Madeleine Stowe: ‘I tend to be a bit obsessive;’ ‘I had a very peculiar upbringing’

On Starting Point Actress Madeleine Stowe opens up about getting in and out of character for her wicked role as Victoria Grace on hit TV show “Revenge” and her philanthropic efforts in Haiti.

On viewers relating to seeking revenge, Stowe says, “I think it’s a pure animal instinct. You know and it’s something that we either overcome or we don’t. I certainly have my moments.”

On her character, Stowe states, “She’s a little Lady Macbethish, you know what I mean and I tend to be a bit obsessive. So it’s kind of easy to kind of slip in there. Coming out is a little bit more of a trick. And sometimes when you are on set, you know, you have to make sure that you’re not in that place because it’s highly misinterpreted I think at times.”

She adds, “And so I take off and I go down to Haiti and have this other and I’m deeply immersed actually in a day-to-day basis with this remarkable organization led by a man who is a doctor. He happens to be a priest. And they take care of 900,000 people a year, which is astonishing through what’s probably the premiere pediatric hospital in the country.”

“I’ve had a very — I had a very peculiar upbringing, you know,” Stowe says. “And my father was very sick. So I think that this is just a place to — I was ineffectual as a child. That is what I felt. And I think this is the way to kind of help.”

Starting Point with Soledad O’Brien airs weekday mornings from 7-9am ET on CNN.