Known for her characters on beloved teen dramas One Tree Hill, Pretty Little Liars, and The Vampire Diaries, actress Torrey DeVitto has now taken on a more “adult role.” In the primetime drama Chicago Med, DeVitto portrays Dr. Natalie Manning, an emergency pediatric medicine specialist. While her character is saving lives in the ER, she’s also preparing to bring a new life into the world; at the start of the series, Manning is in her third trimester of pregnancy. But while her character and the new NBC show, which joins the Chicago “heroes” trilogy, are intriguing on their own, it’s DeVitto herself who makes Chicago Med sound so exciting.
Talking with her, it’s clear that she’s not only proud of her new role, but excited about being a part of this show in particular. Throughout our interview, DeVitto’s thoughts race. She often interrupts herself to interject some new detail about her character or her new show, but she’s careful with the information she reveals. After all, she wants fans to love the show as much as she does, and that means certain details need to be kept under wraps. She laughs as she tells me, “There’s so much I want to say.”
Though she’s no stranger to keeping secrets about the shows she’s been on (looking at you, Pretty Little Liars), DeVitto admits it’s nerve-wracking. “You never want to be that actor that slips something,” she says. “I’ve heard horror stories about that, and I’m terrified.” But DeVitto’s passion for all of her projects is a strong deterrent from any potential spoiler leaks; her unabated enthusiasm makes listeners want to find out the story on their own, no help wanted.
Cliché: On Chicago Med, you play Dr. Natalie Manning. What can you tell us about your role?
Torrey DeVitto: She specializes in pediatrics, but she can also work on adult patients since she’s in the ER. That opens up her range more, and she gets to interact a lot with other doctors. She starts off pregnant—very pregnant. She’s a really fun character to play because she’s got so many different layers. She’s strong and compassionate. She sees the gray in life; she isn’t very black and white. She’s just an awesome character. I love playing her.
What drew you to this character?
I’ve wanted to play a character like her for a really long time. She’s so multidimensional, so adult. I haven’t been able to step into a character my age and really delve into that world yet. I did a little bit in Army Wives, but it was so short-lived. I also love the character, her level of compassion mixed in with her level of strength. There’s already so much. We’re filming episode three, and there’s been so much that gets revealed about her life and her history. You just see what a strong woman she is. There are so many levels for so many different women to relate to her, which is another thing that I really loved.
