Taylor shines as spies’ daughter in ‘Americans’
Now 16, Paige was first seen in the premiere of “The Americans” typing a theme for class on a topic that made her mother seethe: How the Russians cheat on arms control.
“In Season 1, I was just kind of sitting there,” says Taylor, a fresh-faced young woman with sparkling eyes who, at 19, scarcely looks older than the character she plays. “It was good the part wasn’t really big in the beginning. As they amped it up, that gave me the chance to learn.”
Then, two seasons ago, an increasingly suspicious Paige forced the issue.
“I’m not stupid,” she said as she confronted her parents in a memorable scene. “I know there’s something going on.”
“We serve our country,” her mother said. And that didn’t mean the USA.
At her insistence, Paige increasingly has been taken into her parents’ confidence. At the same time, she clashes with them — in particular, over her choice of boyfriends. A puppylove romance has sparked between Paige and the anyone-but-him boy across the street: the son of FBI agent Beeman.
The relationship between Paige and Matthew Beeman (played by Danny Flaherty) is sweetly innocent thus far. But it could always go further. “Some of the things, I had a stand-in for,” Taylor volunteers, with no details. “I have to do the kiss itself because you see my face. But anything that goes past the kiss is not me. I’m not comfortable doing that, for now, and the producers respect my boundaries.”
Growing up in New Jersey, Taylor started dance lessons when she was 3 and at age 11 began a two-year stint dancing in the kidcentric Broadway musical “Billy Elliot.”
After that, she decided to try performing for the camera.
“That seemed like a logical next step,” she says. “But I was so shy. So I took a few acting classes and began to have more fun with it. I thought, ‘I can actually do this.’ ”
After a round of auditions, she landed the part of Paige.
“I’m so proud to play her,” Taylor says. “Usually the teenage girl on a TV show