(The following interview with Missy Peregrym was never published so I present it here):

Q&A: Missy Peregrym On Rookie Blue

Missy Peregrym is officer (and rookie) Andy McNally on Rookie Blue. No stranger to television she’s worked on Heroes, Smallville, Reaper and Dark Angel. While all of those shows offered an element of fantasy or science-fiction Rookie Blue is a departure choosing to explore 5 rookie police officers. Combining action and comedy Peregrym is passionate about this new challenge and the opportunity to be bold and grow as a person and as an actor.

Q Start by describing your character on Rookie Blue.

A Ok. I play Andy McNally. She works really hard, tires to do everything the right way…basically puts all of her heart into absolutely everything. She’s really honest which gets her in trouble sometimes.

I kinda play a character where—on this show we’re taking people with minimal experience and good intentions and putting them out there in these situations that nothing’s quite so stereotypical and it’s all hard on us in different ways.

It’s difficult for my character because my father was a detective and he’s really messed up by the business of being a policeman and all the things he’s seen and can’t forgive himself for—I’m sort of in this position to redeem him: if at all possible. And to make a big difference in every way possible. I love Andy: she’s really well rounded and there’s a lot to her.

Q Is this where the honesty springs from…this redemption?

A Yeah.  I think so.  I think also I’m not in this for any other front—I’m not in it to look cool or because I was picked on or want to be an authority figure. I was raised in this environment.

Q I asked Gregory Smith for his character Dov what would be the ideal police shift so what would Andy’s ideal shift be like?

A Not throw up. I always end up doing something I think I’m doing the right thing and it always twists and turns and I end up getting in a deeper situation then I’m supposed to.

Probably go to work, enjoy my coffee, get out there, make an arrest, do the paperwork, save lives and be able to go home and have a bath. [laughs]

Q How are you expecting audiences to react to Andy?

A I hope they feel like they’re on a journey with me. Where I don’t know exactly what to do in every situation: I have to find my way through it and I hope they come along that ride because it’s nice. I’m not really any different than anybody else. I’m mostly a civilian, less cop. I don’t have very much experience. I feel real proud of myself when I do the right thing.

Q I understand this show is has a cast but what is it like to carry this show as the core of the group?

Q. Did a role like this require a lot of research?

A Absolutely but it helps that we’re rookies. We did a day of training with real officers using your weapon in a way trying to keep it realistic as possible. The show is driven not by the technicalities but more character driven so how does the job affect the characters. And how are we reacting to the positions we’re in.

Q Did anything fun come out of that training?

A We always have competitions on the set who can draw their gun the fastest. We’re constantly coming up with all these different things to do like who can reload the fastest.

Q Be honest…who usually wins?

A Yes. I win. [laughs]. I’m just kidding. Me and Greg…we’re really competitive with each other.

All of this is really fun. The only thing that sucks—even though it looks cool is the tackling people scenes.  Our uniforms are nothing compared to what the real officers wear…our vests are tailored to look neat. Even the belts are not as heavy. It still kills when you land on it…we’re constantly getting bruised but it’s totally worth it.  All it does is makes you deeply respect and admire how hard our officers really work.

Q How is it managing the responsibility of carrying a show like this as the lead?

A It’s exhausting. The one thing I never expected was my real life and my real relationships have been completely sacrificed at this point.  That’s a hard thing to adjust to. You go to work, you work for 14 hours every day and then you get home and you have time to get cleaned up and something to eat then you gotta memorize your lines again. It’s not a lot of time to make those calls to the people you love and care about, that’s tough for me. But it’s been totally worth it. I truly am so proud of this job and this project. I love who I work with. I’ve got such fantastic people surrounding me that even though I’m tired, even though this is a big change I would love to come back and do this again and again.

Also published on Medium.