In 1999, Camryn Manheim won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in David E. Kelley’s hit legal drama, The Practice, as feisty lawyer Ellenor Frutt (1997-2004). Now she’s come full circle playing Lt. Kate Dixon in the 21st season of Dick Wolf’s venerable crime drama, Law & Order, which was revived last year after a ten-year hiatus.

Manheim’s character is successor to Lt. Anita Van Buren, played by S. Epatha Merkerson in Seasons 4-20, because Merkerson is now a series regular on another Dick Wolf series, Chicago Med. The busy actress, whose other TV credits include Person of Interest and Ghost Whisperer,  spoke to us at the Monte Carlo Film Festival about joining the global franchise shortly before all three dramas – Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Organized Crime – united for a crossover event, for the first time in the history of the franchise, that aired in the U.S. as three season premiered on September 22.

You were ‘Law’ on The Practice, but you’re ‘Order’ in Law & Order, right?

It’s confusing, but yes, the ‘law’ side means the police officers and the detectives, and ‘order’ is like ‘order in the court,’ that’s how I understand it. Everything I’ve ever learned about the law, I learned from The Practice and now Law & Order so I’m happy to give anyone advice in either category.

Do people ever mistake you for a real lawyer?

It’s really interesting how people think that you are the characters that you play. I remember going to jury duty and some of the people who were waiting to see if they were picked on a jury said, ‘Well, why are you here? You’re a lawyer!’ I had to explain, ‘I’m just an actor but happy to give you advice,’ and then they were like, ‘Well I have a dispute with my neighbor’ and I’d think, ‘That’s really silly that they believe I’m a lawyer, even though I sort of believe I am too!’

How difficult is all the legal jargon to understand?

My brother is a lawyer who went to Harvard Law School and teaches constitutional law, so he was very instrumental in me understanding all the words and terms in scripts that I didn’t understand. I could never be a lawyer in real life, but I did take my father to court when I was 16.

What was that about?

My father lent me a very fancy camera when I was going to sixth-grade camp, and I promised him I’d give it back. I came home, got the pictures developed and gave him back the camera. About a year or so later, he said, ‘You know, you never gave me that camera back, so I’d like you to pay for it.’ I was 10 or 11 and it was $75, so I worked for two years to pay him off and he applauded me and celebrated me for having honor and integrity. Cut to when I’m 16, and I go into his closet to find a costume for Halloween, and there in the back is the camera. He said, “I had no idea it was there” so I called my brother who was in law school and said, ‘What does he owe me?’ He said, ‘He owes you the camera, interest on all the money you paid him, and pain and suffering,’ so I sued him in small claims court for the maximum amount and argued my case and the judge decided in my favor. My father was so proud of me, he slipped a check under my door with a note saying ‘Bravo!’

Is it true that one of your first acting jobs was on Law & Order?

Every actor living in New York, that was their goal, because it was the only show in town back in the ’80s. I was proud my first TV credit was there, and I’ve played three separate characters on the show over the years. So, this is my fourth character in the franchise, and it does have a very special place in my heart.

Are you looking forward to a crossover with Mariska Hargitay?

I want to go head-to-head with her. When she found out I was joining the show, she called and said, ‘What can I tell you? Come for dinner and we’ll just have a good girl chat.’ We talked for four hours because it’s a big universe and I was very grateful for her guidance.

How would you describe Lt. Dickson in the show?

I think she was probably bullied as a kid and she’s angry about that and wants to make sure that people like that get taken to justice, so she decides to enroll in the police academy and goes through the ranks and is now a middle-aged lieutenant who is smart and has the trust and respect of her detectives.

What memories do you have of winning the Golden Globe in 1999?

I’m a little girl who grew up in the Midwest watching these award shows, accepting them in the shower with my shampoo bottle as a microphone. I would pretend all the time in my room, so you have no idea how it felt for me to be up there on that stage with an award in my hand.

Now I’m a 60-year-old woman playing a badass lieutenant on Law & Order, so what better life could I wish for?