Leven Rambin may be young, but she still has quite the resume.

The actress — best known as Riley on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles — has spent most of her career on ABC. She found fame playing Lily and Ava on All My Children, earning two Daytime Emmy nominations. Then after Terminator, she moved on to Grey’s Anatomy (and an episode of Private Practice), where she played Mark’s daughter, Sloan.

Rambin clearly made an impression with the network, and will continue to on her newest series, Scoundrels. The ABC drama centres on a family of thieves who decide to go legit after their leader, father and husband Wolf (David James Elliott), is thrown in jail.

Yup, thieves are usually the bad guys, but this time around you can’t help but like them. Because aside from the crime aspect, they’re just like every other family, except with a little more dysfunction. OK, a lot more.

TVGuide.ca spoke with Rambin about her history with ABC, her resemblance to her Scoundrels mom, Virginia Madsen, and acting alongside Jason Priestley.

TVGuide.ca: Aside from a couple of projects, you’ve pretty much stayed within the ABC family. Do you audition like everyone else, or does the network just remember you from previous projects?
Leven Rambin: No, I definitely audition just like everyone else. I think ABC knows my work from All My Children, where I played two characters. So when I went to Grey’s, I think I had a slight advantage, but not much. I was there like everyone else auditioning. For Scoundrels, same thing. I auditioned and met the producers and I think after Grey’s and Private Practice, it was a good jumping off point.

TVG: A lot has changed since your All My Children days. I still think you deserved at least one of those Emmys the years you were nominated.
LR: Oh, thank you. Me too! (Laughs.) But those days have come and gone.

TVG: Do you still keep up with anyone from there?
LR: I do. I talk to Ambyr Childers once a week, who played Colby. And Chrishell Stause, who plays Amanda; I talk to her all the time. I can’t wait to see them when I get back to L.A.

TVG: Where do you film Scoundrels?
LR: Albuquerque. Yup, New Mexico.

TVG: Was playing an autistic character (Lily on AMC) the most challenging role of your career so far, or the dual roles, Lily and Ava?
LR: I don’t think so. I think Lily was just so natural to me because I was so young and I just kind of fell into it and I didn’t really think about it. So when I started doing other characters, and the Terminator character, they were so much more real-life. To make someone very real is very difficult, so to me, those were more difficult.

TVG: OK, so tell me about Scoundrels.
LR: It’s about a family of small-time crooks based in Palm Springs, (Calif.). It’s a remake of the New Zealand series Outrageous Fortune. I play Heather West, who’s the daughter of Cheryl and Wolf West, played by [Madsen] and [Elliott]. We are just a real tight-knit family — parents, two brothers, two sisters, and a grandpa — and we happen to run a petty crime ring. We always have the police sergeant breathing down our necks, played by Carlos Bernard.

It’s a dark comedy. I’d say it’s more dark than funny, but definitely comedic. My character’s definitely comedic. She’s an aspiring model, a low-rent model, like calendars and car shows, charity events, stuff like that. She doesn’t have the opportunities she wished she had, like Italian Vogue. 

TVG: Heather kind of reminds me a little of Sloan. What was the Grey’s gig like? Do you think we’ll see Sloan again?
LR: I wouldn’t rule it out, at this point.

TVG: What’s your favourite part about playing Heather?
LR: She’s just so different from the other characters I’ve played. She’s similar to Sloan, but Sloan was a bit more of a tomboy and more brash. She was dumb, but she was sincere and passionate. And Heather is just way more superficial in a more girlie sense. Sloan was a feisty tomboy, and Heather is 100 per cent wannabe Gisele Bundchen, Paris Hilton. She just literally has no care about any other aspect of life other than being famous and rich.

TVG: That must be fun to play.
LR: Yeah, it is, it is. She’s also smart and gets what she wants, so that’s the other part that I like. She can be slick and sly, and on the other hand, she’s really airheaded and flighty.

TVG: What’s it like working with the other actors, particularly Virginia Madsen? You two could totally be mother and daughter.
LR: Yeah, I think we look a lot alike. We all get along so well. And Virginia’s been so motherly to all of us since we’ve been here. On set, she always has a good attitude and has a lot of suggestions and always encourages us. Whenever we’re really tired, she’ll bring us cupcakes or whatever.

TVG: So Jason Priestley will be guest-starring. Has he started yet?
LR: Yes, he was here last week and last night.

TVG: And he mostly interacts with you. Can you tell me more?
LR: Yeah, he plays an ‘80s TV star coming back as a reality TV show host, which I think is very prominent these days. He’s just kind of obnoxious, hanging on to that fame. I don’t want to point out any parallels. Jason’s really playful with it and he’s totally having a great time with it.

Basically, my character is so enamoured with fame and fortune and sees him as the pinnacle of success and fame and glamour when he’s really not. I think Jason shows a really funny side of himself and fans of his will really like his character and like the way he’s playing it.

TVG: Is he sporting that same 90210 haircut?
LR: No, but he’s got a beard and this cheesy, ‘80s, awesome moustache.

TVG: Do you have any other projects on the go right now?
LR: No, not really. I’m just focusing on this for now. Once I get back to L.A., I’ll get back into it. But I’m really just hoping this show will continue.

Scoundrels debuts Sunday, June 20, 9 p.m. ET/PT, CTV/ABC.

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