In addition to her acting career, Tiffany has been a dancer since age three, and has had to put her singing career on hold for now simply due to lack of time.
She currently stars on two (yes two) network TV shows. Her main role is Jaden on the CW's "Nikita"; she also plays Michelle on Fox's "Bones." A serious Cinci girl, she still has her hometown favorite Skyline chili Fedexed to her on location.
Chosen as this week's Actor2Watch, Tiffany will be featured in a series or articles, fun facts and social media tweets through this week for subscribers of Girl2Watch.com.
Actor2Watch: What was your first real break as an actor?
Tiffany Hines: My first break was a show on Teen Nick called "Beyond the Break." And it was a story about four girls who are trying to become professional surfers.
I will never forget when my agent called me. "I have this audition for you... How well can you surf?" All I did was laugh. "Well, I'm from Ohio and we don't have very may waves there, so I don't surf." So she says, "Well, you know, this is your first audition and I'm sure that we don't have to worry about it at this point."
I was just so excited to finally be able to be doing what I love, I didn't even time to be nervous. I just went in and I had fun. And then they gave me the callback and, I thought, 'This is so fun I doubt I'm going to get this, but it's still so much fun to be doing this.'
[When] I was testing for the role, it hit me that I could actually book it. At that point I was like, 'Oh my God I really want this.' The whole process took months and months... I was going on several other auditions that I never booked at that point.
Probably three months into the audition process I get a call from my agent: "You know, you're very new at this industry, and if you would have booked this it would have been crazy." "Yes I know, you're right, but it was a lot of fun to even have the opportunity." And she said, "At least you got that far." I said, "Yes you're right." And then she said, "I'm just kidding—you booked it." And I screamed out loud and jumped up and down on my bed! I just could not believe that that first audition was going to be the beginning of this journey of the thing that I loved and that I wanted to do for so long.
A2W: What kind of training did you get and who do you study with?
TH: This is probably not what most people do, but I study with two different people. I study with Cynthia Bain at the Actor's Studio, who was my first coach. I love her because she keeps me honest and authentic. The other person that I study with is Aaron Spenser. I study with him because he has this way of bringing out the character actor inside of me. Even if you're truthful and honest with yourself, sometimes there are roles that come around that are not you.
Case in point—Jaden. Jaden is very different from who I am. She had a different upbringing and she's a completely different person than who I am. And something that Aaron Spenser taught me was how to do that extra work: to learn the way that that person would walk, the way that that person would talk, the places that that person would visit, that person's favorite color. What kind of education does that person have? To be able to take on a different mannerisms than your own personality would take on and to really go the extra mile to become a completely different person.
I'm grateful to him because up until this point I have always played the girl next door, the sweet girl, the best friend—someone that is closer to my own personality. With Jaden I had to find her, I had to work for her, and I had to research her to be able to become her.
A2W: What's it like jumping back and forth between two different TV shows?
TH: It's definitely a lot of work. There are two different people. Michelle is young and innocent and stubborn but sweet, and Jaden is hard and had a rough life. And she has never had love and has had to fight for everything in her life. So two completely different realms have to be crossed for me to play both characters.
Before I go on set for any role, I always do my prep work and get myself in a mindset and start asking myself questions of who am I. A lot of people that are training as actors know exactly what I'm talking about—the questions that you ask yourself before you go into a scene.
One of the most important is, who am I? I ask myself that and I get myself into that zone. It is extra work that I have to go through to be able to bounce back and forth, asking myself those questions and getting myself into that moment and living in the now as I'm performing in that moment.
A2W: Is there anything you wish someone had told you when you first started out acting?
TH: I'm a Virgo and a perfectionist, and a lot of the time during my career I would not focus on where I was, but on where I wanted to be. It's great to set goals and to push yourself and think about where you want to go. But at the same time never don't forget how beautiful the journey actually is, of where you are at that moment, and how that is building you to become what you will be tomorrow.
Before I actually booked this role, this past year—even before pilot season—there were times where I was struggling to a point where I had friends that I confided in and said, "I don't know how much longer that I'm going to be able to stay. I don't want to give up but I may have to go home back to Cincinnati for a little bit and then try to come back. I don't know if I'm going to be able to do this. And I had these amazing friends that were just so supportive. They were like, "No, stay strong. You'll be fine."
Just realize when you're going through your low moments that it's going to build you into a better actor. It really is. It's part of the process and it's part of the journey and you have to love both sides of it— you have to love the success and you have to love the times when you're down, too, because it's only going to make you that much better.
And always try to keep people around you that understand that side of you. I would not be where I am today if I did not have those people in my life. You want people in your life that are going to cheer you on when you're succeeding, but then also when you're not succeeding. And you have those hard days in which they are going to support you and say, "It's okay. You can do this." And then in the end you'll be so grateful to them.
