Amber Tamblyn on her gifted “House” character

In the TV series “House,” Amber Tamblyn portrays Martha M. Masters – a “genius third-year med student who, after graduating from high school at age 15, spent her down time getting PhDs in applied math and art history.”

“She’s like the Internet, with breasts,” House observes before correcting himself. “Oh wait, the Internet already has breasts.”

[From LA Times post 'House' recap: Enter the Tamblyn, November 8, 2010.]

Amber Tamblyn said her character “is a bit of an homage to a friend, whose name also is Martha Masters and is currently a medical student. I’m not saying anything out of turn or mean about her, but she’s incredibly brilliant and sometimes she can be very socially awkward.”

She comments about Martha:

“I think you’re going to see someone who has been so much in the world of academia and knowledge that she really never progressed or matured in a social sense,” she said. “You’re going to see someone who has a hard time communicating on the most-basic levels.

“I think House probably sees a little bit of himself in her, except the opposite – he’s usually mean and she’s usually overly nice,” she said. “The two characters both annoy and fascinate each other.”

Tamblyn “has published two poetry books and is planning on a third. Writing poetry helped her deal with the entertainment industry’s capriciousness.”

“Suddenly you’re not this cute thing anymore. You’re supposed to look a certain way, and you’re supposed to play these certain parts, and I had a really hard time adjusting to that when I was 17 years old.

“So writing helped me a lot to make fun of that and be angry about it and just get all my frustrations out without doing it in a real public way.”

[Amber Tamblyn Finally Relishing Role on "House", ThirdAge.com]

[Photo from Fox TV / House site.]

Also see Amber Tamblyn on Facebook and her Official Blog.

A couple of other gifted / high ability characters on current TV series:

Dr. Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel) in Bones, and Amy (Mayim Bialik) in The Big Bang Theory.

These characters are extreme in ways, but also engaging and entertaining.

Are they mostly fun and do they portray “real” gifted women, and giftedness characteristics at least somewhat accurately?

Or in negative ways? What do you think?