NEW YORK -- Nikki Reed's new TV series, "Sleepy Hollow," tapes in Atlanta. So does "The Vampire Diaries," which stars her husband, Ian Somerhalder. How convenient is that?

The couple, who were married last spring, met years ago and became friends. They bonded over their passion for activism and animals.

"We always bounced ideas off each other," the 27-year-old Reed said in a recent interview. "I remember thinking, 'Wow, I am so inspired by this human being.' ... He's 10 years older than me and he's been able to find that voice and use that voice for many years."

Reed plays Betsy Ross when "Sleepy Hollow" returns for its third season Thursday (9 p.m. EDT) on Fox.

"I don't play the Betsy that I think one might envision when they think about Betsy, a woman maybe sitting in her rocking chair stitching a flag," she said. "I play 'Sleepy Hollow's' version, super kick-ass. Very confident. A fiercely loyal woman who is the female spy in George Washington's spy ring in the 1700s."

So far Reed only has scenes in flashbacks with Tom Mison's Ichabod Crane.

"They have an interesting dynamic and one I'm excited to watch unfold. There's a thing, there's energy there. I genuinely don't know exactly what it is or where it's going because that's the beauty of TV. It's all a mystery, even to me."

Reed's other passion is animal rescue. Her mom "wanted to mother everything. From the time I was a little kid, any creature I could find, any critter was welcome in our home. We could always find food, we could always find a bed. If we couldn't find a home it could just stay."

"I grew up with one too many cats and one too many dogs and mice and rats, and I think at one point we had a coyote," she said, "or maybe a raccoon because the raccoon's mom died. One time we had a litter of bunnies. ... We had like 13 bunnies and my mom and I were feeding them with little droppers every two hours. It was a zoo."

Now she fosters animals at her own home, if only for a few days.

"One of the things you learn from rescuing animals is how little language actually means," she said. "There is something that happens. ... You can connect with animals without ever having to really speak and it's the coolest thing."

She believes her permanent pets innately understand the process of fostering animals, and her female German Shepard in particular seems to love it.

"She was born to be a mother but never had puppies. Nothing makes her happier than me walking through the door with 10 crazy, obnoxious puppies tearing at her, clawing at her."