exploded when she moved to Los Angeles 10 years ago. Since then, she's appeared on episodes of "Masters of Horror," "CSI: NY" and "NCIS." She also had a recurring role in the short-lived TV series "The Beast," with the late actor Patrick Swayze.
Last year, she filmed "The Oregonian" just before starting her role in "True Blood." She is now in the middle of filming her second season with the HBO horror series and has two other films in post-production.
And in between projects, she visits Salt Lake City two or three times a year to spend time with her family.
"I feel extremely lucky," she said about her career trajectory. "You struggle so much in the business, so when I have the peaks, I am so grateful. I'm enjoying the ride, for sure."
'The Oregonian' screenings
Tonight, midnight • Library Center Theatre, Park City
Friday, Jan. 28, midnight • Broadway Centre Cinema, Salt Lake City
Saturday, Jan. 29, 5:45 p.m. • Egyptian Theatre, Park City
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