Imagine being able to grow and learn with a character. For Kyra Sedgwick, who played Brenda Leigh Johnson in The Closer, it was an experience she cherished.

"Surprisingly, it's been exciting and wonderful and really nice to get deeper into a character," the actress told McClatchy Newspapers in 2009. "I think aging with a character, and seeing a character through life changes and, you know, relationship changes is actually a really fascinating thing to do."

Playing Brenda was something Sedgwick did for a while—and she obviously enjoyed it—but when it was time for a hiatus, it gave her a well-needed break.

"But I must say that on my hiatuses, I really do like to do something else. And I have been able to," she added. Thanks to The Closer's filming schedule, which was six months of shooting and 15-episode seasons, the actress found a way to balance her personal life and career—enabling her love for the character to stay strong consistently.

"It's a tremendous amount of work in those six months, but it is definitely a lot better than (a network drama) schedule." Sedgwick not only starred in the series, but she was also an executive producer. "You know, it's always been a really collaborative group. I've been really lucky that way; everybody's been very inclusive from the get-go."

Many fans had a strong love for the character as well; that's why Sedgwick and the writers had to keep her interesting. "This year is about change, and you know change is not something that Brenda deals with very well. Obviously, the most obvious change is that she's married, and how do you go through life as a married person, rather than a single person? There's a change in the squad. Provenza (G.W. Bailey) has a girlfriend, so that's new and different."