By Angela Gold and Jamie Ruby

Canadian born actress, Kirsten Prout, plays Amanda, the teenage neighbor and love interest to Kyle in the ABC Family Drama Kyle XY.  The show recently began airing its   fourth and final season after premiering in June 2006 to the highest ratings in the networks history.  The show was also the very first to picked up by ABC as a summer replacement two years ago and it was so successful that it paved the way for other ABC Family shows to be showcased on a major primetime network!

Kyle XY is about a mysterious boy that was found naked in the woods and appears to be missing a belly button.  Nobody knows where he came from and for almost the entire pilot episode he doesn’t speak, but manages to tell everyone how he is feeling through his expressive eyes.  At the end of the episode he masters the language and begins to imitate his surrounding peers and in addition his heart is captured by his beautiful teen neighbor, Amanda. At the end of the first season, we find that Kyle is human and is a product of science and posses superhuman powers.

In addition to Kyle XY, Kirsten can also be seen starring in the Lifetime original movie Cry Wolf for director Michael Scott.  In the movie she plays ‘Samantha Cooper’ and is the story about a divorced mom, Barb Cooper and her daughter who struggle to maintain a relationship through the trials and tribulations of teenage life. When Sam is witness to a murder at a high school party, her life becomes even more complicated, and her mother must struggle to bridge the distance between them and save her daughter’s life. 

Kirsten made her feature film debut in 2005 as Abby, sidekick to Jennifer Garner’s character in the superhero flick Elektra for 20th Century Fox.  The film also starred ER’s Goran Visnjic and was shot on location in Kirsten’s hometown of Vancouver.  Kirsten received great praise and accolades for her portrayal of the feisty portage that Elektra takes under her wing. 

Kirsten recently came onto the Bionic Angels radio show to talk to Angela, Jamie and Kenn about her role as Amanda, and the unfortunate news that the current season would be the last for Kyle XY.

Angela> We’ve all heard the bad news that Kyle XY was cancelled.  How did you find out, and have you talked to the rest of the cast?

Kirsten> I found out through my agent.  That’s usually the channel we go through.  But I was waiting on it all day; it was really quite nerve wracking.  It’s been a huge part of my life.  Whenever you work on a TV show, it’s like family.  You go to work everyday with the same people; you just have this bond.  You eat lunch together, you eat dinner together; you do everything, and it’s hours in closed studios with them.  It’s something that in indescribable in the way you bond with people.  I found out from my agent, and it was just this moment.  I was walking down the streets and it was covered with snow and freezing outside.  I was trying to hurry in doors and I got the phone call, and just kind of stopped.  It was in the middle of the snow, and I was just thinking, “Wow, that really happened!”

Angela> I was surprised, I wasn’t expecting it.  You’re finished filming though right?

Kirsten> Yeah, it’s not like I’m getting booted off the set the day of.  It’s different.  Every good thing must come to an end.  My heart really goes out to the fans of the show, and I keep in close correspondence with the most lovely website, and a lot of dedicated people.  It’s just so horrible to hear how disappointed they all are.  I’m hopeful that everyone will follow us and enjoy season 3.  All of the cast, we were all so excited about it.  It was definitely our favorite season to film.  I think that was unanimous.

Kenn> When did you actually finish filming?

Kirsten> It was right before I went off to University, so it was during the summer.  It’s been a long time.  It’s always funny; before I entered the industry I wasn’t really aware of that lag.  When I did my first gig when I was a kid, I was so excited to be on TV, and was like, “Mom, when’s it going to be on, when’s it going to be on?”  And she said, “It will be a couple of months probably.”  I was like, “No!”   It was so disappointing. 

Angela> That’s really funny when doing these interviews.  You ask what happened this week, and the person you are interviewing has no idea.

Kirsten> I can tell you the whole season recap,  but I can’t tell you what happened this week. (Laughs)  It’s so funny, I always have everyone from the network reminding me before an interview what episode we are on so I don’t crack something huge.  Seriously, I’m a gold mine for spoilers.  I have to be put on a leash!

Jamie> Since you’ve filmed the whole season, can you tell us, does it wrap itself up?  Is there a big cliff hanger?  Did they have any idea when they filmed it that this might be it?

Kirsten> Any show isn’t really aware of what the future is going to be when they are filming.  But I think this season, the fans are really going to be happy with the action.  Of course it’s not perfect, perfect episode.  If it was in my hands you’d have complete closure of everything.  But I think for the lack of warning, the season finale is one of the better ones.  It’s definitely an intriguing episode and you’ll enjoy it.  You’re definitely trying me for my spoilerisms here!

Kenn> We’re pretty bad about spoilers, but we’re trying to be nice here!

Kirsten> Thank you so much for having some mercy on me!

Angela> What was your favorite part about being on a television series?

Kirsten> The interesting thing about a series, when I first came onto Kyle XY, I’d never worked as a series regular.  I’d done guest stars, I’d done movies which just take up a chunk of your time and are very intensive.  But a series is a big chunk that happens every week.  It’s an intensive process.  On a feature film budget you have a longer amount of time, but it’s a similar amount of time.  And for a feature film, you get months to do the exact same thing you do for a series.  If you have a show with an hour long episode you’re going to have to compress all of these scenes.  Every day is just packed.  You get up at God knows what hour of the morning, and you’re driving home in the dark.  So it’s really an intense process and you sort of get confused as to what’s reality and what’s not.  You’re going home, reading the script for the next day, and everything blurs together. 

Angela> Do you feel more connected to the character since you do it for a longer period of time?

Kirsten> When you are doing a film it’s a very intense process, and you do every scene so many times.  You have so much space to develop the character when you are filming, and it really does immerse you.  Whereas in television, you do a scene so fast, I supposed it does really imitate life in that way, in moving that character so fast, you don’t really reflect on everything about it.  You are definitely more aware of changes in your character.  But in television, they just sort of grow with you.  You do a scene and it naturally just happens because you’ve played that character for years.  Usually for any new character, you have to really think on it.  But for Amanda, I’d read a scene and I could just hear her in my head.  I knew the exact way that Amanda would say something, or the intonations in her voice.  If she was angry, what kind of anger would Amanda present?  She’s a very calm person.  It was just this natural process and I got to experience becoming a character and just knowing what they’d do.  I don’t go home and stare at pictures of Kyle and live the life, but it definitely becomes part of you.  It’s interesting because they come up with a new episode and our writers are wonderful.  You’d read something, and sometimes I’d just know that that would not be the way that Amanda would get something across, or that wouldn’t be the way that Amanda would react, and would just think of something else to say.  I’d pose that to the writers and they were so accommodating.  The thing is, you can’t revise every scene and you have to trust the writers.  They’re the writers and you’re the actor.  But when you feel that a character wouldn’t do something, the writers were just so accommodating and it was a wonderful experience.  Everyday you got to give your input and discuss things.  We had wonderful producers and wonderful directors on the show, so it couldn’t be better.

Kenn> Do you ever find it frustrating that they tease out the relationship with Kyle, and especially with Amanda finding out the secret?  As a viewer of the show, that is the most frustrating thing, and even last week it looked like he was going to tell her then he got the call from Tom Foss.

Kirsten> I know your pain!  I remember reading that script.  I’m so bad, I’m a script junkie and I’ll stay up all night and read page by page.  I was reading that!  Everyone is holding their breath, and then Kyle gets the phone call.  I smacked my hand on my pillow and was like, “No, no!  He has to tell her!” 

 Angela> Do you play the piano in real life?

Kirsten> I did when I was younger, but I took a hiatus from it.  Then I was thrown into Kyle XY, and it was like, “Ok you’ll be sitting at the piano in that scene.”  I had to fumble my way.  I remember when I was doing piano, my tutor would always tell my mom, “Kirsten is very, very good at the piano, but she never practices.”  She’d be teaching me during my session and I’d be sucking it up.  Then I’d come back next class and she’d ask, “Did you learn that little piece I gave you?”  I’d stare at her innocently, “No”; my short lived career.

Kenn> Is it hard to maintain a normal life when you are an actress?  I know you are in college now, do people recognize you from the show?

Kirsten> That does happen.  It can be very strange.  I live in a residence and I’m very lucky because we have this hotel that was converted into a residence.  But that also means a lot of elevator rides.  The first day when I was moving my stuff in, this girl kept staring at me, and I was watching her out of the corner of my eye.  I looked over and said hi, and she said “Hi how are you?”  I asked her if I knew her from somewhere, and she said, “No, but it’s weird, I feel like I know you.”  You just don’t think about it.  In Canada, and Vancouver, I really don’t get recognized.  But when I went on vacation and when I moved here to Montreal, it was just so strange.  I was so flattered.  I was walking back from a little cafeteria area after having a bite to eat with my roommate and this girl is walking down the stairs and said, “I just finished tonight’s episode, you did a great job!”  So it was so weird. 

Angela> When people recognize you but can’t figure out from where, do you tell them, or just leave them hanging?

Kirsten> I don’t like to tell them.  I’ll say, “Yeah, I’m on a TV show.”  And they’ll be like, “No, I think I met you in class the other day.”  A friend of mine, who isn’t an actress, constantly gets that.  She just has such a familiar face, so I try to steal that line.  How am I supposed to know what they watch in their living room, right?  I just play innocent.

Angela> How do you manage going to school and still going on the audition calls?  How do you do both?

Kirsten> I don’t think I could have auditioned last semester.  I didn’t start looking for new work because Kyle XY hadn’t been cancelled.  Last semester I just took a lot of wonderful courses and I was so wrapped up in University life.  But this semester I tried to track down places in Montreal to go.  It’s absolutely ridiculous here because in Vancouver, there’s a technology that’s used for streaming and it’s used in casting studios all the time.  But it’s really hard here.  I might have to start flying down to Toronto every weekend to put myself on tape.  It’s a bit of a struggle going to university.  Time wise, for learning lines, it’s difficult but I went to high school and did AP courses and was up to my eyeballs in honors work.  Schoolwork has always been important to me and important to my family, so I’d go to set and get my three hours in and do school work in the school trailer.  If I couldn’t get it done then, I’d have to squeeze it in some other time.  Now I’ve got my weekends, so I can still be a human and see my friends, but still do my schoolwork.  So I just grew up managing my time.  It’s a reflex for me.  I come home and look at everything I have to do, and just boom, boom, boom.  I write it down and know exactly what I’m doing and when I’m doing it.  For auditions, it’s like a break almost.  I just love sitting down and reading through sides and becoming another character.  I think every actor, when they start out in the industry, it takes awhile to memorize sides.  But I think memory is like a muscle.  I can read pages of sides and just have them stick, and it’ll be fun for me.  I think that’s one thing about working on TV, you have to learn a new batch of scenes every night.  It just becomes a reflex and you enjoy reading it, but at the same time you kind of print it in your head.  It’s just there.  It’s not like you read it off when you are saying your lines, it just comes out of your mouth.  I can’t really explain it.  I’ve been able to balance it. 

Angela> What are you studying in college?  Do you have a major yet?

Kirsten> I’m  hoping to major in English Literature. And I took a wonderful course last semester, and I have this professor who is just so interesting.  Literature and writing have always been my strong suits in school.  I love expressing myself through speech; I used to do public speaking in my classes.  Also, writing my heart out about different subjects, and getting my head on paper.  Literature for me wasn’t a challenge at all.  I got to read these wonderful works.  It’s not for everyone; I’m not saying everyone enjoys it.  But just being able to sit down and read Gulliver’s Travels, and to just work my way through poetry, and to make my way through all these wonderful pieces of art, to me it’s not even studying.  So I’m hoping to major in English Literature, it’s not even studying to me.  I’m really at University to be able to expand myself as a person.  And I really do believe that a lot of the studies that I’m doing do that.  I think I may minor in religious studies.  I’m doing an anthropology course in law right now.  It’s really wonderful to get little pieces of all these different fields.  When you think about it, that’s kind of an actor’s job; to find out little bits of everything and incorporate it.  I just think that makes me a better actress and a better person.    It’s a wonderful experience and I’m having a great time.

Jamie> Have you found it different playing your character this season, when Amanda is not as accepting of Kyle and everything going on there? Have you found that more difficult or just different?

Kirsten> I think it’s just different.  It’s difficult as a character.  You never want to be mad at someone, and I think Amanda hates being mad at Kyle, but she’s just not buying it.  I think her becoming stronger like that is just more interesting for me as an actor, because I get to play around with that.  I get to become increasingly stronger through the season.  It’s like expanding the character.  You play someone for so long and you just sort of evolve with them, and I really enjoyed that.  I think it’s very difficult though, because no one wants Amanda to be angry with Kyle.  I just find myself thinking it’s so bad that he can’t tell her.  He’s caught in this catch-22.  It’s difficult as a character to work around that, but as an actor, it’s very satisfying. 

Kenn> As a writer, or since you have that interest, if you’d been in charge of the show is there anything you would have changed about Amanda, or about the show in general?

Kirsten> I’m not a writer.  I’m not going to start proclaiming that I’m writing screenplays.  As a fan of the show, I was actually joking around with a bunch of people on the fan sites on how my dream story line would be Amanda getting kidnapped.  That already happened, but she gets reprogrammed and becomes a little bit darker.  She has some kind of re-programming going on, and it becomes Kyle’s fight to kind of restore her and in the meantime she acts out of character.  She says things that Mrs. Bloom is upset about, she is dressing in things that Mrs. Bloom is about to have a conniption about. It would be fun to do something whacky like that for a couple of episodes.  If Amanda starting wearing heavy eyeliner, and pulling up her skirt to a length that is not Amanda-esque, that would be interesting.  I know that happens in Smallville as fantasy episodes.  As a fan, if I were to have something like that and get to play with my character, and be someone else, that would still be fun. 

Kenn> On the show, when Amanda went away to college, was that just a plot point, or what were you doing?

Kirsten> I was in Italy.  I was on vacation.  The funny thing is, if I were any other shade of pink, people would be like, “Oh, she went away!” I’d hope my skin would turn just a little bit more a shade of brown, but that didn’t work out.  I came back, and the producers were like, “We thought you went with your family to Italy?”  I did, and they were like, “Oh.”  You wouldn’t even know I got away.  In this industry, it’s difficult to go on vacation.  You never really know when the schedule is going to work out.  You find out things about when you are filming and what scenes you are in a week before.  But my family is very close knit.  It’s hard working a full time job everyday, you don’t get to spend a lot of time with your family. I think we all needed to do this.  It was after a break in shooting and I just stayed a little bit longer in Italy.  It wasn’t like I just abandoned the show.

Kenn> It’s really great that the show would let you do that.  Was the Kyle XY production staff just a little bit easier going than others, or is it standard that you’d get to do that?

Kirsten> I think every production company wants to make their actors happy, because that’s conducive to a good show.  But at the same time, the people working on Kyle XY and the people involved were so practical.  To actually have that consideration, to let someone not have to knock a family vacation short, that’s what contributed to the feeling of our show.  It really starts from the top from the people that are employing you.  A happy production company and happy producers, happy network, makes happy crew and cast. 

Jamie> What are you going to miss the most from the show?

Kirsten> You’re brining tears to my eyes.  I don’t know what I’ll miss the most.  I’ll just miss Amanda and Kyle, and being on set everyday. I think I’ll just miss the show because it’s a really great show to work on.  It’s nice to be inspired by shows that you really care about that much.

Jamie> Are you looking to do another series now, or is it just really pretty much whatever comes your way?

Kirsten> I think because I’ve been in television for so long, it would be interesting to try some film.  But we’ll see where things go.  It’s still very fresh.  It’s so funny, I’ve got people calling me, “You’ve got to get on it, you’ve got to get on it!”  I just got off the show.    We’ll see where it goes. I’m just going to audition for a big handful of stuff and see where it takes me. I’m very excited.

Angela> What would be your dream role?

Kirsten> Every single script I read, I’m like,” That’s my dream role.”  Because I’ve played such wonderful characters , I think I’m allowed to play something darker for my next role.  Just a direction that shakes it up after years of being in your face.  It would be nice to look forward to something a little bit different.  My dream role is just something that inspires me.  I think that every actor’s wish, to be on a project that you are proud of.

Kenn> So the stuff you are auditioning for, is it back in Vancouver, or Toronto?

Kirsten>  A lot of casting directors are going to ask for me back in Vancouver.  That’s where I’ve been cast all my life. I got a movie there, I got a regular in a series. It’s going to be interesting now since I’ve established a rapport with Toronto casting directors.   They like me, I feel like the new girl in school.