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2 White Collar Minutes with Natalie Morales
by Troy Rogers
 Actress
Natalie Morales has gone from kicking bad ass
alien butt on the ABC Family series, Middleman,
to fighting organized crime on the new USA Network
series, White Collar, also starring Matt Bomer,
Tim DeKay, and Tiffany Thiessen. Fresh off her
Middleman role of super hero crime fighter Wendy
Watson, Natalie Morales steps into the multi-lingual
White Collar shoes of Agent Lauren Cruz of the
Organized Crime Unit who has eyes for con-man
Neil Caffrey (Bomer) after writing her graduating
thesis at Quantico about the expert grifter.
Now that both White Collar and Natalie Morales have settled into the Friday night USA line-up at 10pm, we caught up with the lovely Morales ahead of the November 20 episode, "Flip of the Coin", to learn more about her White Collar character, the contrast between Lauren and Wendy of Middleman, and how she felt about her time and role in Wall Street 2, the upcoming 2010 sequel to the '80s Oliver Stone hit Wall Street starring Michael Douglas.
THE DEADBOLT: How does your role on White Collar compare with your time on Middleman?
NATALIE MORALES: Well, I think Wendy was sort of a college aged rebel artist who was sarcastic and funny yet rooted in this kind of pure love for the people around her like Lacey and her mother and her boyfriend, and even the Middleman. I think it was a different character in that sense. I think Lauren is a little bit more mysterious, she's a little more guarded.
 I
think she's more of an overachiever whereas
Wendy was just incredibly talented without knowing
it. Lauren fought hard to get where she is and
therefore is very guarded and very protective
of what she has and who she is. [laughs] That's
the difference I see. I don't know if it translates
at all. Maybe Lauren is just a grown up Wendy,
I don't know. That's how I see it.
THE DEADBOLT: Would you say that they're both bad asses?
MORALES: Oh yeah! I mean, not to say that any single role I would play wouldn't be a bad ass. [laughs] But no, I think they both kind of are in their own right. One is more rooted in reality, I suppose, and the other one shoots aliens.
THE DEADBOLT: With the possible relationship of Lauren and Neil in the future, do you think that will ever happen? I'm assuming she will always be suspicious of him because he's a con-man.
MORALES: I think so. But there's something attractive about that, isn't there? There's something attractive about what you can't have and what you know very little about, especially when you have chemistry with that when you get along with it. So I think that it's something intriguing for Lauren. And also for Neil because they are so similar yet come from completely different paths.
THE DEADBOLT: What's the latest on Wall Street 2?
 MORALES:
I just wrapped my stuff. I think they wrap the
entire movie next week and I'm told that it
comes out in April. So hopefully I don't get
cut out and you'll see it [laughs].
THE DEADBOLT: What is your role in the film?
MORALES: I am basically the office bitch.
THE DEADBOLT: [laughs] Another bad ass!
MORALES: Yeah. Well, I mean, fortunately the roles that I've gotten to play this year have all been completely different. So they'll be fun and you get to watch, hopefully.
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