Amanda Seyfried studied deposition tapes in preparation for The Dropout

Amanda Seyfried carefully studied deposition tapes while preparing to star in The Dropout.

The actress portrays disgraced biotechnology entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes in the TV series, which delves into the rise and fall of her Theranos company.

Speaking to Extra about the project, Amanda explained that she spent hours analysing recordings and interviews of Elizabeth to help inform her performance.

"There was so much studying. I am not an academic. I never went to college, and for the first time in my life - and I have two kids at this point - I was like, 'I can't wait to study,'" she smiled. "Any time they went down for a nap, I bought a laptop just for this and I would look at deposition tapes and write things down."

Amanda confessed Elizabeth remains an "enigma" in many ways, although she hopes the convicted fraudster can understand why her story has attracted such wide interest.

"I think if I were her, I would be slightly grateful that we took the time to explore the context. I think it's the one thing being very public, a lot of things are one-sided, people believe what they want to believe about you with the information they have," the 36-year-old continued. "That's a disadvantage to being in the public eye. And every single human being is nuanced and complex, and we gave another perspective. And a perspective that especially, in the beginning, was very compassionate to her beginnings."

The Dropout is now streaming on Hulu and Disney+.