Tiffani Thiessen of the USA network series White Collar!

D uring 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.

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