Interview with Rookie Blue’s Priscilla Faia

Priscilla Faia stars as the bubbly and delightful Chloe Price on the Canadian police drama, Rookie Blue. Talk Nerdy With Us had a chance to catch up with Priscilla and chat about the things that make Chloe great, the frustrating choices she’s made, and what’s in store for her later this season. Read on to hear what Priscilla had to say!

In what ways would you say that you are like your character, Chloe?

“Well, we look alike, so that’s pretty cool. I’d say that she’s very determined. Her determination is something that we definitely both share. We both value working hard and building relationships. That’s probably one of my favorite things about her, she really wants to be involved with people right from the beginning, she wants to have relationships with everybody, and her job is really important her. I think that that’s something that we both really share.”

Specifically about Chloe, something I wanted to know…She talks a lot. Sometimes very quickly and sometimes in massive paragraphs. Is that a skill that took you a long time to master? Or do you talk a lot in real life so it wasn’t so difficult?

“Here’s the thing. I don’t think that I talk that much in life. I don’t think I do, maybe when I was a little bit younger, but it’s really difficult. The uninterrupted conversation that she is apparently having with herself, because even though she’s talking to somebody, the monologue is not just about the words. It’s about figuring out her thought process that’s propelling her through the monologue. That’s the hard part for me. Because I’m not just gonna say the words, I’m gonna try to figure out why she’s saying these things. Figuring out how she’s jumping from thought to thought, that’s the hard part for me. And honestly, after I try to figure it out, I just let it go and pray it works. Most of the time I feel like it doesn’t.”

No way!

“I hope it does, but it’s a challenge. It’s definitely a challenge. It’s the hardest part about playing her. It’s not easy.”

So, besides learning how to talk in these giant paragraphs, what other training, police training or just in general, did you go through in order to prepare for this role?

“Well, I got to do a couple of really cool things. I’m from Vancouver Island and I was staying in Vancouver and I have a couple of friends who are in the stunt world so they set me up with a gun handler who they use a lot in Vancouver. So I got to go hang out with him for the day. He did all the armory for like Alien and Blade, so I got to not only get a lesson on these guns, but he taught me how to disassemble and then reassemble our pistols that we use. I also got to shoot them. Then when I got to Toronto, the producers set me up with a ride along with the Toronto Police Department which was the coolest thing I ever got to do. I got to sit in the van with one of the sergeants and another officer and we got to drive around. I got to go on calls with them and I had a bulletproof vest on. It was legit. It was pretty cool. Also one of our writers, her brother is a police officer and so is his wife, and they kind of work as consultants on Rookie Blue. They came in and taught us some basic take-downs and the important things we need to know. How to clear a room properly, more how to hold our guns. We got a lot of training. I actually got to do that with Rachel Ancheril who plays Marlo, so it was really awesome.”

With such a big ensemble, you don’t get to work with every cast member all the time, sometimes not at all. Is there anyone specific that you wish you’d gotten to work with more?

“You know, the cool thing about Chloe is that every relationship she has with every one of the characters is so different. They’re all just slightly adjusted. But, I had a scene with Ben [Bass] who plays Sam in the episode where it was Chloe’s birthday. I thought it was so hysterical because he just shuts her down completely. They have a working relationship. There’s no personal details; it’s just work. I really like that because she doesn’t really have that with anyone. I mean her and Gail have a thing, but they still get personal, you know? With Sam and Chloe, Chloe has no way of getting into that world. I find that dynamic really interesting It’s a different dynamic than she has with anyone else. I always find it really funny when they interact.”

I can’t even think of a scene with them together.

“It was the episode where Nick and Chloe go through trash. It was her birthday, and she’s like ‘great, I’m stuck in trash.’ She asks Sam if she can go early cause it’s her birthday and he says no. [Laughs].”

Ohhh right. Wasn’t there something with her ex husband and a birthday tradition gift?

“Yes, yes. That episode. She gets the gift and she thinks it’s from Dov but it was really from Wes.”

Speaking of Wes, we were super surprised last year when we found out that Chloe had this husband, was that something that the writers let you in on ahead of time? Or were you also surprised when you read the script?

“They didn’t tell me anything. And here’s the funny part. A few weeks, maybe a couple of weeks, before we got the script for the episode where I got shot – because at the end of the episode is when we find out that she has this husband, because the emergency contact has been called and it’s Wes. The writers were walking past me in the studio going ‘have you read 412 yet? Have you read 412?’ I was like ‘what’s happening?’ I started to get worried and I was like ‘what? Why? Tell me!’ They were like ‘oh we can’t tell you.’ Then I guess the script came out and I didn’t know and I was on my way home from work and my driver goes ‘so…you have a husband, that’s crazy!’ I was like ‘What?!’ I was so shocked, and so I go back to work and I read it and I couldn’t believe it. I was just as shocked as you guys were, honestly. But it worked out great. It was a cool storyline.”

What has been your favorite scene to film so far?

“I was thinking about this and I can’t choose just one. I’ll briefly tell you a few of my favorites. Can I do that?”

 Yes, of course! Please!

“There’s been so many good ones. I will say, that probably my top top was getting shot. Although it was minus nine hundred outside. It was like the dead of winter. I had frozen fake blood inside my uniform, because they had put a blood pack to come out when I get shot in the neck and it was all frozen cause it was the fake blood. But I loved every minute of it. Greg [Smith] was directing which is always a blast and he had some really cool ideas for shots like the revolving shot of Andy when she hears the shot and then she turns and sees blood pouring from my neck. I mean it was just so rad. That kind of stuff, it’s just so cool to shoot that. Also, do you remember the locker room scene with Andy and Chloe? The episode where at the end, I’ve kissed Wes and we’re in the locker room. We improved the physicality of that scene. I go to shut a book and she starts clapping and I’m like ‘what’s happening?’ and she’s like ‘I thought you were clapping’ and I was like ‘no I’m just closing a book.’ Do you remember that whole thing?”

 Yes! I do!

“It’s so funny when people misunderstand each other and it becomes super awkward and it was so fun to do and we still laugh about it.”

Did the directors want an awkardness?

“We asked. I can’t remember how it went. But we kind of asked if we could try something and then I think we rehearsed it just the two of us and we were like ‘wouldn’t it be funny if Andy didn’t understand what was happening’ and then Missy [Peregrym] started clapping and it just kinda worked. We asked if we could do it and it just ended up working. Also the boxing with Nick and Chloe was so fun.”

 In general, I really like the Nick and Chloe scenes.

“I’m really pumped that people are liking that stuff cause Peter [Mooney] and I have such a great time. It’s a cool dynamic, those two, because Nick’s not really close with anybody and even though he’s not really close with Chloe that’s kinda the closest he gets. I really like that dynamic.”

Have you, Priscilla, ever gotten frustrated with the choices Chloe has made? And if so, which ones and how do you reconcile that and find a way to play it?

“Yeah. Definitely. I was really devastated when Chloe didn’t tell Dov about the kiss. Like probably more than I should have been. I think I cried on my personal time. Because as an adult who’s made mistakes in the past, I’ve never kissed somebody that I shouldn’t have, but just in general, hurting somebody I think is something that we’ve all taken part in. It was a poor choice and I think she felt that by not telling him it wouldn’t hurt him but it just ended up blowing up in her face and I knew that. Even though I didn’t know what was going to happen, the fact that she didn’t tell him goes against everything that she had put in place for their relationship. She was all about being an open book, and all this kind of stuff and I think that happens from time to time. We become hypocrites. We act for what we’d like and then we’re not able to do it ourselves. That really upset me and I was really bummed that it cost her their relationship. I was really sad. I get invested just like you guys.”

Has that been hard for you this season, filming and not being Dov’s girlfriend anymore?

“That’s the thing, since I’ve been on the show, it’s been about Dov. So readjusting and taking responsibility and growing up, it was a new arc for her, which I enjoyed because I got to explore relationships with other people and talk about it and go back to being that open book again. You guys will see that she grows and she learns and things start to readjust, so you guys will see. I’m not gonna wreck it for you.”

One more question from a fan on twitter. If you weren’t an actress, what would you be doing?

“Oh my gosh, that is a hard question. Honestly, I don’t think I would do anything…the coolest thing about being an actor, one of them anyway, is that you get to kinda be everything if you’re lucky. If you get the opportunity you get to explore, actually not if you’re lucky, you get to do it all the time because we get to audition and assume these characters that have different occupations and personalities. It’s crazy what we do, we get to make-believe for a living. I’ve gotten asked this question a lot and I really haven’t thought of a good answer. When I was younger, I thought I was going to be a gymnast but then I was terrified of the uneven bars so that dream was gone. Then I was like’ you know what? I wanna help people I’m going to be a nurse.’ But then I realized that I’m way too emotional and I would get to attached to everybody that I was with and not be able to live my life. I thought I was going to be a nurse when I was 12 I think. With acting, I just was like ‘I’m a sensitive human being, this is what I’m going to do’.”