Now in her sixth season on The WB’s acclaimed drama Smallville, Allison Mack stars as Clark Kent’s (Tom Welling) best friend. Mack’s role continues to grow each year. Since beginning her career at age 4 in commercials Mack has continued to be a busy working actress with an impressive roster of television roles. She garnered much attention for her portrayal on The WB’s Seventh Heaven. Mack also starred in Showtime’s critically acclaimed feature My Horrible Year! This story follows the intricate and turbulent life of a teenage girl as she turns sixteen. An avid fan of musical theatre, Allison’s talents extend beyond film and television. She received rave reviews for pulling double duty, both as a choreographer and performer in Rent and Chicago. Music and dance, as much as acting, remain a passion for Allison.

Delaware County Magazine: Did the producers ever tell you where Chloe Sullivan’s name came from since she was a character created for the show and not the Superman comics?

Allison Mack: I have no idea. I have no idea. Everybody speculates that there’s all kinds of symbolism to her name. Like, if you move the letters around it spells Lois. But I don’t…I don’t think any of that. I think it works for her.

DCM: Where do you think that the relationship between Chloe and Clark will be heading the coming years?

Mack: I think they’ve developed a really amazing partnership in the fifth year. And I think it’ll keep going down that path till the end. I don’t think they’ll ever be romantically involved. I think there are too many irons in the fire for that to ever work out. But I do think that they’ll be aiding one another as friends, now as best friends. And there’s this relationship building with Annette and myself. Where we become a family since Jonathan’s gone. Martha and Chloe are the only two left, besides Pete Ross and Lionel Luthor who know Clark’s secret. So Chloe’s really a part of the Kent family now. It’s just Martha, Clark, and Chloe. So I think that it’ll continue along that path where there’s this strong sense of morality and fighting people and making sure good triumphs.

DCM: What’s it like working on the huge Daily Planet set?

Mack: It’s truly stunning. I love it. It’s so beautiful. It’s so nice to be out of the Torch. You know when I was in the Torch it was great, but I was constantly walking in circles all the time. I was constantly spinning around that desk. Now I have this huge massive space to work in and I have stairs. I can go in and out of the big huge double doors and elevators. There’s just so much there and it has some awesome art deco. It’s so beautiful, and the way that they light it.

DCM: Chloe went from some spunky computer journalist nerd, who was obsessed with weird stories, to the Daily Planet reporter, who now has to cover for her alien best friend. Have changed how you portray Chloe from when you started?

Mack: My character has been involved with so much change. Absolutely. She's so much more mature, and so much more selfless and open. I think that her love for Clark has grown, and she’s in a more honest place. And everything is in a calm place as well. She doesn’t freak out about things. She’s not as frantic as she used to be and just lets things roll off her back and I think that's important. She’s really become such a voice of reason for Clark in a lot of ways. She’s really the voice of reason for the show. She was such a spastic, emotional, reactionary girl. And now she’s a very strong, intense, and focused and intelligent woman and a really a nice rock for Clark. So that’s a huge change. So I definitely approach her very differently now. it’s a totally different feel to my character.

DCM: Does it feel that much different playing her now as opposed to when you first started?

Mack: Absolutely, It’s very different for me, well, because she’s just nowhere near as frantic as she used to be. She still has a lot of energy and a lot of ambition but it’s all very focused, very centered. She’s grown up. And this has forced her to grow up, forced her to prioritize, and forced her to know exactly what she wants and what she needs to go after to get what she wants. I think Chloe’s been striving to grow up for a very long time and I think that she’s finally starting to figure out what her life is about. I think that she’s enjoyed the freedom of living on her own and having the ability to work where she wanted to work. I mean, ever since the eighth grade she wanted to work at the Daily Planet, but she knew she wasn’t going to get the respect that she could get at an older age.

DCM: What was it like working with Carrie Fisher?

Mack: She was great and she plays a great editor-in-chief at the Daily Planet! A very believable one. She’s been around show business forever. She’s done so much. She was really cool and very, very kind to me. I was so nervous, but she is really funny and wild. I hope to have more scenes with her.

DCM: You already touched on this a little bit but some Smallville fans feel that they have contextual evidence that Chloe is going to be The Lois Lane in the end.

Mack: Yeah, some people are very much stuck on that idea. I mean, we have Lois, right? So I don’t see that ever happening. But it’s an interesting thing to speculate. It shows that people care about the show and what we’re doing with it.