Below you will find quotes by Genevieve from her interviews. More will be added when more interviews are discovered. Please give credit to this site if posting elsewhere. Enjoy!
“I wanted to become an actress because I love to create in any shape or form.”
“I love traveling and meeting new people and acting opens up doors to live in the now.”
“I love the possibility that anything can happen in any moment with acting. That you have the opportunity to experience lives and adventures that you may not have otherwise.”
“I learned to ride from my mom, she is the ultimate rider. When she was Kris’s age she used her horse to escape and ride up Mount Diablo. I learned a lot from her and a ton that I incorporate into the character of Kris.”
“I love Kris’s simplicity when getting her point across. I use circumlocution too often and instead of getting my point across I tend to babble.”
“I love that Kris has so much inside her head and heart and yet still manages to make what she is saying uncomplicated. Though I suspect as she gets more flustered around Matt, she might get a bit more tongue-tied!”
“I have some cool talents. I’m really flexible and can do all sorts of twisted yoga positions. And I’m a big athlete and especially love soccer.”
“My family calls me Genny, but most people call me Gen.”
“There are several horses that play Wildfire because they all have unique talents. I wish there was one horse that we could use, but truthfully, it would take a lot more work than anyone thinks!”
“In the pilot we mainly used a horse named Drifter. He was a trained movie horse with almost more credits than Dennis Weaver! He was so well trained that as soon as”set” was called his ears would prick up, and forget about the word”action” he would break into a lope. I had to ask the crew to give me a silent cue! But he was a wonderful, gentle horse and we had a great relationship!”
“For the series we are using a couple of horses, most of which have worked on Sea Biscuit. Mattie, Reno, Finder and Houdini, all of which have extraordinary talents. Bobby, their trainer has them so well trained and attentive, they hit their marks without anyone holding on to them. They can rear, lope and stop when asked. Bobby even had me train on his horse Houdini with no hands while he told him how fast and where to go. It was an incredible and liberating experience and I gained a lot of trust and confidence from it.”
“I cannot tell you how much my acting has improved because of Nana. Honestly, all of this is new to me. I’m learning what it means now to be part of a big show and play an important role in a big show. I go to her every day with questions. ‘How do I handle this? How do I carry myself? How do I make the right decisions, the right choices?’ She’s amazing.”
“My biggest thing is, I’m learning what it’s like to carry myself in a personal way and also a professional way, how I can be a leader and do multitasking.”
“Kris has never really had a mother, she’s always been the mother. That whole definition of mother is a new thing for her, so it’s a power struggle. Does she submit, or does she fight? A big part of her wants to be loved so badly. It’s hard, because she has to challenge that. She’s never been loved. She’s been hurt very badly.”
“It’s a great relationship with Jean. Is she my boss? Is she my mother? And Jean has really accepted Kris as part of the family. But when you’ve been let down before, it’s hard to trust again.”
“It’s about this girl Kris who is from the other side of the tracks. I get to kiss a couple of guys, which isn’t so bad.”
“Kris is much rougher around the edges than I am. She has more of a barrier between people. I like to think I’m a lot warmer than that.”
“If my mom said one thing, I had to do the other thing. If my friends were doing something, I had do it, I had to do it better. I wasn’t so much of a troublemaker, just more of the rebellious streak where I had to find my own voice.”
“It’s this feeling of, ‘I have absolutely no control over anything.’ You have a bedtime. My senior year, they were telling me I had to turn my lights out? I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?”
“I grew up riding horses. I’m definitely not an expert, by any means, but I know how to ride.”
“We [Nicole Tubiola] were up against each other, and they couldn’t decide. They loved her so much that they cast her as Danielle.”
“I’m comfortable saddling up horses and galloping into the sunset. But it has never been a sport that I have been interested in.”
“I learned a lot about horses mostly to please my mom. But the day I was cast I started brushing up on everything that had to do with horses and riding. My character is inching closer towards becoming a jockey and I want to do as many of my own stunts as possible. I want it to look and smell real.”
“I had acted my whole life, so when it was time for college I went for one of the top theater schools in the country — the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University — and earned bachelor degrees in theater and English a couple of years ago.”
“It’s just me. I’m single, I’m dating, I’m hiking and I’m a real mountain girl. If it gets boring, the whole cast hits a couple of clubs in Santa Fe.”
“If Kris took a step back, it would enable her to take a look at how far she’s come and how good she really is.”
“Every time I’m not filming, I’m out riding so I can improve and do as much as I can on camera.”
“I do most of the riding, probably 75 to 80 percent of it.”
“My stunt double is awesome and I really couldn’t do without her. When we’re not working, she’ll be out there at 6 am training me, and doing it after work and on the weekends. She’s amazing.”
“Some of the role models for teenagers [seem to be] A-plus students who walk a straight line and straight path, which is great and fine, but that’s not who Kris is. I really appreciate the fact that she’s a girl who has made endless mistakes and comes from a darker side and played with fire and has walked away from it. It’s important to see how she’s learned from [all of that]. She’s not apologizing for anything, which is good.”
“I’m a very competitive person, so I identify with Kris in that way. Sometimes she has a little more confidence than I do, which is cool. I’m a big tomboy and I like sports, but I’m also girly and I giggle a lot more.”
“I never thought I was that interesting to have a website, plus I’m computer illiterate. The idea that there would be a website never occurred to me. I thought it was very cool and special, it made me excited for work, and to be better so that more people could get excited about the site.”
“It’s nice because the show isn’t overwhelmingly popular. I can be myself, and not worry and walk into this acting journey and have a steady pace. It’s not too crazy. I think the biggest thing is to keep focused on work and not allow any other aspects to phase me.”
“She’ll have to make some very adult decisions — about career, family, love — instead of being really explosive, and her decisions will leave everybody hanging.”
“Kris is a girl from my hometown who has a talent with horses. This role requires a lot, emotionally and physically. I love leaving work feeling like I had to push myself to achieve everything that Kris goes through.”
“I love that Kris makes mistakes. It shows girls that you don’t have to be perfect or depend on someone else. I love her tough edge with a huge vulnerability. Sometimes I wish I could be more succinct and to the point like Kris. I’m too emotional and ramble way too much. I love Kris’ independence, and there is something happy in her loneliness I think.”
“Diane Lane is not only a great actress, but she also seems grounded, which is vital to being whoever you are or doing whatever you do. Plus, I hear she swears like a sailor – I do too.”
“I just think – as cocky as it sounds – I think we all knew. I just feel like we knew that we had something very unique and a really cool project and I think it was more of a relief. ‘OK. We were right about our assumptions.’ I just think we were really, really excited.”
“My mom has horses, so I grew up around them and I’m very comfortable with them. I grew up basically just kind of winging it and riding bareback – Western saddle and stuff like that. It was much more casual, but I’m very comfortable and I grew up around them. But I’ve never raced them. I mean, I’ve gotten in trouble when I’ve raced them across the golf course, but that’s about it.”
“I go to Nana all the time. She really has been a very important part of shaping who I am, and to how I work and my work ethic and how I handle myself. I owe a lot to her. Because of her, I think, I handle myself differently and the situations differently. And she’s really an amazing person to watch, not only in her everyday world, but just how she acts and how she communicates on set. She’s really just taken me on, under her wing. It’s a really special relationship for me.”
“I think there’s gonna be a lot of stuff resolved and I think stuff gets resolved in different ways. You know, it’s not like you suddenly analyze something and it’s solved. It’s kind of like you go through certain situations and then you take an adventure on another one.”
“The relationships on set really have to do with how the story ends up working. Ryan and I have such great chemistry together. The whole photo booth thing. We were sitting in a read through and I was like, ‘I think we should make out here.’ It wasn’t in the script. It’s been a long time since I’ve kissed Matt, and a long time since I’ve kissed Junior. Do you wanna know who’s the better kisser on-set or off-set?” *laughs*
“It’s not the end of Junior and Kris. That’s not over, that’s all I’m going to say.”
“When I first read it [the script], I thought ‘this girl is a lot like me’. She’s very similar, we come from the same area.”
“I think that Wildfire really allows her to be herself.”
“For the first 2 or 3 weeks we were out here during the Pilot, we were riding… every day. My butt was so sore.”
“When I was in 7th grade, we were living in Diablo. One of our family friends had a horse and needed someone to look after it. Every day after school, I would go and take care of this horse. It was a quarter horse named Charlie. And looking back, it’s funny because I would just ride him around in a halter and bareback and ride up Mt. Diablo. And it was like, just fearless. I just became friends with this horse and I gained a sense of courage from it.”
“In Wildfire, Kris Furillo is a girl that leaves a detention center for youths and is given a second chance, she gets to use it and that’s life, full of opportunities and there are not perfect women; that’s what people like in this show, it shows real people, not idealized.”
“The specific message in this show [Wildfire] is that if mind and skills are put into action to get something, we can get it.”
“Matt’s the guy you don’t realize you’re in love with until all of a sudden it hits you. Junior’s cool because he’s scary and passionate. Can I say titillating?”
“I like making mistakes. I do it all the time.”
“I do probably 70 percent of my horseback scenes. I grew up around horses. My mom made us take riding classes, even though I don’t think we had the passion for it. I was into soccer and books.”
“Five or six horses play Wildfire. One has really dark black hair and they paint his body brown. I’ll be riding and I’ll have spraypaint all over my fingers.”
“Right now I’m passing billboards everywhere for the show. My jaw literally drops when I’m watching one of those videoscreen ads on the New York subway. I’m like. OMG, there’s me!”
“I grew up in San Francisco and then I moved to Montana for a year. And after Montana my family took a big road trip and looked at different ski towns, and ended up in Sun Valley, Idaho.”
“When I first read the script, I was very similar to Kris. Here we are two people who are very headstrong, determined and tomboyish. I think at the same time Kris is much more reserved and much more… not fragile, but just more afraid to express. And when she does, there’s a point to it. If you notice in a lot of the scenes, I don’t have as much dialogue, it’s mainly like taking stuff in and when stuff is said, there’s a purpose to it.”
“I wanted to be a Pro Soccer player growing up. For me, for the longest time, it was all about soccer.”
“I wanted to be a soccer player because it was just a really empowering sport for me as a kid. Playing on a team, being a part of a team, and being a leader on a team. I thought that was a great way for a bunch of girls to get together. It’s great comrodory and I’m still great friends with most of the people that I played with. I think it’s made me the competitive tomboy that I am today.”
“Petey’s a French bulldog that loves to fart and snort. He kind of reminds me of Booger from Revenge Of The Nerds.”
“My mom just moved to Mill Valley, California and my dad lives in Sun Valley, Idaho. I’m the oldest of four. I have a brother who is 23, Ben. Sarah who’s 19 and works on our show, she’s a P.A and actually is a really talented writer. My baby brother is 16 yesterday, John.”
“You walk a very fine line on TV, especially being on ABC Family. I think what you have to is look at the context in which you’re in. We’re on a ‘quote on quote’ family show. I think you have to keep the integrity of a character. By no means am I afraid of nudity or challenging myself in difficult roles. But at the same time, I think you have to look at the context and go, who is watching this and how am I being portrayed?”
“I think it’s really important not to sugercoat things. That’s why I like our characters.”
“I think acting you really have to bring yourself to the table and be emotionally available to people. And so I understand why actors leave together because you really have to almost fall in love when you’re going through these emotions.”
“I don’t want to be whoring and showing that it’s ok to jump from guy to guy. We have 12-year-olds watching us. Kris makes her mistakes but through that she learns her boundaries.”
“Who wants to be perfect? The audience likes a girl with flaws.”
“I think the challenge is to really stimulate yourself every single day and to find something new within that character that you can build upon. To find the love and creativity within it, I think that’s really the challenge.”
“I come for a theater background and I’m used to plays. There is a beginning, an end and doing things night after night, I am used to finding the creativity in that. With the show, you don’t really know where you’re going to go, you have a beginning but there is no end. It’s a challenge sometimes, because sometimes you want to be lazy and sit back and let the writers do it all. I think the challenge is to really be focused, creative and always find the love in it.”
“Every single day I laugh hysterically, they are so wonderful. I think last year for my birthday, they hired a stripper, that was pretty memorable. I was so humiliated!”
“Thank you so much for supporting me the last couple of years and I can’t thank you enough for believing in me and watching.”
“I didn’t really get into riding until Wildfire. It was my mom’s sport; because she always wanted me to do it, I kind of rebelled. I guess now I’m making her proud!”
“I’m really interested in the showmanship of racing; there’s such a beautiful etiquette that I didn’t know existed. Horse racing is such a cool business – no one else has really touched on it. Like, one race can make or break you.”
“I’m always making mistakes, so it’s nice to play a character who is not super perfect. Kris makes mistakes and goes on with it.”
“My closest friends are from college and grade school. It’s important to surround yourself with people you know, love and trust, and who will keep you grounded.”
“There is so much chaos and bullshit in this business, you have to remember who you are and how hard you worked to get here. I worked hard to get here.”
“I think when all of a sudden you have a certain reality and then you step into this success: You gain new friends, you gain new enemies, you meet all these new people, and you’re not really sure of everyone’s intentions.”
“And I think it’s really funny being on the show, because people assume because you’re in their homes and on their TV sets, that somehow they know you, because they’re very familiar with you.”
“I definitely feel like when we first started the show that there weren’t a lot of great role models out there and there weren’t a lot of women characters that were very driven or had a great direction and drive and not being so apologetic. So, I think that’s one of the great things about Kris.”
“I carry myself in a way that I feel like my siblings would be proud of me or my mom. I try not to do things that I’ll regret too much. I just think it’s about being grounded.”
“It’s tough, because being young and being in Hollywood, you’re trying to figure out who you are and then on top of that being in Hollywood, you have this craziness surrounding it. It’s a difficult situation, and you just really gotta somehow be solid and know who you are and how you treat yourself.”
“I think that one of the wonderful things about animals, though, is that they have unconditional love. And all you need to do is give them love, and they’ll just give love in return, and I think that’s a great bond that people have. I do it to my dog all the time … I’ll talk to her about anything, and I feel like she can hear me. And they can’t do anything but honestly just love you, so I think that’s really why.”
“There’s a huge ‘horse audience’ out there that really identifies with the show on many different levels. Either they grew up with horses or discovered them through certain programs, and I think they understand that connection my character has. It’s important to them.”
“I think we have one of the best casts and crews in television. On the other hand, we also end (Season 4) on a really cool note. I’d be glad to go back and get to work again with people I love, but if not, at least I’ll know we did a great job.”
“I have been acting since I was a little kid. My grandmother would bring me over to the theater in San Francisco, starting when I was three or four years old, and we’d watch plays and stuff.”
“My mom jokes that, when I was 7 years old, I was sitting in the back of the car saying,”Mom, we have to move to Los Angeles. I have to do this.” And, she was like,”No. Join local theater. We’re not moving.” So, I’ve always had a real love for the theater.”
“I moved around a lot as a kid, when I was growing up, and I really understood that need to find your own voice and claim your own independence.”
“We have so many different audiences. There are the people who love horses, the people who love the love triangle, the people who love the adventure. We have so many different elements that people can identify with. And, we have an adult storyline as well. Because there’s so much going on, people really understand. There’s a reality, but there’s also a fantasy to it as well.”
“I started working with horses the moment that I started auditioning, just because I wanted to make sure I had the background to back myself up.”
“The biggest thing I learned is that it’s not all about one particular thing. There’s a whole crew, and a whole group of people, that are behind you, who support you. A whole bunch of people work together to make this happen, and it’s really important to realize that you’re part of a team. I don’t know if I’ll ever work with such a great team, as I have on this show.”
“It’s cool that people recognize me because, for the most part, it’s young girls that really like the show, and I’m so appreciative of that. It’s really nice to get great feedback.”
“Whether or not you like it, being the lead on a show, you have a responsibility to be a voice, and that’s been really great.”
“With a background in theater, you can do anything. You realize that you’re one part of the puzzle. You’re part of a team, and I love that. I love being on my toes.”
“If there’s a cool character that has a certain need that I can relate to, I think it’s great. As long as I can make a great contribution and it makes sense to me, then I’m all for it.”
What Others Say…
Below you will find quotes by various individuals regarding Genevieve as an actress and as an individual. More will be added when more interviews are discovered. Please give credit to this site if posting elsewhere. Enjoy!
“Cortese is a pretty and sexy young woman who also can act. She is the focus of the show and she manages to keep the viewers’ interest all the way through the premiere episode. With all the men falling for her, and her falling for the horse, it looks like the show will keep the romance factor center stage.” -Jackie K. Cooper [Columnist]
“I think that she has incredible, intuitive talent… just native talent. She has a real sense of truth and a real sense of honesty. If she can just stay in the hands of good directors and good producers, she’s going to be a star.” -Dennis Weaver ["Wildfire" costar]
“The young girl in it, Genevieve Cortese, she will be a big star. You can tell she’s at peace with herself. Some of her close-up scenes with the large horses did not seem to bother her at all.” -Tony Bray [Interviewer]
“Newcomer Genevieve Cortese is winning as 18-year old horse-lover Kris Furillo.” -Maureen Ryan [Reporter]
“There are a lot of young people who just need to be shown some ropes. They need information on how to be a pro. It’s not an easy position [for Genevieve]. There are times that I say, ‘Welcome to being the star of a show. There’s good stuff, too, but you may have to wait a second for that.” -Nana Visitor ["Wildfire" costar]
“The light drama also might be the launch pad for young actress Genevieve Cortese, who has the look and raw talent to become a player on larger stages.” -Tom Jicha [TV/Radio Writer]
“Cortese stands out in this group. Even as a novice, she transcends the derivative material. She might not be the next Shirley Temple, but Wildfire is a start.” -Tom Jicha [TV/Radio Writer]
“The heart and soul of the series undoubtedly is the farm’s outsider, Kris, who is imbued with both passion and vulnerability by a gifted young newcomer, Genevieve Cortese. Cortese, with her strong, expressive face, is a real find in this time of too many interchangeable blondes.” -Jeanne Jakle [Columnist]
“An NYU drama grad, twenty-four-year-old Genevieve brings a tough-but-vulnerable resolve to her role as a pretty inner city girl trying to save underrated racehorse Wildfire from the dogfood factory.” -Bill Nevins [Columnist]
“Gen Cortese is fabulous in the lead – our audiences just love this show.” -Paul Lee [ABC Family president]
“One of the big pluses in getting Genevieve as the star of the show is that she actually rode. If you look at any actor’s resume, right at the bottom it says special skills. It always says horseback riding, and most of the time it’s not true.” -Shawn Piller ["Wildfire" Co-Executive Producer]
“Ms. Cortese shows a good range and reads her lines with a lot of feeling.” -Ian Arbuckle [Reviewer]
“Gen is awesome. A girl after my own heart… tough, sweet, animal lover, bohemian, fun. She’s a blast to be around and I really hope that I get the chance to spend more time with her in the future. She is a beautiful girl, inside and out and I’m so happy that I got to know her. And yes kids, she’s a beauty in person!” -Scarlet McAlister ["Wildfire" costar]
“If there’s one reason to watch”Wildfire,” it’s lead Genevieve Cortese. As jockey Kris Furillo, she dominates every scene she’s in. She has a casual Katie Holmes-like sexiness that’s compelling to watch, and she may be one of the best actresses in primetime right now. She carries off a difficult role with grace and charm, and even if everyone else in the cast sucked, she would still be worth watching.” -Rick Ellis [Reviewer]
“The number one reason for the popularity of this show is Genevieve Cortese. She is the young actress who plays Kris, the girl with a past who is trying to make a new life as a jockey.” -Jackie K. Cooper [Columnist]
“Genevieve Cortese is a star in the making. Watch her and this show.” -Jackie K. Cooper [Columnist]
“The story has a large cast of talented and beautiful people, but the weight of the show rests on the shapely shoulders of Cortese. She is the core and the heart of the series. She has a great supporting cast but the focus is on her.” -Jackie K. Cooper [Columnist]
“The show is about a girl and her horse(s) but it also veers off into a mixed up tale about the many loves of one very attractive young woman.” -Jackie K. Cooper [Columnist]
“When I work with Gen, it’s a riot. We never stop goofing around. We keep in touch, off the show, and we hang out in L.A., all the time. She’s like a sister to me. Anything you can do to your sister, I can do to Gen, and vice versa. A fart machine on set, while we’re doing a scene, was always a riot. We just goof around and try to make each other laugh, at all times. She’s a real sport for that. What’s cool about Gen is that she can dish it just as much as she can take it. That always helps the relationship, on and off camera. And, she’s so dedicated and driven to really work on her part and make sure it’s whole. She carries the same characteristics that Nana has. When you work with someone who’s talented and who knows what they’re doing and can play the mental tennis game, it makes your job much easier. You just work off each other. And, she’s an amazing woman who opens herself up, so that you can play that game. It’s hard when you have an actor who doesn’t open themselves up, emotionally. It’s a tough thing to do, and Nana and Gen are two of the very best that I’ve worked with. They’ve really been awesome.” -Micah Alberti ["Wildfire" costar]
“Just take a look at her. She’s absolutely stunning. It does not make it hard to do those romantic scenes. It’s not like I’m hitting on her, or anything like that. We just get the job done. But, you don’t have to twist my arm. And, I hope she feels the same way. There’s a lot of jokes and a lot of laughing, but we get the job done.” -Micah Alberti ["Wildfire" costar]
