During a recent interview with 90210 executive producer Gabe Sachs, USA Today for the insider to dish about the casting of various actors for various parts on the show. Here are excerpts:

On Shenae Grimes (Annie Wilson): Sachs and fellow executive producer Jeff Judah had seen Wilson’s work “and knew she had the acting chops. But she did a dramatic scene for us and it just killed. She can act, she’s beautiful, and she can give this sweet cuteness (that lets us see) through her eyes into this world.

On Tristan Wilds (pictured, Dixon Wilson): “We were huge fans of The Wire and huge fans of Tristan. … We said if we could ever get Tristan onto our show, it would be amazing.”

On Dustin Milligan (Ethan Ward): “Dustin is really funny. That’s something you don’t know when you’re meeting them and working with them for the first time. Then you see this and say, ‘We have to write to that.’”

On Ryan Eggold (Ryan Matthews): Eggold “is such a sophisticated actor, and he’s also very funny. He plays a great mix between a teacher and a real guy in this world. Every time he’s on the screen, people are going to go, ‘Wow!’”

Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.