That Irish Look
Looking Irish is a trait that Boyle could not have escaped, even if she had tried. "I've had Irish skin from the time I was a young girl," she said. "I had so many freckles that my mother used to say that they were kisses from the angels. I still have them." Commenting on the sun rays she is exposed to living in California, she exclaimed, "My people are not meant for this."
    As quick as she is to refer to the Irish as "my people," she also admits that she has much to learn about her heritage. "There are so many people, including myself, who are uneducated about the Irish and what they did for this country." For Boyle, it is a learning process that took on new meaning during the two trips she has made to Ireland. On her first visit, made a decade ago, she spent a full month touring the country with friends. On a second visit a few years later, she remained for two weeks. "I loved it both times," she said. "I found that I just couldn't get out of the pubs. It was wonderful to have all of those great conversations with people. You would walk into a dime store and before you knew it, the owners were inviting you over for dinner."
    Her visits to Ireland were filled with several highlights, among them the Rose of Tralee contest in Kerry and seeing the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare. After stumbling upon the campy Rose of Tralee contest somewhat by accident, Boyle said she enjoyed every minute of it. "I have never cried harder or laughed harder in all of my life," she recalled. "It was so touching. I would take the Rose of Tralee pageant over kissing the Blarney Stone any day."
    Without hesitation, she said that her favorite place in all of Ireland is the Cliffs of Moher. "Eugene O'Neill once said that if he could picture what heaven would be like, it would be Ireland. I would be even more specific and say that if I pictured heaven, it would be the Cliffs of Moher," said Boyle, making a literary reference as casually as she might order a salad.
    Another unexpected sensation that Boyle encountered on her trip was the feeling that she was among people who looked and acted just like herself and her Irish friends and family: "I would see a woman walk by very quickly and suddenly I would see myself in her."
    One person with whom she does not share many traits is the character she portrays on The Practice, Helen Gamble. The assistant district attorney she plays is a business-suit-wearing, briefcase-toting professional, albeit with a bit of a wild side. So, after a long day "in court," Boyle said it is "nice to go home."

Valley Girls
Home for the past several years has been the four-bedroom house that she purchased for herself and her mother in the San Fernando Valley. Yet, after all of those years living with mom, Boyle has bought her own place. "My mother is wonderful," said the doting daughter. "We have a great relationship." And although they will no longer live under the same roof, she said, "We'll only be ten minutes away from each other."