by Fred Topel
“I would draw naked pictures of my mom.”
– Jasika Nicole
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 purposes 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 managed to take 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.
