Tiffani Thiessen as Elizabeth Burke on USA's WHITE COLLAR
If fans of Tiffani Thiessen still think of her as a high school student on either Saved By The Bell or the original Beverly Hills 90210, you’re living in the past. Thiessen moved onto more adult roles a long time ago and can now be seen as Elizabeth Burke, the wife of Special Agent Peter Burke (played by Tim DeKay) on the new USA network hit White Collar. Thiessen recently talked to me and members of the press about working with cute guys like co-star Matt Bomer, who plays Neal Caffrey, her impending motherhood (she and husband Brady Smith announced earlier this month that she is expecting) and what else she would be doing if she couldn’t be an actor.
Jim Halterman: Glad to see you on TV again!
Tiffani Thiessen: Thank you. Thank you so much.
Thiessen in the "Threads" episode of WHITE COLLAR
JH: I know you did a short film a couple years ago that you directed, and I wanted to know is that something you still want to be doing? Is there a chance maybe you could direct an episode of White Collar?
TT: I do. You’re so sweet. Yes, they definitely know directing is something that’s in my thinking of wanting to do more and more, and it all really just depends on time and all that. I wanted to make sure that when we started the show my focus was on my character and what I’m doing as an actress. Now with my new role coming as a mother, it’s going to be a little more challenging, but it’s definitely something I want to do more of, so yes.
JH: You’ve been in the business for a long time. If you weren’t in the entertainment business, what else would you want to be doing?
Tiffani Thiessen from an ad campaign
TT: It’s so funny. Last year when we did the pilot, we really didn’t know what Elizabeth’s character was going to do for a living. They had some ideas, and they kind of changed it, and then I had come to Jeff Eastin, our creator of the show and said, you know, it’s funny. I think it could work, but it’s something I’ve always wanted to do if I wasn’t an actor. I’d always wanted to be an event planner, and I think it could work really well for Elizabeth’s character being that she’s in New York City. We could really show the city in a different light, and they loved it. I have to say funny enough, that was my idea, and that’s exactly what I would do if I wasn’t an actor.
Question: What made you want to be a part of this show?
TT: Ever since I read the script, which has been a little over a year ago now, I fell in love with it. I fell in love with the characters. I fell in love with the show, and more and more, when the cast was brought together, the more excitement I had for the show and wanting to be a part of it. This is really the first time I feel like in my whole entire career which has been over 25, 26 years of doing this that I finally feel like I’m kind of playing a role a little closer to home for me, which is kind of exciting.
Question: How do you think that it will play out balancing your roles and responsibilities of motherhood and your part on White Collar?
TT: You know, that’s a very good question in the sense that I really don’t know being that I am a first-time mom, so it’ll be a very different kind of thing for me being that I’ll be working and being a mother at the same time. There are millions of people who do it. My mom did it herself, so I know I can handle it, but it’ll be a very new experience, so it’s hard to say what is going to be like. It’ll be all brand new for me.
Thiessen with on-screen husband Tim DeKay
Question: Why should viewers watch White Collar?
TT: Oh gosh, well, besides having really cute guys on the show, it’s definitely the type of TV and movies that I like to see. I’m a huge fan of The Thomas Crown Affair and those kinds of feels of movies and shows and 48 Hours, which is so interesting, Catch Me If You Can, things like that. If people are really into those kinds of movies and those kind of story-telling, they have to watch this show. It is so absolutely entertaining. The characters are so rich and so fun to watch and follow. As well as you see New York City in a completely different way. It’s shot in a beautiful way. It’s interesting, a lot of shows that are shot in New York City can be a little more dark and gray, and this show really, I think, kind of captures New York City in a really beautiful light, and it’s nice.
Question: The USA Network has some big hits out there right now. How does it feel to be a part of the network?
TT: Absolutely exciting. I tell them this all the time that I feel blessed to be on such an amazing network. This is the first time I’ve ever done a cable show, and I’m utterly thrilled and over-the-moon with the fact that they’re so supportive and they’re so behind their shows, and they really do give such a great chance of us really trying to make it. It’s nice. It’s nice to feel like we’re really wanted in a sense and really have a lot of passion behind us. It’s a lovely, lovely feeling.
Question: What’re the challenges that you have if any in creating a new character knowing that you have a career behind you?
TT: Yes, well, it’s bittersweet at times. There’s good and bad. There are people who of course followed my career and who have loved the shows that I’ve done in the past and are always up to seeing something new of myself or any of my past co-stars, which is really wonderful. Then there are always people who have opinions, and, of course, that’s how the world works, and that’s A-OK. Some people were really open and loving to the fact that I’m actually playing a role that’s quite different than what I’ve played in the past. Like I said, it’s definitely much more close to home for me, this character, but some people had a hard time with it. Some people didn’t believe the relationship between Tim and I, which is so funny to me because we had chemistry from day one, but that’s how the entertainment business works. That’s how people are, and that’s okay. Everybody has their opinions.
White Collar airs every Friday on the USA Network at 10/9c.
Jim Halterman is a freelance writer who spends his days interviewing the top tier of talent and creative forces in the entertainment world and then, because he's that kind of guy, he brings it all to YOU! And, because we all like free stuff, check back on Fridays for the best giveaways!! (Photo: With SMASH star Megan Hilty at TCA Winter Press Tour, Pasadena, CA, January, 2012)
