Interview with Jasika Nicole

We all know Jasika Nicole as Agent Astrid Farnsworth on "Fringe". She is not only a wonderful actress but also a great artist. In our interview she tells us a little bit about her work in the Fringe division and what she does in her free time or during breaks.

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1. When and why did you decide to become an actress?

I didn’t really make a decision to become one, it just sort of happened. I grew up doing theatre and I studied it in school, then I moved to NYC to audition for musical theatre. Even so, I knew that if I never got cast in a show, I would still find something wonderful in New York. I thought I might end up in the fashion world, doing design or illustration or something, but professional acting found me first so I happily went with it.

2. What is your favorite memory of your childhood?

Hard to pick just one. I grew up in a very loving family so most of my memories from childhood are good ones.

3. On JasikaNicole.com is some beautiful artwork of yours. What inspires you most to draw?

Clothing used to inspire me years ago, especially after I moved to New York City. I would see women walking around in great outfits, or I would imagine myself wearing gorgeous ensembles that I never could afford, so I would draw them on paper to own it in some way. Eventually I shifted from drawing just clothes to drawing the moods that the people in the clothes represented to me, and that’s most of the kind of artwork that is on my site now.

4. Do you sometimes draw or scribble on set during the breaks?

Whenever there is a pencil and an open notebook. But I also knit in between camera set ups.

5. Some of your artwork are comics. Would you like to publish a comic someday?

It doesn't really matter to me whether or not my comic gets published. Published or unpublished, it won’t stop me from writing and drawing it.

6. As you seem to be a storyteller, could you imagine to write a script for a (short) film or TV shows?

No. I think I have very little talent for writing fiction, and the narratives I tell seem to work best in my own voice. I like the simplicity of being in complete charge of the way a story is portrayed, but I also have so much respect for good TV and film writers that I can't even imagine trying to do what they do.

7. "Fringe" has a lot to do with physics and chemistry. Are you interested in these sciences personally? Did you like it at school?

I was uninterested in math and only slightly more interested in science. It’s another example of me appreciating the people who are good at it, but never feeling a personal connection to it myself. I found a lot of enjoyment in more creative, artistic avenues when I was in school so I focused on the things I was good at more than the things I was not.

8. John Noble seems to have a great character not only in front of the camera but also behind the scenes. Could you share an anecdote with us?

Every experience with John Noble is a special one; we have become such close friends over the past year and a half that I consider him my family now. I feel like the luckiest girl in the whole world to get to spend every day of work with him.

9. What scene or setting was in your opinion most bizarre or disgusting? And what is your favorite scene of the show?

I don't have one favorite scene of the show, but the most disgusting episode for me was the one with the worms crawling in the dead guy's belly who had been impregnated by the gigantic monster.

10. Are you a fan of "The X Files" because "Fringe" has been compared to the show a lot?

Yes, I was a fan of "The X Files" in high school, although I think our show has more differences than similarities to "The X Files". The comparison is true in a very broad sense, but the specific variances are plentiful.

11. Is it always the same cow we see on "Fringe"? Did you have to interrupt or reshoot a scene because the cow was to loud in the background?

We had a different cow in the pilot and a different cow in New York, and now we have a different cow in Vancouver. We have to cut in the middle of shooting scenes for all manner of reasons, so of course the cow counts as one of them, but it’s never really considered a big deal- it’s fairly easy to get what you want from the cow as long as there is food nearby.

12. After the Broyles-centric episode this season Lance Reddick said in an interview that there will be an Astrid-centric episode, too! Can you tell us a little bit about it?

She is out of the lab...

13. At the moment Astrid is more or less only Walter’s assistant in the lab. Do the authors have some bigger plans for her soon?

I have no idea what the over-arching plans for the show are for any of the characters, much less Astrid. The writers generally don't share these things with the actors ahead of time.

14. Are there any new projects coming up for you? What can you tell us about them?

Fringe takes up 10 months out of the year for us, so our off season is spent recuperating from the 15 hour days. Unfortunately there is not enough time in that brief off period to do much of anything else.

15. If you could choose to put together an entire crew for a movie: Who would be the director? Who would be the writer? And who would be in the leading role(s)?

Never really thought about it - all I know is that John Noble would be in it.

16. Since myFanbase is an online magazine about TV series, do you have a favorite one?

My favorite TV shows of all time are "The Cosby Show" and The Comeback.

Catherine Bühnsack - myFanbase