Clare Foley Talks Gotham, Villains, and Ivy Pepper [Exclusive Interview]

At the ripe age of 14, Gotham’s Clare Foley is already racking up an impressive resume.

She has appeared on hit TV shows such as Lena Dunham’s Girls and the ever-adored Netflix original series Orange is the New Black, as well as working alongside some serious heavy hitters (pun not intended) in the 2015 film Southpaw starring Jake Gyllenhaal.

It’s safe to assume that we may have a major up and comer on our hands here. I recently had the chance to speak with Foley about Gotham about Gotham and her budding career.

Foley said she caught the acting bug when she was very young, thanks to her siblings. “My older brothers — they started acting so, of course, I wanted to do whatever my older siblings did. I just kind of followed them into the business.”

That isn’t to say that she, like many other youngsters, didn’t dream of a million different career paths. “I wanted to be a clown at one point,” she said with a laugh. “I wanted to [join] the circus.”

That’s a fitting dream for someone working on a show based on the dark knight comics, given the career of one of Batman’s beloved comic book sidekicks, Dick Grayson of the Flying Graysons.

It’s no real secret that superheroes have taken over both the big and small screens. What was once considered nerdy has now become the epitome of cool, with shows like The Flash, Arrow, Jessica Jones, and Gotham becoming massive successes with TV audiences.

Foley credits her particular interest in the Superhero genre to the fact that she grew up with four brothers. “I’ve always been a fan of Superheroes, even of Batman, ever since I was younger because I do have four brothers, so we’ve always been [in to] Superhero stuff,” she explained.

However, even in the age of Superheroes, there is a certain allure to the villains that taunt and torment the heroes we love — and, boy, do we ever love our villains: “I like Ivy, obviously, but I actually think that Penguin is kind of cool — especially on the show, Gotham. He always has a good sense to him.”

For those unfamiliar with the show, the Penguin she refers to is none other than the fabulous Mr. Oswald Cobblepot, played by the outstanding Robin Lord Taylor, without whom the role would not hold nearly so much power over the show’s audience. Cobblepot is a master manipulator and always seems to have his finger on the city’s pulse. He may not look like much, but the man is certainly a force to be reckoned with.

“I think it’s kind of fun to play bad guys because, obviously, I’m not a bad guy in real life,” Foley said. “So, it’s kind of fun sometimes to pretend that you’re bad.”

Gotham is certainly a series with no shortage of fabulous nasties to play with — from Cobblepot himself, to the delightful Edward Nygma (Cory Michael Smith), to the morally ambiguous Selina Kyle (Camren Bicondova). However, one of the more noteworthy of the show’s villainous characters (although she was a true victim of circumstance if I ever saw one) would have to be Bridgit Pike (Michelle Veintimilla), a pyromaniac whose character was originally created male in the comics, then made female on the show, which made for an interesting and controversial twist.

“I would probably want to be Gordon,” Foley says when we discuss the gender-swapped casting, referring to the show’s main protagonist, Detective Jim Gordon, played by Benjamin McKenzie. “Because I think it’s so cool how they solve the cases and everything.”

As it turns out, Foley is a bit of a crime drama buff herself. “In a lot of shows, I always love how there’s a case and [seeing] how they get to the end of it,” she said. “Right now, me and my friends are watching Hawaii Five-0. That’s a really cool show, and I also really like the show Limitless. I just love seeing people solve different cases, I think it’s so cool.”

As for any hints as to what we can expect to see from Ivy in the coming episodes, Foley remained tight-lipped. “I can’t really give any hints, but Ivy’s always super mysterious and crazy. [She’s] just surviving on the streets,” Foley said.

Any fan of the show knows that surviving on those streets is one hell of a feat.

Gotham airs Mondays at 8/7c on Fox.