Haylie's new film

The older Duff sister enjoys acting in Ottawa, away from zealous fans and photographers.
Haylie Duff on the set of "Nanny's Secret", a made for television movie being filmed in Orleans.
Haylie Duff thinks Ottawa is a great city to work in.
Haylie, the older sister of Hilary, is filming a TV movie, A Nanny's Secret, in which she has the starring role. She's been here almost two weeks and has walked from her downtown hotel to Parliament Hill, Restaurant e18hteen in the Byward Market and the Rideau Centre without being accosted by fans or photographers.
If she was at home in Los Angeles, she'd have a posse of paparazzi following her every move. She'd even be afraid for her safety. That's why her Ottawa experience so far has been a wonderful change from the celebrity-driven madness of Los Angeles, she says.
"It's been a nice little break," says Duff, 23, in between scenes this week at a house in Orleans that is being used in the movie.
Dealing daily with paparazzi is, oddly enough, normal in Los Angeles, she says. "You start to see the same people all the time and never is it something you look forward to, but it's also kind of something that you understand. It's not nice when they catch you off-guard, it can be a little scary at times, especially if you're by yourself."
She says she's been spooked by several incidents that involved crazed fans and the paparazzi. "I had an experience one time when I had a man come to my house and he was looking in my window and there were photographers all day at my house and they were taking pictures of this guy."
"There are drawbacks but it's something that comes along with this business and we have to take it into consideration. Some days there is nobody outside my house and I don't think about it, but as soon as I get too comfortable they surprise me."
She says the privacy she lost as a celebrity is something she can't do much about.
"I just moved into a house with my boyfriend and our house is in every magazine and gossip website. On moving day, we had anywhere from eight to 15 photographers outside and we didn't call them there."
Just 2 1/2 years older than Hilary, Haylie has maintained a separate identity from her more famous sister, preferring to work in films, television, and theatre. She's appeared in the TV-series Lizzie McGuire and Seventh Heaven, on Broadway in Hairspray and in the cult film Napoleon Dynamite, playing the role of Summer Wheatley.
"I'm very close to Hilary," says Haylie. "We talk all the time and we're very supportive of each other and try and visit each other on location a lot but it's hard because we filming in different places most of the year. We are extremely different and work on completely different things. She has been focused on music for years now and I think that's a stigma that people placed on us in the beginning, me especially, being that she was more well-known in the pop culture world."
Haylie has dabbled in music, co-writing songs on Hilary's last few CDs and also recording The Bangles tune Our Lips are Sealed with her sister for A Cinderella Story soundtrack. But she would prefer to leave the music to Hilary, she adds.
"I think that the things I work on prove that we're different from each other. It's not something that I focus on every day to set myself apart from my sister. We're extremely different."
On A Nanny's Secret, filming has gone very well and she's even got used to trudging around town in the snow.
"We don't have seasons in Los Angeles, but it's been beautiful here and we've had nice weather so far."
She plays the role of Claudia in the TV movie about a strong-willed nanny who works for a young family in a home where a robbery occurs. Her life is torn apart when her brother returns to ask her for more money and she becomes involved in hiding information that could help police solve the robbery.
"I try to find roles that show smart women. This character is extremely independent, she's hard-working, going to school and taking care of her brother who can't seem to take care of himself."

Source: Ottawa Citizen