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INTERVIEW: Actress Marisol Nichols
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I’ve been a big fan of Marisol Nichols since I noticed her during a guest-starring arc on Cold Case, but it was her work in the short lived (and underrated) Steven Bochco drama Blind Justice that really put her on my radar. She's probably best known for starring as Nadia Yassir in the sixth season of Fox's hit show 24, though. I had a chance to talk with Ms. Nichols recently, and she's extremely friendly, energetic, and fun. Read on to see what she has to say about 24, her characters, her career, and more!
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MIKE SPRING: Hi, Marisol.
MARISOL NICHOLS: Hi, how are you?
MS: I’m good, how are you?
MN: I’m good!
MS: Let’s start off talking about 24. How did it feel to become part of a show that’s just so popular?
MN: I had no idea how huge it was; how internationally known it was. It’s definitely different from being on any other TV show I’ve been on.
MS: Are you coming back for Season Seven?
MN: You know, I can’t really say. I was legally contracted for a year. With 24, you never know. I don’t even know, to be totally honest.
MS: I imagine things are difficult right now as well because of the writers’ strike.
MN: It’s sort of changed things a lot.
MS: Is it a weird atmosphere out in Hollywood right now?
MN: It is weird, you know? Personally, I’ve managed to sort of survive it—I’m surviving it. But I really hope it ends soon because there’s a lot of people out of work; you know, people that need the work.
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MS: But you’ve been keeping busy?
MN: I just finished a huge film for Sony called Felon with Val Kilmer and Sam Shepherd and Stephen Dorff, and that was awesome. And I just became the new Bally Total Fitness spokesgirl. So I’m the new face of Bally! I actually start doing all the commercials in the next few days. So during the writers’ strike it’s kind of like, “Oh well, at least I can do something, then.”
MS: Going back to 24, it must have been interesting being on the set of such an intense show. What was that like?
MN: It was actually a fantastic experience. I’m not just saying that; I’ve been on four of five different series now and 24 was the best environment to work in. At that level, they’ve got their kinks worked out already, they’ve been on the air for five or six years, they’ve just got it worked out. It was a great group of people to work with; not only my co-stars, but also the writers and producers. Jon Kassar and Howard Gordon, these are great guys.
MS: Was it difficult to fit in as a new person amongst an established group?
MN: I was a little nervous, but these are totally awesome guys. It took me a month or two to totally feel comfortable.
MS: And you didn’t know if you were going to survive the season?
MN: Yeah, no idea. You get your script and you go, “Okay, good, I’m still alive.” And then you look at the storyline. Unless you’re Kiefer, of course. He’s fairly safe.
MS: You had a romantic storyline with Eric Metcalf’s character Jesse. Was it difficult to try and develop romantic chemistry when all the events of the show are supposed to take place over 24 hours?
MN: Completely. It’s like, “Wait, she’s supposed to kiss the guy and be running CTU?” I guess you sort of--it’s the same thing like movies, when you have a movie that takes place in one day or something and they’re running from the cops and it’s like a Die Hard kind of thing: they end up kissing in the middle of it. I kind of justified it like a high stress situation, so the normal rules don’t apply anymore.
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MS: Now your character Nadia has a middle eastern background, which you do not, is that correct?
MN: No, not at all.
MS: Did that add any challenges to creating the character?
MN: Well, fortunately I had already done a lot of research into that culture for a role I had done several years back, so I had the background. It changed the way she dressed and the “How would?” You know, how would a middle-eastern female get to that position? How would she have to act, what would she have to do? It changed the role a lot; it just changed the way I approached it. My justification was that she would have had to work 10 times harder than anybody else to get that position.
MS: You seem to have made a career out of playing a lot of law enforcement or legal eagle types.
MN: [Laughs] I do.
MS: Is that something that you seek out or do these roles just sort of come to you?
MN: I don’t know. There are other things I want to do. Like, thank god for Felon, I got to do something different. They just come to me because I like them. I like that--I like having a woman be in charge. So the fact that I got to run CTU was awesome! I like women in powerful roles. I don’t like women detectives who are standing around while the male is figuring out everything, you know what I mean? I actually think women are extremely intelligent, if not more so than men, no offense. It’s great to see that utilized and at the same time not lose that whole feminine quality that we have.
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MS: Speaking of Felon, what can you tell me about the film?
MN: It’s a very dramatic movie; it’s shot very documentary style. It basically exposes what happens in a California prison. The central storyline is that my fiancé, who has really never done anything wrong with law--we find ourselves with our house broken into, and he, in order to defend himself, ends up hitting the guy in the head with a bat and the guy dies. And in California, there’s a law where that charge immediately becomes murder. And then he goes to jail because we don’t have a million dollar bail, and it kind of exposes what choices someone has, particularly a white person, in prison to survive. The choices really are you join a gang or hopefully you survive it without getting your ass kicked and killed. So it’s really, really dramatic and it’s an excellent, excellent piece and I loved it.
MS: You had roles in Big Momma’s House 2 and Delta Farce. Is it nice to be able to switch things up to the lighter side sometimes?
MN: It is, it is. As silly as comedies are, after you do such a dramatic piece, it’s like “I want to play. I just kind of want to play.” So that’s what I end up doing. I can just be silly and stupid and goofy and whatever. But I do always go back to drama because I love it. I love it.
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MS: I have to say, my wife and I were huge Blind Justice fans.
MN: Oh great! Thanks!
MS: How was it working with Steven Bochco and Ron Eldard? It looked like a great show to film.
MN: It was, it definitely was. That was one of my favorite characters I ever played. She was so tough and so hard, I loved her. It was great. Plus being able to shoot in New York, I had a blast. I was sad to see it go.
MS: What do you like to watch when you’re not filming?
MN: I love Grey’s Anatomy. I’m a big fan of The Closer; Kyra Sedgewick is a genius and the show is awesome. I’ve really been getting into Saving Grace. And I’m really looking forward to Lost coming back. I think there’s a lot of really excellent television out there. Ten years ago, or even like seven years ago, there wasn’t. And I think television has completely stepped up the bar and there’s some great great shows out there. Oh and the Office! I love the Office. I have to say, I’d kill to be on it. I’ll probably never be on it, but I’d kill to be on it.
MS: How did you get started in acting?
MN: I tried out for a play, believe it or not. It was after high school with no direction what I wanted to do with my life, and I got the lead role. And I was like, “Really?” and then I freaked out and then I calmed down and then I did it and that was it. I got on stage and I realized this was what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. It was kind of a fluke and I’m so glad.
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MS: So what do you have coming up after Felon that we can look forward to?
MN: Really, I wrapped Felon about 3 ½ weeks ago, went to Italy, came back, and now I’m shooting Bally. So it’ll probably be after the first of the year that I start looking at what’s next. The Bally campaign will probably keep me pretty busy. But I don’t know, it all depends on the writers strike.
MS: Finally, what’s the one thing you want the world to know about you that they don’t already know?
MN: [Laughs] I’m not as hard and tough as the roles I get to play, which I love. I’m a total girly girl. I can be silly and goofy and laugh at the most the ridiculous things. Little tiny things I think are ridiculous and I love being goofy, and I’m a total geek!
MS: Well Marisol, it was great to talk to you. Thank you for taking the time.
MN: It was real good to talk to you, thanks! Have a good one.
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