'Pretty Little Liars' Lindsey Shaw Looks Good in a Suit! Interview

Pretty Little Liars’ Paige McCullers appears to have come full circle from the awkward, closeted bully who alternately tormented and fell for the show’s resident gay character Emily (Shay Mitchell). In the deft hands of actress Lindsey Shaw, Paige has grown into a nuanced, out-and-proud teen who’s sporting one hell of a hot wardrobe this season. And if that weren’t enough Paige and Emily are ON – at least for now.

Pretty Little Liars’ Paige McCullers appears to have come full circle from the awkward, closeted bully who alternately tormented and fell for the show’s resident gay character Emily (Shay Mitchell). In the deft hands of actress Lindsey Shaw, Paige has grown into a nuanced, out-and-proud teen who’s sporting one hell of a hot wardrobe this season. And if that weren’t enough Paige and Emily are ON – at least for now.

A veteran actress at 23, Shaw is no stranger to teen fare, having starred in Nickelodeon’s Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide and on ABC Family’s sadly short-lived TV version of 10 Things I Hate About You, a modern take on The Taming of the Shrew. And its Shaw’s superior acting chops that lend Paige a down-to-earth, believable quality that shines through, even Pretty Little Liars’ eerie town of Rosewood, where anything can, and does, happen.

From bullying to being a supportive girlfriend, from bowl cuts to badass in a suit Shaw has embraced the many Paige’s many variations and it’s not lost on her young LGBT fans who often take to Twitter to thank her for the portrayal.

SheWired chatted with Shaw about her working relationship / friendship with Mitchell, Paige’s recent synchronized dip with Emily, her LGBT fans and just how good she looks in a suit.

SheWired: I’ll get right down to it. Fans are so excited that Emily and Paige are together right now. What was your reaction when you found out they would get another go at being together?

Lindsey Shaw: I was overjoyed. I never thought Paige got closure in that relationship. It was definitely a struggle for them the whole time, but I was hoping that there would be sort of some pay off at the end or at least some really bad thing at the end to end it.

They called me about doing the finale of last season, and I was so excited to be a part of that, and then they kind of opened the door for this season. Paige is definitely getting her closure this season.

Uh oh.

Well, wait. Not in the bad way, but she’s definitely getting a chance to show all sides of Paige, if you know what I mean. There will be no ‘Paige’ left unturned after this.

That’s very funny… I interviewed Shay last spring, and she could not say enough about working with you. I imagine that friendship / working relationship has grown even more since then.

Oh man – it’s honestly just progressed beautifully. As our characters showcase this new intimacy and trust, Shay and I are sort of on the same page. I have the most incredible time working with her. She’s just the best person to have with you on set. She keeps things so positive. Beauty is the only thing I can describe. Everything she does is beautiful, everything she looks at – she’s just all about beauty.

It’s just so good to pick up on her energy, and I think us, as characters, and in scenes like these intimate moments we have, they’re just growing and becoming more spontaneous, and it’s just out of more trust we are having for each other. I just did not expect Shay to be what she was when I went into this, and it has just been so rewarding.

What did you expect?

I expected a pretty girl on a show. Honestly, I just didn’t expect to have such real, beautiful conversations with her. I didn’t know if she was going to give me the time of day – just things that you think about before you go on a set. And just to have the complete 180 happen and have it just be so friendly and caring and compassionate…

And the way she sort of plays Emily with such abandon -- it has made it an honor and been so much easier to bring Paige to life with her as my anchor right there. It’s wonderful.

That’s interesting that you had reservations about going on set and working with her and yet you had quite a career before PLL.

It’s almost like going to somebody else’s house. These girls have been working on this baby, this wonderful show, and you just don’t want to go in and say the wrong thing, or be disrespectful in any way. I just didn’t know what her energy was going to be. I never take my résumé into those things. I want respect based on our connection right here. And to find that all of the girls were just adorable, awesome, perfect, totally unaffected by this mega thing that they’re doing, was just wonderful It has made playing Paige all the more rewarding to have such an atmosphere of kindness.

You just had a really sweet swim scene with Shay, which is kind of the opposite of some of the earlier swim scene on Pretty Little Liars, which were kind of combative. How fun was that to shoot?

That was awesome. That was about midnight on a Friday. We had done everything for the day and then they were like, “All right, time to jump in!” And it was awesome, the pool was amazing. And then we were right back to the training we’d had a year earlier. It was cool to have peace in the pool. I wish that it could’ve been a longer scene or done a whole scene in the pool. Who knows? But, you know, water seems to follow them, so it was nice to come full circle and have a nice scene in the pool.

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