Tiffani Theissen talks “White Collar” with Blast

QUESTION: Did you ever think that your event planning skills would be useful to the FBI, and when will they bring you in as an official paid consultant?

TT: I know, really. I don’t know. That’s a good question. That could actually be kind of funny. No, it was actually when we shot that episode, it was an episode we shot a little later, and they really enjoyed the episode so much, they pulled it up and made it a little closer to the beginning of the show, which is great. It was really fun to do, and it was really fun to work more with Matt and the guys in general, which was great. Again, like I had mentioned, you’ll see certain episodes that I might be a little heavier in, but the event planning thing is exciting because, like I said, I’ve always wanted to do that on the side or if I ever wanted to give up acting, that’s what I wanted to do. It’s kind of fun to live out a little bit of a dream of mine on my actual job now.

QUESTION: Now, what was the audition process like?

TT: It was an interesting audition process. I’ll be totally honest. I went in and read for this before they even cast Tim’s role of Peter. I did great. I was put on a short list, and then months go by and didn’t hear back because they hadn’t cast the role of Peter yet.

Then, they finally cast the role of Peter with Tim, which I was ecstatic about because I was such a huge fan of Tim’s work that I was hoping to get called back again and be able to read with him. They actually had moved on and started looking at some other girls for the role. Funny enough, they were looking at girls younger than I was, which I thought was kind of funny. A month or so goes by, and they have not cast the role of Elizabeth.

I finally got a call again. They said they really wanted to bring me back again and see what the chemistry could be like between Tim and I, and we blew it out of the park. The moment I met him and we read, it just was right. It just fit perfectly, and so I read with him once for a chemistry read, and then I went in and tested for the show with him with a couple other girls. I was told that USA usually takes a few weeks to make decisions, but I was told later that night that I got the role, so I was very excited.

QUESTION: What specifically about the White Collar pilot script drew you to it?

TT: It’s kind of the type of storyline, kind of storytelling that I really, really enjoy. The Catch Me If You Can, The Thomas Crown Affair, those types of movies are always on the top of my list as well as James Bond and things like that. Those are the kinds of movies that I really tend to watch and really see myself. When I read the script, I was like, oh my gosh, this is such a show that I would watch, and I can’t really say that about a lot of the shows that I’ve done in the past in my career.

Then, the more and more I got involved with the show and just watching how it was being cast, I was really excited when they cast Matt. I had seen some of Matt’s work and heard what kind of an up-and-coming, amazing actor he was. Willie, I had known, and I’ve always enjoyed his work. Then when they cast Tim, I was over the moon because I’ve always loved his work and some of the shows that he’s done, and then just the character of Elizabeth, like I had mentioned as well. It was kind of like the first time I read a role where I was like, wow, this is really kind of more me. I could actually be playing someone closer to home for myself, which was kind of a nice change for me.

QUESTION: In “Fastlane,” you were actually the badge-holding cop, and now on “White Collar,” you’re the wife of the man with the badge. You mentioned that you’re a little bit closer to Elizabeth Burke from your own standpoint, but from an acting standpoint, which one of those two roles has actually been more difficult for you?

TT: Definitely Fastlane. Fastlane was much harder for me to do. It was a very new thing for me to do that kind of role where I’m talking a ton, but I will say on the flip side of it, the action part of it that I got to do and the different kind of characters that I got to play inside my character was really, really fun. I can’t say one is more fun than the other, but I will say Fastlane was much more difficult.

QUESTION: Can you tell us maybe a funny or interesting story that has happened behind the scenes of “White Collar?”

TT: I can’t even mention one. That’s hard. It’s so hard to mention even one because the guys, Tim and Matt are two goofballs. I can’t even tell you, and Willie, too, but I just don’t get to work with Willie as much. I get to see Willie’s humor off set when we’re just hanging the two of us, but Matt and Tim, it’s always a singing-fest, dancing-fest, a joke-fest when we’re not literally in the scene working. It’s quite enjoyable, it really is. I feel very blessed and very lucky to be working with the people that I’m working with.

QUESTION: Are you a fan of eccentric baby names, or are we going to get closer to something like Jessica and John…

TT: We’re tooling around with a ton of names. We haven’t come up with anything solid yet. We do have some favorites, and I promise you, they’re nothing crazy. We’re very traditional people, me being from California and my husband from Texas. Yes, you’re not going to find any freaky names. I promise.