Howard Wise/jpistudios.com
As B&B’s Li, Naomi Matsuda is clashing more with her on-screen sister, Poppy, these days, but her character’s well-established hatred for Kimberlin Brown‘s (Sheila) led to a memorable scene last year where Li shoved Sheila’s face into a plate of Bolognese. When she first read the script, “I just started smirking and laughing,” Matsuda recalls. “I’m so happy any time I get to work with Kimberlin. She’s such an incredible actor and she gives you so much. Although we did have one big fight scene already, this was something a little different for us and I was excited to do it.” The actresses didn’t discuss the scene beforehand, Matsuda explains. “We just kind of showed up and rehearsed. When there’s any action, like in the fight scene, we always have to choreograph it, and then we’re like, ‘Okay, we know what we’re gonna do.’ We both knew we would just go for it and not hold back.” For the moment where Sheila served the Bolognese to Li, and Li responded by shoving her rival’s face into the messy bowl of pasta, “I didn’t really shove her down,” Matsuda clarifies. “I just had my hand on top of her head and then Kimberlin lowered her face into the plate herself. I just followed her lead. There were extra portions of pasta just in case we needed to do it again but luckily, we were able to do it in one take because she is just that good! Afterwards, we had a good laugh before she cleaned off.”
