Scandal’s Katie Lowes isn’t a Badass, But She Plays One on TV
Actress Katie Lowes, AKA Quinn on Scandal. Photo: Getty Images
In the past few years, Katie Lowes has had to become a total badass—and it hasn’t been easy. The actress, who plays Quinn Perkins on ABC’s Scandal, has watched creator Shonda Rhimes take her character from lawyer to double agent and back again, beating up some guys along the way. “It takes a lot of work because I am so unlike her,” laughs Lowes. “I don’t beat people up!” Except, now that’s just an average day for her. Lowes laughs about her new action star status. “I am really a klutz trying to be like the new Quinn, trying to look all like a badass, like I’ve got this handled.”
Lowes is loving her run on Scandal and landing in Shondaland. Although steadily working in TV for the past decade, nothing really stuck until the show. In fact, the week before she got the job she was interviewing to be Connie Britton’s personal assistant to help pay the bills. Britton, however, was pretty sure that Lowes would land a pilot instead—and she was right. The hilarious and exuberant actress is clearly enjoying every minute, spending Thursday nights tweeting with the show’s millions of fans (while multitasking and doing beauty treatments). Unlike jaded stars, her reaction when she meets fans speaks volumes. “I always say, thank you from the bottom of my heart, and please tell five of your friends because it’s the greatest job I have ever had and we need you in order for it to continue.” With sky high ratings and an avid fan base, she shouldn’t worry. The bigger question is what is going to happen on the show this season? Lowes dishes below:
Related: Scandal Star Kerry Washington’s Guide to Life
Sara Bliss: So I just watched the first episode after the Scandal hiatus, but you weren’t on the show! Where were you?
Katie Lowes: I was…oh! You mean my character?
SB: Yes! Quinn!
KL: (laughs) I was thinking, ‘I was on my couch tweeting with the fans in pajamas, with lots of face cream on.’ A lot of the cast wasn’t in it, but I absolutely loved it! I think it was one of my most favorite Scandal episodes we’ve ever done. My husband jokes around because he knows I hate watching myself, and he’s like “Yeah you love that episode because you weren’t in it!”
SB: You hate watching yourself on the show? Why? You’re amazing in it!
KL: I don’t know. I think there’s definitely a part of being an actor where you should kind of check up on the whole, ‘I was trying to go for this here and trying to play that there,’ to see what worked and what didn’t. But I am also a woman, you know. It’s like whenever you look at a photograph of yourself—do you want to do that for 45 minutes? I pretty much don’t! But that’s what’s so great about Scandal is that there are a lot of parts that Quinn’s storyline is not in, so I get to enjoy a lot of the show.
Related: Jennifer Garner is Done with Diets & High Maintenance Beauty
SB: So you live tweet with face cream on?
KL: (laughs) My husband makes fun of me, but whenever I am home and in for the night, it means that I am home in my Grant-for-President t-shirt. And I’ll do a face mask from Caudalie or Dr. Lancer while I’m tweeting. Then I will put on crazy amounts of serum and my husband is like “Don’t touch anything! Don’t get it on the couch! Don’t get it anywhere!” I just try to moisturize as much as I possibly can so I can be as fresh as a daisy while I am at work.
Related: Bella Thorne Talks Confidence, Acting, & Taking Selfies
SB: I love where creator Shonda Rhimes has taken your character. Quinn has become such a badass. What is it like getting to play those really physical scenes where you beat people up?
KL: I am obsessed with who Quinn is now. Shonda Rhimes is a genius. I think she has done an amazing job evolving Quinn over four seasons. But personally, I am far more similar to Quinn season one than I am now, so it takes a lot of work because I am so unlike her. I don’t walk that way. I don’t beat people up. I don’t wear leather jackets and really tight jeans. I have to remind myself constantly to walk with a little bit of a swag. In the midseason finale where she has that big fight scene with Charlie—like what the hell? I am no action star! But that’s why Shonda Rhimes is amazing and why it’s the greatest job/gig ever because I am constantly being asked to do things that are outside of my comfort zone. It’s the challenge that makes it so exciting to me and I am just really freaking grateful.
A Scandal cast selfie with Ellen DeGeneres in a photo posted on Katie’s Instagram
SB: Are you doing all the stunts yourself or do you a double for some of the rougher scenes?
KL: We did them all! It was really funny the day when Charlie and I had that big scene where we beat the crap out of each other to the lovely tune of Endless Love, I came in and said to the director, Tony Goldman, ‘This awesome sexy stunt double is going to do all of it right? It’s just going to be close-ups of my face but everything else is going to be her?’ Well, the stunt double is amazing but I want to say that she worked for maybe five or ten minutes, and George [Newbern] and I did like five hours. So I was in shock. My body was broken! I kept doing this fall on my back and I bit open the inside of my lip. Of course, everyone is making it as safe as possible, but at the same time I am just like a super regular person who is like falling every two minutes.
SB: What’s it like being on a show where the fans are so invested/obsessed?
KL: It’s amazing. The fans are great they are such diehards. It’s funny because Quinn has done things that the fans love, and Quinn has done things that the fans hate. So I have been on the receiving end of people being obsessed with Quinn and then people yelling at me on the street. And what I see is just passion, which I love. Shonda has written such amazing characters that no one is really ignorable. It’s like you want to be loved or hated. You want people to feel strongly about it, you just don’t want to be anything in-between.
SB: What’s the most bizarre interaction you’ve had with a fan?
KB: I was really in a bind and I didn’t have any feminine products with me. So I just asked a fellow lady in the bathroom and she yelled, “Oh my gosh you’re Quinn Perkins! Of course you can have a tampon!’ Sometimes you just forget in these moments that this person might watch the show.
SB: You’ve been acting since 2004. How different was your life like before the show?
KL: I graduated school in New York City and was slowly working. I would have a little co-star on the Sopranos, then a two episode tiny arc on Guiding Light or As the World Turns. I would guest star on Without a Trace. All these shows that were on the air, but it was never enough to sustain. I would get an acting gig and get a small taste of what it could be like if this was my only job. But then the next week, you’ve got to go babysit, cater, waitress, or bartend. I did all of those things to supplement this slow and steady build. First I booked a line, then I booked two lines, then I booked a scene, and then I booked a recurring. But you know until I got in the Shondaland and Scandal, I had my side gig. Now I just babysit the kids I like for free!
Related: Why Nashville Star Connie Britton Stopped Looking in the Mirror
SB: We actually just interviewed Connie Britton. I read you were interviewing to be her personal assistant before you booked Scandal.
KL: Awww, she is the coolest, loveliest, strongest. I was interviewing to be her personal assistant and I had sworn to myself that was the one thing I did not want to do. For some reason personal assisting seemed really stressful, and I can only do things 150 percent. I met her and we sat and talked for hours and we really hit it off. If there was ever an actress that you could personally assist for why the hell should it not be Connie-freaking-Britton? But she called me and said, “Katie, I know this is the craziest thing but I saw your guest star on a re-run of Private Practice, and you’re a real actress. You can do this, so let’s go through pilot season and see if you book one. And if not you can start personal assisting April 1st.” And the next week I booked Scandal.
Katie Lowes goofing around on the Scandal set in a photo taken from Katie’s Instagram
SB: So what can you possibly tell Scandal fans about the upcoming season? I know everyone asks, and you guys never can answer.
KL: OK, so basically Olivia is missing and it’s not good. You know who found her the last time? That’s Quinn, so you can bet your dollar that Quinn is going to try her hardest. So it should be pretty exciting to see what she comes up with as well as others. I just came from a table read where I am so flipping excited it is insane. When you’ve been on a show for this long, you would think at some point that you wouldn’t leave like a giddy schoolchild after every table read. But we just had one and it blew my mind! You guys are going to freak out! It is so good.
