Jasika Nicole
Tags: fringe, tv, science, Jasika Nicole, astrid
A supporting character could easily slip into the background on a show like Fringe, but Jasika Nicole makes sure that doesn’t happen. She plays Astrid Farnsworth, lab assistant to Walter Bishop (John Noble). She’s there whenever Walter is explaining the crazy science of the week, and she serves as a trusted confidante for the eccentric scientist.
If you haven’t been following Fringe, here’s my best attempt to catch you up for the purpose of this interview. The Fringe team – Walter, Olivia (Anna Torv) and Peter (Joshua Jackson) – discovered an alternate universe. Over There, the other Bishop, dubbed Walternate, wants to destroy our universe. He sent Olivia from his world, Fauxlivia, to get close to our Peter, which she did. Now our Olivia is back to sort out the mess of cross-dimensional travel and Peter’s feelings. There’s also an Astrid Over There, and even some alternate copies of characters who died in our universe.
While most of the Fringe crew was shooting in Vancouver, Nicole grabbed a few days off set in Los Angeles for a working party. Fox held their twice yearly soiree for the Television Critics Association at Villa Sorriso restaurant in Pasadena. Dressed up in white, Nicole roamed between the courtyard, indoor bar and corner alcove throughout the night. It was near the desert station that I finally caught up with her.
She’d seen me tailing her throughout the night but kept getting stuck in other conversations with Fringe fans. To reward me for my persistence, Nicole stood up from a corner seat, stepped up close so she could be heard by my little recorder and revealed there's more to her than just Astrid Farnsworth.
SG:
Are there any cool Astrid stories coming up?
JN:
There is one that I actually haven’t talked about to anyone yet, because it’s kind of tricky to describe it without giving anything away. Anyway, in the alternate universe there is a gentleman that is introduced and you’ve actually seen him before. Astrid kind of flirts with him a little bit and it’s really awkward because Astrid has Asperger's so she’s not very attuned to the social graces that everyone else has. So it’s really funny to see her maybe be attracted to someone or maybe she’s just interested and she’s fascinated by him but you’ve never seen her be like that with anyone before. So that’s kind of the most exciting thing that we’ve done with alternate Astrid at this point, during episode 15. Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine.
SG:
So it’s Other Astrid and someone from over there?
JN:
Yes, correct.
SG:
Not Our Astrid with someone from Over There.
JN:
Oh, that would be really cool. That’s my other theory as a good storyline for the show that isn’t happening. You know the guy who runs the bowling alley and Olivia would go and see him? I think he’s going to come back, be reintroduced to us and it’s very possible that he has some kind of connection with the observers. I don't know the details of it but he might be beyond our realm of comprehension at this point. So I want Astrid, because I really want her to have a love interest, I think that he should be the guy. Since nobody else is coming forward to be invited into the show and be her love interest. I’ll just take whatever we have left.
SG:
You do have a good way of getting your moments with Walter. You don’t sink into the background.
JN:
Thank you very much. I really appreciate that. That was a lot of work on our part. I think our relationship in real life kind of led into the storyline of it because we became such good friends and we had such a good time together, it was kind of the inevitable thing for them to build this trusting relationship with each other.
SG:
Do you get more screen time Over There or Over Here?
JN:
Oh, I would say Over Here. Definitely Over Here. I want to see more of Astrid Over There just because she is so different. I think her, even more so than this Astrid, I want to see what it’s like in her apartment and how she lives. It’s got to be meticulously put together and super organized. At least that’s my imaginings of it.
SG:
I know Eric Stoltz WAS in Back to the Future over there. I wonder how many other movies were different.
JN:
Oh yeah, there are so many. Actually, I’m not sure but I feel like you will see something. The episode we’re doing now is number 15. It’s a flashback. It was at one point called “Aftermath” and it pretty much picks up from where the last flashback left off. So you’re with the doctor, but you’re with him in both universes. So now one doctor doesn’t have a son anymore and he’s having to deal with that, and then this doctor has a son and he’s trying to get him back to the other side. Or is he? You don’t really know because he falls in love with him.
SG:
Don’t you have to say “Or is he?” about everything on Fringe?
JN:
Oh yeah, I totally do. It should be: “Or is he…?” at the end of everything.
SG:
So it’s dot dot dot, then the question mark?
JN:
Yes, that’s how it goes.
SG:
Not ???, not ?...
JN:
No, no exclamation points either, just … It’s like a really soft subtle, hmm?
SG:
I’ve done exclamation points sometimes.
JN:
You’ve got to take them out. You can’t use those anymore. I’m sorry.
SG:
What other episodes have you gotten to stand out in?
JN:
Not a whole lot lately. Unfortunately. And as much as I want to be a bigger part of it, I totally respect that the story is not about Astrid and it doesn’t need to be. It’s a great story so sometimes I get frustrated and I wish that I was doing more but I love the story that we’re telling and I don't think that it should be told in a different way and when it’s Astrid’s time to shine or come in or something and do something more than you’ve seen her before, then it will be beautiful.
SG:
Were you happy you got to be involved in Peter and Olivia talking about Other Olivia, give advice and be a shoulder to cry on?
JN:
I loved that scene and actually, after we did the scene, they said, “Oh yeah, we’re going to put in a lot more Astrid/Olivia scenes.” Which I haven’t seen yet but it’s only 15 but it makes sense for the two female characters who work with each other to have some kind of a bond. It hasn’t ever been established before so I’m hoping that there will be more of that because Olivia’s kind of freaking out right now. As well she should be. She’s been through more traumatic situations than anybody can count on a hand. And Astrid, that’s her job, at least in this universe. Her job is to be the confidante to everybody. My ideas is that in 20 years she’s going to write a memoir. She’s going to tell everybody’s secrets because Walter talks to her, Peter talks to her, Olivia talks to her. She’s got all the juicy gossip.
SG:
What is your life like? You’re on the show every episode but you have down time.
JN:
Well, I’m an illustrator so I’ve been doing a lot of work lately. I’ve been trying to appreciate the time that I have off. Anyway, I spend a lot of my time drawing and I’ve been asked to be a part of a couple of books that are stories about growing up or being a kid. I’m submitting comics for them and was asked to contribute some comics. So I’m super excited to do that. I’m trying to use my time wisely when I’m not working on the show.
SG:
That's a good use of down time. You could even do that on the set in between takes.
JN:
I have. I have brought my sketchbooks. I’ve brought my inking implements and my paper and drawn while I was on set before. It’s not too far away from my reality.
SG:
Is there a publisher putting those out?
JN:
Well, one of the books is called The Letter Q. I have no idea who the publisher was but this woman wrote me because she wanted to put together a compilation of poems and artwork and writings that are kind of a response to the rash of gay suicides that we had a couple months back. So she wanted people to say, “If I could speak to myself when I was younger, this is what I would say.” So I’m going to do a comic about that. I have no idea who the publisher was or if it’s going to be a big book or anything. I’m just excited to be a part of it. Then the other one does have a publisher, I don’t know the name of it. It’s about what does it mean to be a grown-up. So I’m working on all these things about the duality of being an adult versus a kid, which is really strange that it’s happening at the same time.
SG:
Every generation goes through this. Why doesn’t the next generation tell us, “Don’t worry about high school. You’ll grow up to be successful and the haters won’t.”
JN:
And you know what? I was talking to people about this recently. I don't know if my high school self would hear that and believe it. I think that it’s so far beyond comprehending, it’s too hard to get out of that moment. It sucks and I feel like all we can do is acknowledge it and convince them that it will get better but it’s not going to be better for them at that moment. They’re still going to have to go through the shitty high school years because that’s just how it is.
SG:
I certainly would have believed that high school would remain shitty.
JN:
You just didn’t think that it would get better when you got older?
SG:
I might not have believed it would get this good, but I knew I would do something. I was preparing for real life, so I didn’t care what happened in school.
JN:
Do you think that you would have wanted to know in concrete terms? Is there kind of a thrill to live your life and discover it?
SG:
That’s the dilemma. Knowing might have removed the need to try as hard as I did.
JN:
I know, it’s a tricky little thing so all I know is the story I’m going to tell but I can’t wait to see what other people have to say about that.
SG:
How do you draw? Can you learn or you just have it?
JN:
I’ve just done it. I have a comic about how I used to draw when I was in preschool. Don’t be offended by this. I would draw naked pictures of my mom only because she was the only person I’d ever seen naked and I thought it was so cool because I knew we were both people but she looked so different. It wasn’t graphic. It was two big dots then a little dot and a lot of squiggly lines down there. That was it but I would draw them for kids in my class. They were like, “Will you draw me a picture of your mom?” So I’d draw them a naked picture and I was like peddling pornography in my preschool class. I got caught and I got in trouble but I’ve been drawing since then. It’s always been a way for me to feel satisfied, creative and it’s even more important now that I’m a part of a television show where I have a very small voice. It’s nice to have something that is still a creative outlet that I have complete control over and everything looks how I want it to look and that’s okay.
SG:
Some people just sit and start drawing and it makes a picture.
JN:
I don't know how other people do it but for me I just start with a line and something comes out. I never have an idea of how I want it to look unless it’s a comic. With those, I have pictures of panels where I’ve done thumbnails and I want it to look that way, but before I started doing comics, I would just doodle and it would turn into something that was funny or neat and pretty.
Fringe airs Fridays at 9 on Fox.
Fringe airs Fridays at 9 on Fox.
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