Nice Boy of the Week: Keegan Allen from Pretty Little Liars

This week’s Nice Boy, Keegan Allen, is fairly new to television, but his role as Toby on ABC Family’s Pretty Little Liars, just might be his breakout role. Toby has some pretty troubling issues that he’s dealing with, and this makes for an angsty kind of character. But Keegan is so completely unlike Toby. He tells us about it in a recent blogger’s conference call.

Keegan Allen is 'Toby' on "Pretty Little Liars"

“It’s funny, Toby is a complete 180 of who I am. It’s really interesting to play that because he is very bottled up and he holds back everything. If he did let it go it would be a tremendous release; he’s been abused during his childhood; he got sent away, taking the blame for his sister being blind. I draw from other people and other experiences, but he’s very, very different from me.”

Keegan gave us his account of how he came into show biz. Coming from very talented parents, it was almost inevitable. “I grew up in a very Bohemian family; my mother’s a painter and an artist and my father is an off-Broadway actor. Being around my dad growing up is a huge influence on the thespian bug that bit me; being part of this ensemble and this cast is so overwhelming, it’s so great. I really liked editing movies when I was younger, in high school. I did video production and I realize that in learning behind the camera it was great and I love everything. I learn so much on set every day from the camera crew and everybody, but I really saw that I wanted to be in front of the camera. That was where it started; I did a lot of exploring and where I’m at today is just wonderful, I’m so blessed and grateful.”

Keegan talked about how he got the part of ‘Toby’ on “Pretty Little Liars”. “I long-boarded over to the casting office; I had a beanie on, which my manager, he lost his mind when he found out I was wearing a beanie for the audition. It’s just a huge no-no, but I wore this beanie, long-boarded over there. It just worked out and it was great; I felt so connected to the character and the rest is history. I went in and Oliver Goldsmith and Marlene King both developed this character over the series of books by Sara Shepard. I read all the books and I got really into the series itself. That’s how it developed; I became hooked on the book series just like everybody else. It just continued the snowball effect of learning about this character.”

Speaking of the books, Keegan was asked if he knew who ‘A’ was on the show. “Obviously I can’t tell you who A is even though we, you and me, might know who it is from the book series; I can’t even divulge that. will I get in a lot of trouble, but it constantly changes. The writers are doing a great job. They have their ideas; obviously they’re going to hold off on who A is, the longer the better. I don’t honestly, every time that I think I know who A is, I don’t. Every time I think I know who A is, it gets switched around and changes so drastically that it drives me nuts. I’m close with all of the writers and it drives me crazy; imagine how I feel. I wish I could ask; I wish I could find out.” Darn!

Keegan talks about how he mellows out after a hard day’s work. He’s a great long-boarder! “I love to long-board. t’s like skateboarding with long skateboards. I love to go down to the beach; that is the best stress reliever for me, to get on a long board and go right down a hill or take a hike or play some music. I play piano and I play guitar; that’s a really good stress reliever, too.” Keegan is hoping that the showrunners will use some of his other talents on the show at some point. We’ll have to wait and see.

Toby has taught Keegan something as well. “I literally learned how to reassemble a motorcycle a million times now, as you’ll see. I have taken apart my motorcycle and put it back together so many times.”

Keegan gave us some hints as to what we can expect from his character in future episodes. “He (Toby) got his ankle bracelet off and he’s developing this relationship with Spencer that is right now very platonic, but still he’s looking for a trustworthy person; he might end up talking to Emily. We’ll see how that goes because you have to remember that even though Jenna came forward and said she had turned him in to the cops, he still doesn’t trust Emily. We’ll see that relationship evolve and Emily might be a little bit jealous of Spencer and Toby’s newfound friendship. Obviously we see Toby get beaten down and he’s always in that red spotlight. Getting his ankle bracelet off and finding this friend in Spencer, I definitely see a positive turn of events for him towards the finale.”

Keegan explains the relationship between Toby and Jenna in a bit more detail. He calls Jenna a “creeper”. She’s been abusive toward Toby for years and she is extremely possessive of him. He is her ‘security blanket’. it’s a twisted, disturbing relationship and we wonder if Toby will ever be able to break free of her hold. Hopefully, with developing friendships with Spencer and Emily, he’l finally gain the strength to just stand up to her, if not leave her behind altogether.

While Toby generally hides from the lime-light as much as possible, Keegan eats up the fan attention. “I have a really interesting thing that just happened recently at the Justin Bieber premier. A lot of fans that were there, obviously part of that demographic, saw me and they wanted to all give me a hug and it was a little bit crazy, getting a hug from a lot of girls at one time was a little bit intense, but yes, I’ve had a lot of fan encounters that have been really, really positive. It’s really great that our fans are such good people; they’re really good kids. It’s just been really great and even though the character’s standoffish, I, Keegan, am not. It’s great when people approach me and they talk to me. I love talking to the fans and hearing what they want and what they see. Getting insider ideas from them is always great.”

Catch Keegan Allen on Pretty Little Liars airing on Monday nights at 8/7 central on ABC Family.