The actress who plays Dani Davis talks about the show, the biz and girls and horses

Right after my interview with Greg Serano, I had the chance to talk Nicole Tubiola from Wildfire. She plays Dani Davis, the heir to the Davis Ranch, a.k.a. Raintree and a bit of a bad girl on the highly-rated ABC Family Channel series, and here's what she had to say.

When I was interviewing Greg, he had an interesting story about how he finally got into the business after a lot of hardships. I was wondering if you had any similar stories about getting into the business?

Nicole Tubiola: Oh, you talked to Greg Serano?

Yeah, yeah.

Nicole Tubiola: Oh I love him. Umm, yeah I'm an actor. I've got nothing but hardship stories (Laughs). Yeah, I was in L.A. for quite a few years before I ended up booking Wildfire. I did a few little guest stars and independent movies, you know. It's work, but nothing really that significant, which was probably a good thing because I was trying to learn what I was doing, I didn't really have much of a clue. When I first moved to L.A. I was 18 and I came from a small town where I had done plays in high school and I'd get cast as the lead, and I've danced since I was 3 years old. I always just thought you come out to L.A. and it would be easy.

Yeah, they're just handing out roles at the airport

Nicole Tubiola: (Laughs) Yeah, you just come out there and you'll be the next Julia Roberts or something, I mean, what could be difficult about it? And, you come to find out that there's a lot of hard work involved, you really have to learn your craft and learn to take some knocks, because people don't just fall at your feet. Or, at least they didn't fall at mine, maybe some people they do, but not at mine. They were like, 'Good job, kid. Learn to act, then come back.' (Laughs)

So how did you first become involved with Wildfire, and how would you describe your character Dani on the show?

Nicole Tubiola: Well, I originally auditioned for the role of Kris Furillo, which is the lead girl, the troubled girl. I had gotten really far in that. I had tested and it came down between me and Genevieve for the role. They ended up going with Genevieve, and then calling me that night and saying they wanted me for Danielle, and would I please consider it. I had loved the Wildfire script so much. I mean, I've read a lot of scripts, and a lot of scripts are good and a lot of O.K. scripts, but this script, for whatever reason, as soon as I was reading it I felt a real connection. I remember at the end of the script, Kris saves Wildfire and I was crying. There's something about girls and horses. I don't know exactly what it is (Laughs). When they said I didn't get the role, I was devastated , but there was a silver lining because they wanted me to play Danielle, who is a great character. She's so much fun.

I see you grew up in Arizona. Did you have any experience with horses or with a ranch sort of setting before the show?

Nicole Tubiola: Umm, I had friends who were very into horses in Arizona, the whole rodeo circiut. Not horse racing, but just horses in general. I was never really involved in that. I had friends that were, but I never really was. I had ridden horses on like sunset trails, little things like that, but I never been around them as much as I have now. They're just really amazing animals. I think I ended up on the right show too because my father just loves horse racing. He's all about Wildfire.

How do you think this show speaks out to the families or teens?

Nicole Tubiola: Well, I think it's a few things. First of all, like I was saying earlier, horses and girls, man. (Laughs)

Laughs

Nicole Tubiola: But I think what it really is, is just that our show is real people. Our kids are not perfect. They have problems, they have flaws, and basically everyone is just doing the best they can, from the kids to the adults. It shows, absolutely, a new kind of family on our show because we have two single-parent homes, the Ritters with a single mom and Ken Davis a single dad, and it shows how they are so different in how they brought up their children. It's just about friendship and love and family and what you do for those things.

I was asking before with Greg why there's a gap between the DVD seasons and the TV series

Nicole Tubiola: Yeah, I don't know why. I read some theory that because we had James Blunt as a big musical guest star in our 2nd Season that maybe they couldn't get the licensing or something...

Ahh...

Nicole Tubiola ... but that is just a theory I read online, because, I, like the fans, I'm sure, have no idea why there is such a big gap.

What can viewers expect from Season 4?

Nicole Tubiola: Well, first of all, the question will be answered: who was in the car? Because that was our little cliffhanger at the end of Season 3, who was picking Kris up. I think that the viewers for Season 4 are in for a bit of a surprise, because a lot has changed. We're picking up six months in the future, and where we last left our families, everyone was kind of in disarray. Kris was leaving Raintree, Dani was kicked out of Davis and everyone was just in shambles. So Season 4 is gonna show what's happened since then, how our characters have changed and I think they're in for a surprise, and I think our viewers will be really surprised with the outcome.

So, do you think a potential tagline could just be "Chicks and Horses"? Just leave it at that?

Nicole Tubiola: Chicks and Horses (Laughs) Yeah, chicks and horses, that was good. I don't know if our teen girls will appreciate that, though.

Wildfire: Season 2 is currently on the shelves now.

Dont't forget to also check out: Wildfire