No more kidding around

Andrea Bowen has always seemed beyond her years.

Last season, her Desperate Housewives character, Julie Mayer, was shipped off to Princeton as the rest of the cast were catapulted five years ahead.

Her return to the show means she's also five years older - making her 24 when she's actually 19.

This doesn't faze the actress in the slightest.

On the Los Angeles set of Desperate Housewives she possesses the poise and calm of a Hollywood veteran.

Most of her friends are older, she says, so she had plenty of inspiration to draw on.

Getting to grips with the life experience befitting a young woman in her early 20s, Bowen isn't about to admit to any method acting, other than visualising herself finishing university.

"I'm imagining what it would be like to be at that point in someone's life.

"And then on top of it, imagining what it would be like for my character to be at that point in her life.

"So it's challenging, you know; it is definitely not as comfortable as playing what I was before.

"But it's more fun.

"It's uncharted territory for me and I have been having a blast with that."

It's not often actors get to play such a wide age range.

When Bowen started on Desperate Housewives, she played a 12-year-old, half her character's lifetime ago.

She was also the youngest core cast member, a privilege she can no longer lay claim to.

This season, Wisteria Lane is full of young people so Lynette's son Porter won't be alone now that his twin has gone to Europe.

They include new kid on the block Danny (played by Beau Mirchoff), the son of new housewife Drea de Matteo's character Angie.

Ana (Maiara Walsh), Carlos Solis' manipulative niece, who moved in during the finale, also continues this season.

Then there are the youngest cast members in Lynette and Tom Scavo's ever-expanding brood.

Sitting alongside her new cast-mates, Bowen has an air of control - she's no longer the baby on the show.