The new season of PLL will take place five years after the events of the summer finale. Will we be seeing Melissa this coming season on PLL? Any hints of what she’s been up to?
Yes, she is! All I have to say is she’s up to being Melissa. I think that sums it up enough. I think I did two episodes—I can’t remember if it’s two or three though—that are coming up in the mix, but they were fun. I posted it on Instagram so it’s safe to say: I had my first scene—I realized by ourselves—with Ashley [Benson]. We have never, in the six years the show’s been on, had a scene together, so that was fun to get to work with her. Yeah, Melissa’s just being Melissa.
In addition to acting, you also play the violin. Any musical plans in your future?
I do. I definitely would love a chance to marry my acting world and my music world together, and I might be able to do that someday so that’ll be exciting. This summer, I played for a charity event in LA, and I really loved doing it. I would love to do something like that. I don’t really want to make an album or do anything crazy, but just to incorporate it more into this world that I’m in now and play for charity events and such. My castmates Nick [Gehlfuss] and Colin Donnell both sing or play the guitar. Nick and I keep talking about making a Chicago Med band, so we’ll see if that happens.
When you aren’t working, you’re volunteering as a hospice ambassador. What can you tell our readers about your connection to hospice?
I volunteer as much as I can whenever I’m not working. I’ve actually already reached out to a hospice out here in Chicago because I want to have somewhere to volunteer on my off-days when I’m working here. Hopefully that’ll work out. We’re trying to get new things out, you know, new t-shirts to help promote to raise funds for hospice, and there’s a new area that we’re going to start working on. It’s a hospice area for pets because once their owners pass, these poor pets are just kind of left with nobody to take care of them. It’s a whole new division that we’re going to try to find a way to get these pets homes after their owners have passed. And the documentary that I did with hospice about child caregivers over in Africa is actually ready for viewing. There’s a little screening that I’m going to up in Indiana this month, where they’re going to screen Roads to Hope which I’m excited about, and then hopefully, once I get time in LA, we’ll figure out a way to get a screening in LA as well.
What drew you to this organization?
I was going through a weird time in my life, and I felt unfulfilled in some way, and I thought to myself, “Okay, I’ve got to do something. I’ve got to do something else outside of working.” So I went and volunteered at a children’s hospital for a little bit. I loved it, but I was at a hospital where there [were] a lot of medical students and a lot of medical stuff, and I wanted somewhere that felt like I was there. So I Googled it, and hospice came up on my search. I actually didn’t even know what hospice was, and I just called them, and they said, “Oh, well lucky for you we’re starting a training course this weekend.” I showed up, and I learned about hospice, and I learned about what you have to do. I went to like a three-week training course, and I just fell in love with it. I got my first patient, and I loved it so much.
Since this is the Dec/Jan issue, what are you most excited about in the new year? Any big plans for your career or otherwise?
I haven’t even thought about the new year yet!
It still feels far away, right?
It feels so far away! I’m sure by that time I’ll be most excited for spring because I heard Chicago winters are brutal, but I’m most excited, I guess, just to see what the new year has to offer. I feel like this year has been such a year of changes for me that I’m excited to kind of know what it’ll be like to settle into all these changes and to see where everything takes me. And I’ll also be excited for the summer because my boyfriend is on a show and we have similar filming schedules. He’s in Los Angeles and I’m here [in Chicago], so come the summer we’ll have a hiatus together, and we’re going to do some traveling.
See more exclusive images of Torrey DeVitto in our Dec 2015/Jan 2016 issue.
Read more Entertainment Interviews on ClicheMag.com
Torrey DeVitto Interview: Photographed by Aldo Carrera, Makeup: Paloma Alcantar, Hair: Andres Copeland, Stylist: Zach Blumenfeld, Assistant: Geoff Mau. Featured image: Sweater is VINTAGE
