Where did we go right?

It wasn’t the first time she’d been on television. But there was something special about her latest role. Annie invited a couple hundred of her closest family members and friends Jan. 11, 2009, for a private screening at the Tivoli Theatre in University City of 24‘s two-hour season premiere.

Though the Company Man pilot was a bust, Annie’s acting was a hit. When the producers of 24 had a difficult time casting the role of Agent Renee Walker, one of them suggested testing that actress from the pilot.

“I know I wasn’t everybody’s first choice,” Annie says, adding Emmy Award-winning director and producer Jon Cassar really went to bat for her.

Once she landed the role, however, there was no real expectation it would last. And there still isn’t, she notes.

“They kill a lot of people off on this show,” she says.

Whether being buried alive or being thrown off a boat into a replica of the Potomac River wearing blue jeans and a leather jacket, the role of Renee Walker has been her most demanding to date, challenging her not only as an actress but also physically.

“I love it, love it, love it, love it. I’m constantly begging them for more,” she says.

Another challenge is the shooting schedule. Because each episode of 24 represents an hour of the day, half of the nine-month shooting schedule takes place during the day, and half takes place at night.

Between the schedule and her inability to change her looks to maintain the continuity of that single day’s events, Annie has little opportunity to pursue other acting possibilities. She’d love, for instance, to return to her musical theater roots and play Satine, the role made famous by Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge.

Another opportunity she’d love to explore that wouldn’t interfere with her looks would be a Disney princess, she says.

Still, she’s grateful for the extraordinary opportunity she has now.

“Career-wise, it’s such a huge thing. It’s such an incredible role, being such a strong woman,” says Annie, who by her own admission typically was cast as the meek, quiet wife or mother.

Though many actors, like her co-star Kiefer Sutherland, eventually move behind the scenes, Annie says she has no such desires.

“He has such a good eye if something in the scene needs to be tweaked or fixed, he knows how to fix it. I can tell when things are a little off but I’m not sure how to fix it,” she says.

Like Annie’s mother, Massetti isn’t surprised the actress is making her mark.

“I’ve always thought she was special. I always knew something would happen for her. Some people get lucky, but with some people, it takes time,” Massetti says.

Though many agencies will drop a client who is unable to produce at the level they want within a certain timeframe, Massetti says she believes Annie was like a fine wine that would get better with age.

“She would never be an ingénue. She was always more of a leading lady,” Massetti says.

The agent says she wouldn’t be surprised if her client lands a few big-screen roles after being seen on 24.

“The film business is a little anemic right now because of the economic downturn. But I do think she will have those opportunities once this cycles through,” she says.

Even so, the competition is incredibly fierce, first to get an agent, then to get into a room with a producer or director, Annie says.

“Once I was able to play the woman – instead of the girl and my hair was darker, I started working more. I was never the same as the other young chippies,” the natural blonde says.

One of her frustrations, Annie says, is how casting directors have a preconceived notion of a character’s look and cast close to type. Sometimes, she’d go to an audition with sandy blonde hair and told to go lighter. Other times, she’d go with long hair and be told to go shorter.

“It’s frustrating you can’t just go into the room and you’re the best actor for the job. There never seems to be an imagination for things. It has to be the exact thing as they envisioned it,” she says. “You can tell when you get immediately typed out.”

And unlike many young celebrities clawing their way onto the A list, Annie, who is single, avoids being caught in indelicate situations that make their way onto the covers of supermarket tabloids. She prefers to spend time with her mother, who lives next door to her, visiting friends and family in St. Louis several times a year, and playing with her dog Sandy, whom her mother isn’t certain is named after her or after the dog in the musical Annie.

“I think that’s definitely a choice you kind of make… As far as your personal life, you can have a pretty big hand with what you let out there,” the actress says.

Still, Annie says she believes with this new role comes wider recognition.

“I also know in this town you can be the hot new thing this second and be out of favor the next week,” she says. “I think I’m slowly climbing that hill. I think more people know me as the redhead from 24 as opposed to knowing my name.

“I just want to be known as a really good, really fine actor.”