Canadian teen television show Degrassi: The Next Generation has maintained a growing fan base stateside since its debut on The N in 2001, and with three-dimensional characters like drama queen-turned-fashion assistant Paige Michalchuk (played by Lauren Collins), the show has stuck around for seven seasons and is still going strong.

Collins, who has also appeared in films such as Take the Lead with Antonio Banderas, is part of the reason the show was nominated for a GLAAD Award for Best Drama this year. She plays one-half of a lesbian relationship on the series, and it was one that kept viewers watching, talking and taking to the net.

Paige and Alex (Deanna Casaluce) were two straight teens on Degrassi until they fell for one another, and it was a tumultuous relationship that led fans to create "Palex" video tributes on YouTube akin to South of Nowhere's "Spashley" fan creations. Though the relationship ended controversially in Season 7, for the majority of their relationship Paige and Alex maintained a strong, dramatic friendship that kept viewers guessing.

Collins is straight, but she has a strong affinity for the relationship her character had with Alex, and despite having initial reservations has fully embraced Paige's ambiguity, both sexual and otherwise. She talked to AfterEllen.com about playing gay, dating a stripper, and the possible future of Palex.

AfterEllen.com: How long have you been playing Paige now?
Lauren Collins: It will be going on eight years. We've done seven seasons and just wrapped up production on Season 8, so it's been a long time.

AE: I was reading that you think a lot of people assume you're a lot like Paige — do you have no traits that are like your character?
LC: I have to be totally honest — after you play a character for so long, a lot of me has gone into her, and a lot of her has gone into me. I like to think I assert myself a little more now that I've played Paige for so long. I would never be as brutally honest as her.

AE: Do you say "hon" as much as she does?
LC: Uh, hell no! No, I do not. I think I probably completely stopped saying it. I talk constantly with the writers about Paige not saying it.

AE: How did the writers first bring up the idea of Paige having a relationship with Alex?
LC: I knew they wanted to have a lesbian story line coming up in the season and were trying to figure out a character that it would work with. I think I was hanging out with some of the writers and they sort it let it slip, and I wasn't supposed to know yet.

At first I struggled with the idea of it for a while, just because Paige was such a boy-crazy character. It was hard for me to wrap my head around it. Honestly, once I read the script for "The Lexicon of Love," which was the first episode that dealt with it, and once I really looked at the relationship between Paige and Alex, they just did such a fantastic job, it made so much sense to me.

Paige and Alex's first kiss on Degrassi

AE: Did you do any sort of research before you played someone who was queer?
LC: I did — I mean, I've always known people active in the community here so I had a lot of resources.

AE: Did you watch any movies or anything?
LC: No, and you know what? I've been dying to get into The L Word. I know people who just love it, and I still haven't watched it. It's on my list!

AE: How do you think Paige identifies? Would she call herself bisexual?
LC: There was a scene that I think was cut out of the episode where Paige says, "I don't believe in labels — why do we need labels?" And it was kind of a shame that scene had to go, because I think for her that about summed it up. I don't think for her it was about being a lesbian, about being bisexual or being straight, it was about the love that she had for this person and what the relationship was.

AE: That was what was interesting because she bounced right back — she dated Jesse right after she broke up with Alex.
LC: She was with Jesse, she was with Spinner — I think for her it was really about the person, not about their gender.

AE: It must have been interesting to have the whole stripper part come into it. I know when I saw the previews for that I was like, "Oh my God, they really are going to go there!" What was that like to play the girlfriend of a stripper?
LC: When we first heard it, we're like, "Someone's going to be stripping?" But it makes sense in a crazy way because Alex was in such a desperate state, and she's obviously such a beautiful girl for her to fall into that I suppose. I mean, it made sense. I'm not tough enough to do it, that's for sure!

AE: Are you aware of all the Palex videos on YouTube and such?
LC: You know, I've seen some. I've heard about the petitions that went around when we broke up.

AE: Do you think that has any affect on the writers?
LC: I think they have to take their tips from the fans, just so people keep watching. But at the same time, it's interesting for them to mess with them a bit. You want to keep them watching. It's like the infamous Ross-and-Rachel relationship — are they going to be together? You always want to have that interest from the audience.

AE: Do you think anything will change now that Alex is no longer on the show?
LC: Characters come in and out of Degrassi all the time, so we've always said, "Never say never!"