Submitted by DoubtingSalmon on July 28, 2010 - 02:26 pm
Interview: Tiffani Thiessen from 'White Collar'
We had the pleasure of sitting down with actress Tiffani Thiessen who plays Elizabeth Burke in USA's "White Collar." She told us about her character's relationships with the men in the show, some of her favorite moments on set, and what it's going to be like on set with her new baby.
On White Collar, Neal, you have to say, is such a charming, handsome man, but Elizabeth is a married woman. Do you think it's possible for men and women to be friends without there being a sexual connection?
T. Thiessen: I do believe so, being that I'm married myself. I think it's quite easy, actually. I think if your marriage is strong and you have a good trust basis between the two, which is a lot of what we try to portray the relationship between Elizabeth and Peter to be, then I absolutely think you can. They've been married for ten years and they have such a good rapport with each other and it's a marriage on TV that I really quite enjoy to watch, because you don't see a lot of TV couples like that.
I think it definitely shows a lot that she can be friends with someone like Neal. He's definitely a very charming, beautiful man, which is always fun to look at. But I always have this funny, cute saying that I always tell reporters that I say you definitely want to date Neal, but you want to bring Peter home to your family. You want to marry someone like Peter. Do you know what I mean?
This show has garnered such online support, I mean, there are so many tweets and—
T. Thiessen: It's amazing. Nowadays this whole digital media, it's crazy.
I was going to ask you; you're a part of Twitter already.
T. Thiessen: I am. I've been a little slow on it lately. I haven't had too much time but I'm going to try and start getting up on it again.
I was wondering, why is it so important for you to interact with fans via Twitter?
T. Thiessen: I think it's a definite new media that has really sparked a whole new kind of connection between actors or musicians or anybody in the entertainment business or even politicians. I follow Ann Curry, I love it. I love hearing her voice. I love hearing her news, her opinions. I think the public really enjoys that.
To me I think it's a much more honest way to really connect with your fan base without it being the horrible magazines out there that might not get the truth right. At least this gives a little bit of an honest glimpse into someone's life without it being too overdone and too personal. You get to control it, which is what I like about it.
Obviously you are currently in the filming process, but heading into the season what were some of the things that you were looking forward to, that you were excited about for Elizabeth?
T. Thiessen: It's a very different season for me than it was last year. I just gave birth five weeks ago, almost five weeks ago, so I actually have been away. What we did was because I couldn't travel or fly because I was really, really pregnant when the season started, we actually ended up shooting, which I'm sure you might have seen on the premiere episode this season, my one scene, a lot of those episodes in the first six episodes I shot here in Los Angeles on a studio with a green screen behind me. The two scenes I did with Tim and then the rest of them I did where I was pretending to be in San Francisco, that's where you'll start to see my character on an event, because I couldn't be right in New York City to shoot with the rest of the cast.
I'm a bit away, I'm not in the first six episodes that much, but it was really interesting to see how they can maneuver me in the sense of making me look like I'm not as pregnant and shooting me from the waist up and not really showing. I actually haven't seen the cast and I actually leave next week to go back to New York and finish off the season with them, so I'm excited.
On White Collar, Neal, you have to say, is such a charming, handsome man, but Elizabeth is a married woman. Do you think it's possible for men and women to be friends without there being a sexual connection?
T. Thiessen: I do believe so, being that I'm married myself. I think it's quite easy, actually. I think if your marriage is strong and you have a good trust basis between the two, which is a lot of what we try to portray the relationship between Elizabeth and Peter to be, then I absolutely think you can. They've been married for ten years and they have such a good rapport with each other and it's a marriage on TV that I really quite enjoy to watch, because you don't see a lot of TV couples like that.
I think it definitely shows a lot that she can be friends with someone like Neal. He's definitely a very charming, beautiful man, which is always fun to look at. But I always have this funny, cute saying that I always tell reporters that I say you definitely want to date Neal, but you want to bring Peter home to your family. You want to marry someone like Peter. Do you know what I mean?
This show has garnered such online support, I mean, there are so many tweets and—
T. Thiessen: It's amazing. Nowadays this whole digital media, it's crazy.
I was going to ask you; you're a part of Twitter already.
T. Thiessen: I am. I've been a little slow on it lately. I haven't had too much time but I'm going to try and start getting up on it again.
I was wondering, why is it so important for you to interact with fans via Twitter?
T. Thiessen: I think it's a definite new media that has really sparked a whole new kind of connection between actors or musicians or anybody in the entertainment business or even politicians. I follow Ann Curry, I love it. I love hearing her voice. I love hearing her news, her opinions. I think the public really enjoys that.
To me I think it's a much more honest way to really connect with your fan base without it being the horrible magazines out there that might not get the truth right. At least this gives a little bit of an honest glimpse into someone's life without it being too overdone and too personal. You get to control it, which is what I like about it.
Obviously you are currently in the filming process, but heading into the season what were some of the things that you were looking forward to, that you were excited about for Elizabeth?
T. Thiessen: It's a very different season for me than it was last year. I just gave birth five weeks ago, almost five weeks ago, so I actually have been away. What we did was because I couldn't travel or fly because I was really, really pregnant when the season started, we actually ended up shooting, which I'm sure you might have seen on the premiere episode this season, my one scene, a lot of those episodes in the first six episodes I shot here in Los Angeles on a studio with a green screen behind me. The two scenes I did with Tim and then the rest of them I did where I was pretending to be in San Francisco, that's where you'll start to see my character on an event, because I couldn't be right in New York City to shoot with the rest of the cast.
I'm a bit away, I'm not in the first six episodes that much, but it was really interesting to see how they can maneuver me in the sense of making me look like I'm not as pregnant and shooting me from the waist up and not really showing. I actually haven't seen the cast and I actually leave next week to go back to New York and finish off the season with them, so I'm excited.
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