Dressed for Success
Young Americans
WB, Wednesdays, 9 to 10 p.m. ET
Repeats: Fridays, 9 to 10 p.m. ET
By Jenny Higgons
Chances are that prestigious Rawley Academy, the setting for the new WB drama Young Americans, offers courses in a wide variety of subjects. But you can bet a lion's share of hefty trust funds that it doesn't include a class that one of its students, Jake Pratt, might find handy: "Masquerading as a Guy."
Despite that gap in the curriculum, however, Jake, who is really a girl named Jacqueline and played by actress Katherine Moennig, seems to be holding his/her own when it comes to disguising herself as a guy in order to attend the all-male prep school. Like any good student, Moennig diligently prepared for her challenging assignment. "I worked out a bit at the gym," she explains. "And because the majority of the cast is male, I was able to listen to what they were saying and observe how they acted."
Those male student bodies include fellow Rawley classmate Hamilton Fleming (Ian Somerhalder). Not only is he the son of the academy's dean, he was also the surprised recipient of a recent rooftop kiss when Jake's inner woman took over and she couldn't restrain herself from planting a kiss on the lips of the handsome, blue-eyed guy. Though the buss was a quickie, it left him quite freaked out and wondering about his strange, inexplicable attraction to his pal.
Though Jake has since revealed her true identity to a shocked and annoyed — and very relieved — Ham, Moennig is still mum on the details regarding the long-term course of their relationship. She will, however, admit that it won't be too long before she gets the opportunity to put on the female glitz. "I'll get to wear makeup soon," she says, "so I'm not worried about it."
Despite her spending most of her small-screen time wearing baggy pants, loose T-shirts and a bind around her upper torso, fans have started approaching Moennig when she's out and about on the street. "People say, 'Are you that Jake character on TV? You know, that guy-girl thing?' "
This kind of recognition is what Moennig was looking for when she left her hometown of Philadelphia to attend New York City's American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Following her graduation, she apprenticed at Massachusetts' celebrated Williamstown Theatre Festival, where she recently appeared in a production of Shakespeare's As You Like It. Her professional past also includes two independent films, a music video and other stage work. Acting also runs in the family: Moennig is a cousin of Academy Award winner Gwyneth Paltrow.
Despite, or perhaps because of, the testosterone that permeates the heavily male YA set, Moennig fits right in when it comes to palling around with the cast — which also features Mark Famiglietti, Rodney Scott and Ed Quinn — between takes. "We rag on each other and blast music. And we hang out with the Teamsters, who are so much fun. Stuff like that." Just like one of the boys indeed!
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