Texas-born actress Tiya Sircar is on a roll. After earning guest starring roles in such popular television shows as “House,” “The Vampire Diaries” and “NCIS” she graduated to film, co-starring alongside Zac Efron in “17 Again” and Justin Timberlake in “Friends With Benefits.” This past summer she shared the screen with Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson in the comedy hit, “The Internship.” To celebrate this week’s DVD/Blu-ray release of “The Internship” Tiya sat down with MediaMikes to talk about improvising with Vince Vaughn, her current role in the new show “Witches of East End” and obeying non-disclosure agreements.
Mike Smith: How did you come to be cast in “The Internship?” What drew you to the project?
Tiya Sircar: First of all, what drew me to the project was that Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson were in it. That made it pretty much a no-brainer for me (laughs). I’m a huge fan of each of them individually and when you put them together…I think “Wedding Crashers” is one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen. Those two alone were exciting for me. But I also really loved the character. I thought it would be fun to get to play a really smart, confident and accomplished female character in a comedy full of a bunch of dudes so that was exciting to me as well.
MS: Vince Vaughn co-wrote the film and Owen Wilson is also an established writer. Were you encouraged to improvise on set or did you have to stick to the script?
TS: Oh no, not at all. We were allowed to improvise 100%…if we could come up with our own stuff we were encouraged to do so. Even when I first met Vince in an audition setting…I had five or six pages to do for my audition. I think we stuck to maybe one page and the rest came about through Vince’s brilliant comedic mind. Anytime you’re in an acting situation with either of those two you have to be very prepared for a lot of improv.
MS: You’re currently appearing in the new television series, “The Witches of East End.” Is this going to be a recurring role?
TS: It is. I play the love interest of one of the lead guys.
MS: What else are you working on?
TS: I’m actually working on two animated projects. One’s an animated series and one’s an animated feature. However, I’ve been sworn to secrecy on both of them! (laughs). I’d love to talk about them but I can’t, which I know doesn’t help you at all. But hopefully I’ll be able to talk about them soon. I’m also about to start an indie comedy called “Miss India America” and I’m playing the lead in it. It’s got a great cast and a very funny script. I’m really thrilled to have gotten the lead in this movie.