With its faux-marble floors and pink pleather booths, the Wayne Hills Diner in suburban New Jersey is not the kind of place you’d expect to find a TV actress. But on a recent chilly morning, Holly Taylor, the rising star of FX’s “The Americans,” could be spotted here flipping through an enormous menu.

She’s been coming to this diner since she was a kid. During her high school years, her boyfriend courted her here because he knew she liked the chicken fingers. They’re still dating, and she still lives in town with her parents.

Wearing a vintage trench coat (a gift from the wardrobe department) and a fuzzy preppy sweater, Ms. Taylor, 20, ordered silver dollar pancakes and a fruit cup. Put a Bible in her hand and Phil Collins on the jukebox, and she could easily be mistaken for her TV alter ego, Paige Jennings.

Surveying the room, she admitted that playing Paige had made her more aware of people following her or watching her. “Which gets confusing,” she said, “because I don’t know if they’re just being weird, or if they like the show.”