Tiffani Thiessen of the USA network series White Collar!

During our visit to the set of "White Collar" PCM was able to catch up with actress Tiffani Thiessen, who plays the character of Elizabeth Burke wife of FBI agent Peter Burke. Tiffiani spent some time during our in-depth Q&A session to give her thoughts on the series, the audition process, and why she won't be returning to 90210!

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Check out our interview with Matt Bomer and Tim DeKay and Willie Garson!

When asked about the audition process Tiffani states when she first auditioned for the role of Elizabeth the role of Peter had not been cast yet, so the casting directors were holding off on until Peter had been cast before trying to fill the role of his wife...

" So, they finally cast the role of Peter with Tim DeKay, which I was ecstatic about because I have been a fan of Tim's for a very, very long time. And so I remember calling my agent going, "Okay. So, what's happening?"
He's like, "Well, they kind of wanted to go in a different direction. They're going to start seeing-and these are the people that-the girls that they're testing for." And they were literally testing girls five years younger than I was. And I was like, "Okay, this is interesting."I mean, you know, Tim and I already have a little bit of an age difference, but like you put another five years. And I go, "That seems strange."

So, I guess, you know, and Tim can be the person to say this, which I am sure he has told you, I guess they went through a lot of different girls, a lot of young girls. He said like most of these girls, they could've been his daughter. Like he was like, he could not believe it. And so they finally came back. I got a phone call like a couple months later and they were like, "We want you to do a chemistry read with Tim DeKay."And I was like, "Yes. It's back on!"

I went in. We had chemistry from day one. He's an amazing actor, and he's such a great guy, as you guys, I'm sure, got to see. And I went in, tested for it once. And there's a very funny story with USA that it takes USA a very long time to make a decision on somebody. And I think I broke the record because I got the call three hours later that I got the job."

Tiffani claims she is best able to relate to her character because:

" Well, I think just myself, you know, being married. I've been married almost four and a half years now. And it's a relationship that I know-you know a lot of times on TV, and even movies, you see these relationships that don't work. It's always about the ones that don't work.

It's nice to see a relationship on TV that does work, and they've been together for a long time. And they really do have each other's best interest at heart. "
Tiffani goes on to talk about how the character of Elizabeth was originally supposed to work the job of an accountant, however no one wanted the character to be stuck in a office environment, so the idea was brought to the table the she was an event planner. Tiffani thought "what better way to show even more of the City? And secretly I've always wanted to be one."

Tiffani has also tried out her directing chops with the HBO series Hung; she shares her thoughts on the possibility of directing an episode of White Collar:

" Oh, absolutely! I wouldn't say no, absolutely not. I mean I would love to. First seasons are always the hardest to kind of get your feet wet with everybody that's on the show and stuff like that. So, I would love to. They know my interest. I would absolutely love to.
And, yes, Hung, I was actually supposed to shoot the end of this year. But now that I'm shooting this show, it's got pushed back. "

Throughout her career Tiffiani has played a variety of roles and it almost seems as if we have watched her grow-up on the screen from the sweet and innocent Kelly Kapowski on Saved By The Bell to the conniving Valerie on 90210, to now playing the wonderful and supportive wife on White Collar. Tiffiani shares her thoughts on type-casting and stereotypes:

" I think we all, as actors, fear that. I think there's always going to be a little bit of that no matter what. But I think, yes, when I read the script, I was automatically like really into the script and the role.
Like I had mentioned, I think one of the first questions was, just being that I'm finally playing somebody more of myself, which I really kind of liked, and kind of honing in on something that was a little more closer to home for me. "

Tiffani claims she was able to bring a whole new energy to the character of Elizabeth because she does not see herself as a nine to five girl and did not want Elizabeth to be caught in that type of world. Peter does not have a nine to five job, especially when is running around dealing with Neil's antics, so taking the character of Elizabeth out of that box was a good idea all around, definitely seems to make their relationship more relatable.

Tiffani Thiessen, who is now starring on her third successful television show, White Collar, as Elizabeth, the wife of FBI agent Peter Burke, and most recently filling the role of new mom, is perhaps most recognizably from her starring roles on Saved by the Bell and 90210.

In fact, she almost didn't get the role on White Collar because her look was too young.

"I went in and I read the script and absolutely fell in love with it and just really was adamant about wanting to do everything I could possible to try and get the job. I was put on what they call a short list, but they wanted to cast the husband first, which they hadn't found Tim yet.

I think about a month or two goes by and they finally cast Tim, and so I was waiting to get that phone call again to come back in, and what they do is like a chemistry read. I never got the call, and so I called my agent and I was like "Whatever happened to White Collar, that show? I was supposedly on the short list." And they said, "Oh, they actually wanted to go a different route. They thought you were too young." Then I started hearing some of the girls that were actually going in and auditioning with Tim and they were actually younger than I was. So I was like, wait a minute, that doesn't sound right.

So I actually thought I lost the job, but then supposedly they never found the girl, they were definitely trying to go younger and it didn't work, and so they called me back again. I did a chemistry read with Tim and we totally hit it off, and I knew it was my job, I knew I was going to get it, I had a feeling in my gut, and I did."

When PCM's Caitlin asked her whether she felt like it was hard to break away from her well-known youthful teen image, Tiffani replied, "I think you hit the nail on the head."

"I think that's exactly what people think of me at first. Because it was funny, when I auditioned for it and then to hear that they were actually bringing in girls that were younger than I was, I think people tend to forget how old I am, and maybe it's my good genes, knock on wood, I hope that's part of it too. I don't know." Tiffani explained.

"I'm 36 years old. I'm not in my 20s anymore, let alone my teens. But I think you're right." Tiffani agreed. "I think when you have a successful show, and thankfully so far I've had two and going on my third, that people sometimes have a hard time taking you out of that once it's over. But I worked really hard to get it and luckily I won the job. I won them over."

But Tiffani also sees the growing opportunities there are in the past decade for women in their 30s. "I think there's definitely much more in 30s and 40s both. I think you're starting to find people really seeing that - here's the thing. It's hard for me to say and know the experience how it was ten, twenty years ago because I was only in my teens and my 20s, but I know from watching TV myself and watching film myself I see a lot more 30s and 40s on screen, which just makes me very, very happy. It's what we should be watching."

Speaking of watching TV, when Caitlin asked Tiffani whether she watched White Collar herself, the immediate answer was yes. "It's funny, it's actually a show that I would normally watch even if I wasn't on it. It's the kind of TV that I absolutely love. It's the type of films that I go and see. I'm a total James Bond fan," Tiffani divulged. "I love the buddy cop films. I love when you have shows and film that have the combination between comedy and drama and suspense, and to me when you have something that has all of that it really makes for good entertainment."

And she certainly thinks that good entertainment is consistently found on USA Network. "This is the first time I've ever gotten to work for a cable network, and they've been one of the most passionate networks for their shows that I've ever worked with, and I've been doing this for 26, 27 years. I hate saying that sometimes. But yes, they're so extremely passionate and very connected to their actors and their writers and their shows. You can see it on screen."

She particularly loves her character Elizabeth. "I think probably the biggest thing that I was drawn to her character, even from the beginning when I read the script and even more so now that we've gotten to know her a lot more on the show is that she plays a woman that I strive to be every day."

"She really is a woman who takes her marriage, it's very important to her and her relationship with her husband and her home life, but as well really balances her career," Tiffani elaborates, "And I strive to do that every single day of my life, and now that I add the title "Mother" to it it's even more so."

"She's very diplomatic, which I really like. She's very reasonable. She seems to be a person that has a sense of knowing where to go down the middle when she's helping the relationship between Peter and Neal, and I like that about her a lot. She's almost like a little therapist or something." Tiffani continues, "I really admire her a lot."

But when asked whether she often improvised, her answer was slightly surprising. "Here's the thing, the funny thing is that the scripts are so good that we really don't need to actually change anything. But I will say our writers are very open to our ideas and even on the day when we're shooting and if we're playing around a little bit, they're all always very cool about that. It's very collaborative."

As for this season, it's already started off quite differently from the first season. "I just gave birth five weeks ago, almost five weeks ago, so I actually have been away," She points out. "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. I couldn't be right in New York City to shoot with the rest of the cast."

PCM's Kristyn Clarke had the chance to chat with Golden Globe and Academy Award Winner Timothy Hutton (Ordinary People). These days, Hutton is starring in the new hit show "Leverage" on TNT, which is about a crew of high-tech crooks and their attempts to steal from wealthy criminals and corrupt businessmen - much like a modern-day Robin Hood. The show has already finished a successful first season and will premiere its second season this summer.

Hutton's character is Nathan Ford, who had a son that passed away from an illness due to insurance refusing to pay for experimental treatment. He joins up with a group of people conducting operations against his former employer: Sophie Devereaux, an actress and accomplished con-woman with a penchant for art theft; Eliot Spencer, a highly skilled martial artist, weapons expert and retrieval expert; Parker a thief, cat-burglar, and explosives expert; and Alec Hardison, a computer/Internet specialist, hacker, and gadget guy. Their goal is to make sure that what happened to Nathan doesn't happen to others, no matter what the cost.

"Leverage" is very different from other shows, Hutton agrees, "It just kind of had it all. A good starting place for the character that I'd be playing. You know, the guy basically has nothing left and everything is falling apart -- no job, marriage with south, and terrible tragedy with his son. And as a starting place for his character who's trying to get out from under that, I thought it was really good."

Even though we found out a lot about the characters' backgrounds throughout the first season, Hutton tells us what to expect next season:"The thing that was used in the first season of flashing back to learn a little bit more about all the characters in the show. You know, where Eliot comes from -- Parker, Hardison, and Sophie -- different experiences that they've had. There are often times when in the middle of a scene and someone will say, 'Oh, I remember when I did something like that.' And then everyone looks at the character and then there's a flashback, and it's an extreme example of what was just being talked about. And they are kind of funny moments. And poignant too, at times -- it could give you an insight into all the different characters and where they've all come from."

What about Nate, though? Nate's character has evolved greatly in the second season as well. Hutton believes that even though the past is important, it is also critical focus on Nate's new life. "It was time to kind of, you know, get into storytelling involving who he is now and having all that behind him and can he function well? Can he maintain this line of work? And, you know, certain details within that, such as the drinking and whether or not that's a continuation.And it was determined that, you know, it would be interesting to have him not be drinking anymore and to look at drinking as something that absolutely terrifies him because of loss of control. Whereas the first season being sober was something that absolutely terrified him because of the exposure to reality.So those are very different dynamics going on."