Morena Baccarin of 'V'

(USA TODAY) NEW YORK — As the leader of the alien Visitors, Morena Baccarin sports prime time’s most prominent pixie haircut. And don’t tell her bosses at ABC, but she has gotten a little sick of it… “I want to bleach my hair blond. I’d love to, but they would kill me right now if I did that,” she says.

The series V, starring Baccarin as Anna, the poker-faced president of the extraterrestrial Visitors, has proven to be a hit for ABC. The fourth episode airs tonight (8 ET/PT), and the series returns in March.

Baccarin, 30, is animated and peppy in person. On screen, she’s as cool as, well, a lizard.

So she’s particularly excited that this week, “you get to see what makes Anna tick a little bit. It’s fun to be mysterious. I know that what Anna is doing and what her agenda is are really important, but you can’t let on. I have to make her likable and intriguing to people who feel like they shouldn’t like her.”

The Los Angeles-based actress, who was born in Brazil but grew up in New York, auditioned for the part and landed the job in one day.

“I read this role and gravitated toward it, which I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing,” she says with a laugh.

Read the full USA TODAY story on Morena Baccarin here.