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Pictured from `White Collar` is Tiffani Thiessen as Elizabeth Burke (USA Network photo by David Giesbrecht)
Pictured from "White Collar" is Tiffani Thiessen as Elizabeth Burke (USA Network photo by David Giesbrecht)

'White Collar': Thiessen eager to build character

by jmaloni

Behind the Screens with Joshua Maloni

Mon, Aug 2nd 2010 05:00 pm

Fans of "White Collar" have noticed one key ingredient of the show is missing in season two's first few episodes: Tiffani Thiessen.

The actress has a very good reason for her absence.

"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," the first-time mother said.

As a result of her pregnancy, Thiessen's scenes, thus far, have been sporadic and specifically staged.

"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," she said. "The two scenes I did with Tim (DeKay) 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."

When speaking with BTS, Thiessen was on her way back to the "White Collar" set. She said she was eager to expand her role as Elizabeth Burke, the wife of DeKay's FBI agent Peter Burke, and friend to con artists Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer) and Mozzie (Willie Garson).

"I think definitely being that I haven't been able to get into that back story this first part of the season because I've been away, I definitely would love to explore that a lot more," Thiessen said. "I would love to explore a little bit more of the history between Peter and Elizabeth and how they met. And possibly maybe a little bit more, I think what they're wanting to do, which I'm excited about, is really starting to see me interact more with Matt's character as well as Willie's character. You saw that toward the end of last season, where I was working a lot with Willie, which I think the audience really likes. So I think they're going to continue probably doing that this season when I get back to work."

"White Collar" airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on the USA Network. Visit the show's Web site by clicking here.

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