Marsha Thomason Gives a Sneak Peek Into the “White Collar” World

In a recent conference call, White Collar star Marsha Thomason shared her insights on what makes FBI Agent Diana Barrigan tick. Marsha said that her character Diana has a strong moral compass and she does not deviate from it. Thus, “she just really loves solving crimes. . . [and] likes putting bad guys away.” Her passion is her job: nailing the bad guys and helping innocent people.

Marsha Thomason stars as Agent Diana Lancing / USA

Some of the challenges that Marsha has faced working on White Collar have included the dense legal language and terminology combined with trying to say it all in an American accent. The Manchester, England native vividly recalled her first day on the set when she had to participate in a scene with a big explosion and the phrase “exigent circumstances,” which drove her a bit insane. It was difficult enough trying to remember the words, but added to the tricky pronunciation, it made for a tough first day. She recalled that she really struggled with trying to figure it out and finally Tim DeKay, who plays Agent Peter Burke, just told her to just say the line and not worry about trying to get it perfect. So the legalese combined with the techno-babble is quite a challenge.

She also finds the action sequences still a bit tricky to tackle. While she loves the action, even something as simple as handcuffs can trip her up. She explained that while they do not use real handcuffs on the show because they are dealing with actors and not “perps”, the locking mechanism makes it difficult to put them on. The handcuffs tend to bounce back, making her feel completely inept.

As far as whether she shares any similarities with Diana, Marsha was quick to point out that while they obviously look alike, that Diana is more of a “ball buster” and wears suits everyday which is not something Marsha could do. But the one thing they do have in common is that she and Diana have a strong sense of doing the right thing.

Talking about her favorite two episodes to date, Marsha said that she loved working on the August 16th episode “In the Red” which gave her the opportunity to go undercover. She also really enjoyed working on “Need to Know,” which gave her the chance to work with director Sandy Bookstaver. She thought he was fantastic and the episode made her feel like she was Angelina Jolie.

Regarding what could be up next for Diana, Marsha was quick to point out that she is the last to know. It is all up to the writers. She is hopeful that they will be showing Diana’s girlfriend Christy soon, and she said that she would love to see Diana’s relationship with Neal explored a bit more. She slyly added, “Neal and Diana, it’s kind of a slow build, so I’m really looking forward to seeing that storyline develop.”

As to whether Diana has a dark side and a secret agenda, and what her backstory is, Marsha again feigned ignorance as to what the writers may be plotting. Marsha was able to tease a bit about the mysterious music box, saying, “you know, you’ll get the answer to that very soon.”

White Collar airs Tuesday nights at 9/8c on USA Network.