The Man Landers arc is really the first Amy-centric story you’ve had. Are you excited?
“Yeah, I am so excited. I am glad that it happened when it did. I needed some time to get my feet wet and get used to the pace of filming and working with everyone. It came at a really great time in my life where I finally feel comfortable and I am so grateful to Frank [Valentini, executive producer] for the opportunity. I think he’s really happy with how it’s developing, so, win-win.”
Tell me about working with Ryan Paevey (Nathan).
“It’s been a dream. We didn’t shoot together before this, but we became friends really early on in my time on the show. We had spent some time hanging out outside of the studio and we have a real friendship that we can use. He’s become a big brother and a mentor and a great friend to me.”
How has it been working with Jennifer Bassey, who is playing Quinn, Amy’s book publisher?
“She is a dream! Both Ryan and I have loved working with her. She is full of amazing stories. She is just a real delight, so quick and funny.”
Did you know in advance about Amy’s injured brother, who is her incentive to get the money from the book deal?
“No, I didn’t know about it in advance. Actually, when I started shooting episodes referring to a second job, I was always speculating and asking crew members and Ryan, like, ‘Do you know what my second job is?’ I guess I found out when we were shooting the Nurses’ Ball. Frank pulled me aside and was like, ‘Here’s the deal, here’s the backstory.’ That’s when we started building the layers of more depth in her, and I’m excited for the audience to kind of understand where she’s coming from.”
Do you think Amy has a crush on Nathan?
“I don’t. In my opinion, she’s not viewing him as a romantic interest. She’s at a very hectic point in her life where the stakes are so high and she is in such need that she doesn’t have that boy-crazy mind-set. She still talks about being into Dillon, so I would love for that to play out somehow, but who knows? It could be a very realistic, natural growth, where you don’t see somebody in that light at first, and then you fall for them. But not yet!”
Amy and Kristina are roommates, but you’ve only had a few scenes with Lexi Ainsworth (Kristina) so far. Have those been fun?
“Lexi is a blast. We worked on the Nurses’ Ball together this year, so we were in rehearsals and stuff, but I shot [my first one-on-one scenes] with her right after she won the Emmy, so we just had that girl moment and girl talk of, ‘What was it like? How did it feel?’ We’ve developed a really good friendship. Sometimes we have too much fun on set, so we don’t know how often we’ll be working together because we always get a case of the giggles. So, we’ll see, but we have the best time.”
