Jim Titus Talks ‘Pretty Little Liars’ [Exclusive Interview]

It’s been seven years since Jim Titus’s character, Barry Maple first appeared on Pretty Little Liars talking to Pam Fields about Emily’s attack on Season 1 Episode 7, “The Homecoming Hangover.”

Since then the officer has continued to appear in Rosewood, amidst several of A’s schemes.

I spoke with Jim Titus to discuss the final season, what might be in store for the beloved Rosewood police officer, and what’s next for him now that the series is coming to an end.

“I’ve been acting since I was, I want to say, about four years old. I grew up in New York City, and my mother was a makeup artist in the industry, so I kinda grew up around seeing performances,” said Titus.

“I was very close to the industry, I got to see a lot of it first hand and develop a love of the craft, specifically filmmaking, at a very early age.”

Titus also talked about the first film he remembers being on set for: Morgan Stewart’s Coming Home starring Lynn Redgrave.

“I was maybe about four years old, but it’s still burned into my memory until this day. I remember seeing the scene of it on the screen, and it was so amazing to me what I saw these actors doing.”

Titus recalled one of his most vivid memories of being on the movie set: a bag of Doritos.

“In my mind, it seemed enormous! Maybe it was the first time I had seen a family size bag of Doritos or something, I don’t know, but for some reason it became etched in my memory. I’m sure all the actors’ performances were great too, but those Doritos man! Those Doritos!” said Titus.

“This is the first time I realized my love of acting may have been spawned by Doritos! I still love Doritos to this day.”

Currently, Titus plays Officer Barry Maple on Pretty Little Liars, a character that was originally meant to appear in just one episode. Titus originally auditioned for episode seven of Season 1, before the show had even premiered.

“I’d been fortunate enough to have auditioned for the casting directors for another show about six months prior to that, and then ended up not getting that role, but they ended up bringing me in for Pretty Little Liars,” Titus said.

Since Barry’s first appearance was in an early episode, there was no source material to reference before the audition, which made the process a little trickier.

“[That’s] always a really tricky thing as an actor, because one of the first things you do in this day and age, when you get an audition for something, you go online, you find clips of the show, you watch an episode or two to get familiar with the tone, and the feel, and all of that. So when you’re going in for something where there’s nothing available for you to check out, it’s always kind of a gamble,” Titus explained.

After landing the role of Officer Barry Maple, he kept getting called back to do more episodes, the first for Season 1 Episode 11 “Moments Later,” and then the Season 1 Finale, “For Whom the Bell Tolls.”

“The second episode I did was directed by Norman Buckley, who is just an awesome, awesome director, and I loved every time I got to work with him, but he was the first person who said to me on set one day, when I was done and saying my goodbyes, ‘Oh yea, you’ll definitely be back.'” Titus recalled.

“I remember coming home and telling my wife, ‘The director told me you know, he thinks I’ll definitely be back, so I guess that’s a good sign.’ And seven seasons later I am still playing Barry.”

Titus had no idea what a phenomenon Pretty Little Liars would be when he auditioned for his first episode, but he has been back for eleven episodes to date, and is slated to appear in three more in Season 7B.

Since his character has recurred over the show’s run, he has the unique perspective of being able to see how the cast and crew have changed since the show premiered, particularly on how the lead actresses Lucy Hale, Ashley Benson, Troian Bellisario, and Shay Mitchell have all handled their newfound fame.

“When we were filming those first couple of episodes, they weren’t necessarily that well-known, relatively speaking, and to watch overtime, them just become these starlets, has been really kinda cool,” Titus reflected. While Titus has been on the show throughout the seven seasons, he’s amazed when people recognize him.

“To this day, it is still strange to me what a phenomenon this show is, because while I’ve been fortunate enough to be on it for the whole run, I know my place in the universe of those working in the world of the show, and so I’m always surprised when people know who my character is,” Titus admitted.

Barry Maple has seeped into the heart of many Pretty Little Liars fans, and you can see it in the form of some of the fan art. On his Instagram, Barry posted a t-shirt that has check boxes marked “Single, Taken, Mentally Dating Officer Barry Maple” with the caption, “So…this exists.”

“That’s not the only Barry Maple shirt that I’ve come across. People will send me different stuff, like memes,” he noted.

While Titus might be surprised that the fandom knows who his character is, he is glad that the lovable side he developed for Barry has come across in his portrayal.

“I approached the character from the very beginning as a guy with heart. I’m 6′ 2″, I’m a big guy, I can have an intimidating presence, and I really like to play with contrast and stuff like that. I really wanted to play him as this guy, who, it’s almost a bit of a struggle for him to push himself to be an authority figure. So it’s really flattering to me when I see that people have latched onto that loveable side of him that I was hoping would come across,” Titus said.

The fans’ reactions really showed when the studio decided to release a Season 6 deleted scene where Charlotte, aka A, escapes police custody with Barry’s help, in part thanks to an offer Jessica DiLaurentis may have made him.

“I had so much fun shooting it, and I was so excited when I got that script. I was like ‘Woah, this is nuts! This is a really, really interesting turn!'” Titus said, regarding his reaction when he first read the script.

“I wasn’t sure how people would take to it, because people are really attached to him. He is like one of the only nice guys in Rosewood, so I was like, ‘Oh wow, they’re kinda playing with fire here!’ I wasn’t surprised when they decided to cut that from the show, and Marlene sent me a really nice email letting me know,” he recalled.

Although Titus was happy to remain the nice guy in Rosewood, the scene was released at New York Comic-Con in October 2015.

“It was funny. We were out to dinner, and all of a sudden my phone just starts vibrating left and right, and I was like ‘What in the world is going on?'” he remembered. “Then I go on to Twitter and people are just like, ‘How could you Barry! We trusted you! We loved you!'”

Titus likes how the scene was released as its own separate moment and feels that the scene got a bigger reaction as its own mini-release, than it would have folded into the big A reveal in the Season 6A finale.

“People were really, really upset by it,” Titus said.

“I almost feel like in a way, it got a larger reaction, by being its own thing, than it would have had it remained part of that season finale where there was so much going on.”

Titus continues to be amazed by the Pretty Little Liars fan base. He recalled how amazing it was to watch the fans watch the show when he surreptitiously attended a screening of the Season 6 premiere in Los Angeles.

“I snuck into the back, and just sat in the back row, and just watched the fans watch the show,” he said. “It was so cool. I mean, you could hear a pin drop, and just, the gasps.”

He’s also amazed by how engaged the fans are when it comes to show including a few theories that have made their way to him.

“Some people have been sending me stuff lately. They’re wondering if Barry is related to Maya, if he is one of Maya’s relatives that there has been some talk of,” he mused.

Maya St. Germain, played by Bianca Lawson, was Emily Field’s first girlfriend, who first appeared in Season 1. Maya was murdered at the end of Season 2, and her killer was later revealed to be her stalker and ex-boyfriend named Lyndon James.

“I’m not going to say yes or no, but it’s always interesting to me how people will latch onto one little thing and start saying ‘Could this be this?’ or ‘Could this be that?'” Titus said.

“It’s a nod to the devotion of the fans, and the writing of the show, that people are so engaged that they’ve fully suspend their disbelief and give themselves to the world of Rosewood, which I think a lot of writers out there would kill to have.”

While secrets regarding the finale are being kept under wraps, Titus did give us a quick take on the final episodes.

“I personally found it very satisfying as a fan, as well as a part of that world, I thought that they did the story justice,” said Titus.

“I think the fans will be shocked, but satisfied. I think they answer a lot of questions that we thought were never going to get answered.”

Titus will return as Officer Barry Maple for three more episodes of Pretty Little Liars, but he has also guest starred on some other shows lately.

“I’ve been bouncing around a bit, guest starring on a few things. I just did an episode of Superior Donuts on CBS, which was a lot of fun. I’m trying to expand a bit more into comedy. When I was first starting out, in LA, I did quite a bit of improv and stuff like that, and I’ve always loved comedy, but I somehow fell into doing a lot of one-hour dramas,” said Titus.

Over the past year, Titus has taken roles on The Middle and Fuller House, plus a forthcoming episode of Angie Tribeca.

“I had such a good time on Superior Donuts, and they just got picked up for Season 2. I’m really hoping to have the opportunity to come back to that. The writers were great and it was really cool to see, since it’s in its first season, how they’re still putting the voice of the show together, and I think they’ve done a really good job with that.”

“I also had a really great time on Angie Tribeca,” he continued. “I’d never worked in the world of farce before. Angie Tribeca is very much in the vein of The Naked Gun movies and Hot Shots and Airplane, so playing around in that world, was just so much fun because there’s all this absurdity going on around you, and you’re playing it like a drama, basically,” Titus noted.

Titus is also working on a few independent projects. One of those projects is a group of actors that are writing and producing a sketch comedy show.

“It’s kind of in the vein of Chappelle’s Show, Inside Amy Schumer, and Key and Peele — those shows where they’re basically like little short films rather than something like MadTV or Saturday Night Live where it’s live sketches,” he explained.

Titus talked about a couple of unexpected recurring roles he’s had as well. He appeared as a medic on Code Black and, just like his role in Pretty Little Liars, he was called back to do three episodes. Another surreal instance was Law and Order: SVU.

“That was years ago, but that was another one where I was only supposed to do one episode, and they ended up bringing me back for the very next episode! Which I always thought was hilarious. I don’t know how often that’s happened, but it literally makes no sense at all. I’m like the same cop in two completely different precincts!” Titus laughed.

“I always get a kick out of it!” Titus continued. “How often have they done that? You know, nobody questions it! It’s not like there were several episodes in between it was literally back to back episodes. Maybe I’ll be a Trivial Pursuit question one day!”

Titus has also produced a few short films over the years, and he enjoys playing with the short format to test storytelling skills.

When Titus isn’t working he is focused on his family. He and his wife have known each other since they were thirteen-years-old, and they have a son.

“We’re very family oriented,” said Titus. “So if I’m not working, and I’m not reading, or watching TV, which are all basically still work for me, I’m usually at my son’s school or playing with him, or we’re out at some fair, or we’re doing something with the family. Family is really very, very important to me.”

Titus’s son loves entertainment as well, and he has started sharing his love of filmmaking with him by making a few short films together, and teaching him stop-motion animation.

“Just this past weekend, speaking of short films and stuff, we were inside, my son had a little fever, so he’d been home from school for a few days and he was feeling a bit better, so we had decided, ‘You know what, let’s make a short film.”

In fact, when he’s not at a family event, Titus and his son can be found making little films together.

“I think it’s important to foster that creativity. When kids are young, they’re just, they have that innocence, and they’re wide-eyed, and they just enjoy the world, so I think it’s fun to help them to channel that creativity,” he said.

When Titus does watch television, he has a Netflix queue that includes a diverse selection of programming.

“I know I’m late to the game on this, but I just started Luke Cage, which I’ve really enjoyed. Mr. Robot, I can go back and rewatch that show a million times. A lot of standup comedy. I am a huge standup comedy fan. I love watching people get up there and have something to say,” Titus admitted.

Titus is a fan of standup comedy, but hasn’t considering doing any himself, partly because of an experience he had when he was 18-years-old seeing Louie C.K. perform.

“When I was 18-years-old, I had a fake ID, I was living in New York, and the first place I went with my fake ID was to The Comedy Cellar, down in The Village, and I saw Louie C.K. perform live that night,” he recalled.

“That was my introduction to standup comedy, watching Louie C.K. perform. So I’ve followed him for years now. That set the bar pretty high, so I guess that explains why I love standup comedy.”

Another show that Titus has been watching include the Shonda Rhimes political drama Scandal.

“Scandal, that’s like appointment television for me and my wife,” said Titus. “We watch Scandal every week.”

You can catch Jim Titus on Pretty Little Liars, airing Tuesdays at 8/7c on Freeform and on Angie Tribeca this Monday at 10:30/9:30c on TBS.

You can follow Jim Titus on social media through his Twitter and Instagram.

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