Kearran Giovanni – Major Crimes

Q) How do we get to see Sykes this season and how much she’s grown from starting on “Major Crimes?”

A) She has grown a ton. There is not as much permission asking and second guessing. She is very sure of herself and I also think some of the boys have given her a lot more respect. They know what she is capable of and you definitely get to see there is a lot more trust in her, especially with Sanchez. They kind of group us together a lot, which shows her skills are equal to everyone else and that’s really nice.

Q) She certainly also provides a different dynamic since the only other female of the group is Captain Raydor.

A) Exactly! She definitely still does some brown nosing. She knows where the power is. I think for Amy (at least the way James [Duff] and I have spoken of her) this is not her final step. She knows she would like to be a Captain Raydor one day. She is a natural born leader and would love to play her cards right. She is working hard and she would love to move up the ladder. She has a lot of respect for Raydor and I think that’s great because it’s nice to have a female relationship on the show that isn’t bickering or whining that come with a lot of female roles. They really are strong and very confident and very good at their jobs. James always likes to have strong female characters who are like his mother. He had a lot of respect for his mom and thinks women should be portrayed that way as confident, successful smart women. Hopefully, we are doing him service.

Q) We got to see Sykes all dressed up this season.

A) I complained last year that I only get to wear suits. Not that I want to be all sexed up, but to come from a world of Broadway where I am used to wearing fishnets and leotards to wearing a full suit every day, I stupidly said, “I wish I could wear a dress once.” So, their way of getting back at me was to make me wear a skin tight dress the entire episode. I never got to change. I was like, “I’ll never complain again! I swear! I will just shut my face.” I liked wearing the dress and it was beautiful, but I gladly went back to my man suit the next week.

Q) Does that mean we’ll get to see some romance or a different side to Sykes this season?

A) I hope so! You’ll definitely learn more about her. She did get those flowers and people wondered who they were from. The guys are super curious and they want to make sure that I am protected and taken care of, as older brothers do. I think you will definitely see her try to find a balance between being respected at work and also having a relationship that everyone is very curious about. She is a private person and you don’t know that much about her and she kind of likes it like that. It’s going to take her a while to let the cat out of the bag.

Q) Was there anything you added to the role that wasn’t originally scripted for you?

A) I do little things, like last year I said that I thought Amy had a secret obsession with Christmas and asked if it would be okay if I wore Christmas sweaters. Our costume designer was like, “Absolutely not.” Then, I went and asked James and he said, “Yeah! I think that’s a great idea because Amy is a strong woman. So, you wouldn’t expect her to all of a sudden pull out a vintage Christmas sweater and a Santa Clause pin.” I got to put those in last year. As far as what I wear, they definitely listen to how I feel about certain things. I wanted a piece of jewelry that may have been something she made herself. If you look really closely, I wear this handmade string bracelet every episode. Little things like that when you don’t know your character’s backstory, you can kind of do little things on your own (at least for myself). James definitely listens if we have something or want to try something. They are all really open to anything we want to try.

Q) You have had some great guest stars in the past. Who can you tease is in store for this season?

A) I can say that you will have some revisits from a lot of people. You are going to have some revisits of people from “The Closer” and some guest stars from “Major Crimes.” We’re bringing back some oldies, but goodies. I can’t tell you who, but we’ll see who they bring in for my love interest. I can’t tell you who will be on, but there are some great guest stars.

Q) How have you grown as an actress from being a part of the show?

A) For  me, it’s a different world to come from Broadway to doing this. On Broadway, we rehearse for three months, then we do previews and then we open. It’s very different because we also do the same show every night for however long at a time. This is a different kind of discipline. You go home every night and study lines for the next day, week or episode. It’s allowed me to kind of step back to my schooling and really dive into a script every week and a half. It takes about seven and a half days for an episode. To be able to dive in and figure out what is going on in the scene and who she is speaking to and why…Finding her wording every week is great. It’s like a master class, especially working with people like G.W. [Bailey] and Mary [McDonnell]. You learn so much each week from having them around. It’s a totally different way of working, but i love it!

Q) Have you found it gratifying to get that instant feedback from fans during episodes since you are a part of social media?

A) I love it! I don’t love the bad stuff, but for me it is very instant. You know immediately when we are live tweeting who likes what, what they are interested in and what they want to know. But for every one person who says a good thing, there are twenty people that say a bad thing. So, as much as I would love to say I would love to tweet with everyone and chat with everyone who are actual fans of the show, their feedback is always so positive that it is almost surreal. You want to make sure you have a good balance of reality and the fans, which is through ratings and stuff like that. Not everybody wants to know, though. Raymond [Cruz] is off the grid completely. He doesn’t tweet or Facebook or read the reviews. I think it’s finding a good balance and wanting to stay in the mix without completely stepping out of reality. They have been so nice though and so kind and welcoming to me, saying I fit right in. They’ll say it’s like I’ve always been here. That has been awesome and like we’ve all done something right. The writing makes sense, I make sense and the whole thing flows really well. That’s been really great.

Q) What else can you tease about what is to come this season on “Major Crimes?”

A) I’m excited to have a little quirky, funny side because I have a little quirky, funny side. I think Amy definitely has a little quirky, funny side. Hopefully, this season you will get to see a little bit of romance, a little bit of quirk and a little bit of humor with her, which will be nice. I think people will be able to relate a little bit more to her with that. There are so many good guest stars! A lot of people are coming back and a lot of people are new. The casting is spot on! I’m really excited to see that.