AMY RYAN, continued

Best known for her Oscar-nominated performance as the mother from hell in last year's Gone Baby Gone, the long-time stage actress and veteran of HBO's The Wire was thrilled to finally flex her comedic chops. ''Comedy felt like this great secret kept from me,'' she says. ''You go home in this great mood. You're not carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders.'' Ryan's serious side did come out when a devastated Holly breaks up with Michael after she's transferred to an out-of-state branch in Nashua, N.H. But tapping into that emotion, she insists, wasn't difficult. ''I was crying like a baby the last day. I haven't cried like that leaving a set in a long time.'' —Adam B. Vary