JASIKA NICOLE Enjoying Her Fringe Benefits

Actress Jasika Nicole is enjoying a good run on one of TV’s more thrilling shows, Fox’s “Fringe.” Originally cast as a peripheral character, Nicole’s Astrid Farnsworth has seen a rise in popularity and storyline on the FBI drama which centers around a team that investigates unexplainable crimes that may be part of a larger and more disturbing pattern.

 “I was learning the ropes and finding my footing and learning what it’s like to work on a show,” the actress says of her time during the show’s first season. “I’ve done lots of pilots before but I never had a huge, regular role on a show before so it was a good learning experience for me. Then in Season Two I was really ready for Astrid to step up to the next level and the writers and producers felt the same way about it. I think the journey for Astrid and for me was a really nice, well-thought out one.”

 Maybe when you’re named Jasika playing someone named Astrid Farnsworth isn’t too out there.

 “When I auditioned I had no idea what the show was about,” Nicole recalls. “They just said we want someone, preferably non- Caucaåsian, to play a young FBI agent named Astrid Farnsworth and I was hooked. That’s all I needed. That name is so phenomenal. I was pretty excited.”

Originally from Alabama, the actress was named after her father’s mother, Jesse. “My mother played around with Jessica and came up with Jasika somehow. She said she had a dream about me before I was born and she saw me and said she looks like a Jasika. It’s not a stage name. Everyone always thinks it’s made up.”

The product of a biracial family raised  in Birmingham , Alabama, Nicole, a musical theater buff, eventually moved to New York, although now she calls Vancouver home as that’s where “Fringe” shoots.

“I never ever imagined myself being in a sci-fi drama,” she says with a laugh, “that was definitely on the other end of the spectrum from where I thought I was headed. But it has been really nice because I’ve been able to hone the talents that I had and build up some talent in a different realm. I must say, when ‘Glee’ first came out there was a huge hole in my heart. That was a show I was born to be on, singing and dancing on television.”

A budding artist, drawing allows the actress some control that’s she grateful for. “Drawing is really important for me because it’s the one thing that I have complete creative control over. I say how the story is going to go and I really like having ultimate power with that.”

A visible African American and Lesbian actress on a primetime show, Nicole didn’t set out to be a role model but knows that’s a title often branded on actors.

 “It’s funny how much responsibility you automatically have when you’re a celebrity whether you want it or not, and part of me always felt that was really unfair to have this huge responsibility. But people can learn from your mistakes and from the good things you do, so as long as, you’re comfortable with that and embrace that, it’s okay. All I can really do is live my life the way I would always live it and be happy with the decisions that I make.” ▼

“Fringe” airs Thursday nights at 9PM on Fox. For more info on Jasika Nicole and her artwork see www.jasikanicole.com.