TV Tattler: Celebrity Interviews
The Day Is Just Beginning for Marisol Nichols on '24'
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Feb. 26 -- It didn't take long for her to make an impression.
Marisol Nichols -- the freshest face on the hit Fox thriller '24' -- plays second-in-command special agent, Nadia Yassir, and has longtime fans taking notice.
No stranger to portraying women in positions of authority, Nichols played a lawyer on the short-lived ABC drama 'In Justice' and the lead in Stephen Bochco's cop drama, 'Blind Justice.'
She talked to AOL Television editor Geoff Bennett about her new role, secrets of the CTU set and the perks of starring on one of TV's biggest hits.
Getting cast on a top TV show must be an actor's dream. How did you land the role?
It was my fourth time auditioning for them over the last six seasons. I was like, "They are not hiring me!" I walked out of the audition room and was like, "I don't know." But I got it.
They were smaller roles, I think. I think at one point I might have read for Reiko Aylesworth's part [of Michelle Dessler]. And then there was another story with some Latin girl who was on for just a couple episodes.
Well, it seems to have worked out for the best.
Yeah! It worked out fantastically.
Since you play an Arabic-speaking special agent, did you have to train with real government agents or learn the language? Or do you just say the words phonetically?
It's completely phonetic. When I was originally hired, the character was named Natalie Barnes -- not Nadia Yassir. And then [executive producer] Howard Gordon called me about a week before we were shooting and said, "We're going to make her Pakistani-American." And I said, panicked, "With an accent?!" And he explained that the character was raised in America, so I didn't have to go into panic mode to get the accent down. But we have a technical advisor who I call whenever there's Arabic, and he helps me.
What did you make of the complaints from some in the Islamic community, who said the show portrayed them unfairly?
It's a tough answer. I am playing a Muslim in CTU fighting for America. I don't think terrorism is a religious issue; I think it's a terrorist issue. In any religion, you're going to have extremists. It's like saying all Catholic priests are pedophiles -- obviously it's not true. That being said, I think '24' takes from the headlines what is actually happening, and there are extremists who happen to be that ethnicity or that religion that are doing these acts. When you pull the strings, sometimes there are corporate entities behind it, just like '24' has portrayed. So I think '24' tries to be fair in all those aspects.
And since your character is confined to CTU, how often do you see Kiefer Sutherland when you are on set? Is there a distinction between the CTU cast and the one that shoots on location?
Yeah, we've got these little groups of people, and they rarely interact. We'll see each group in passing. This is going to sound silly, but you know in wrestling, how they tag team? It kind of feels like that. It's like, "We're done, now you guys go." And Kiefer is the only one, obviously, who goes back and forth. We'll see him in the trailer or at PR events. His presence is always felt because no matter where you are, you are always referring back to him.
Yeah, I hadn't seen one thing I did until the season premiere. It actually makes me a huge fan of the show.
What's your favorite thing to do on set in between takes?
Completely goof around. We goof around like mad at CTU. I also love talking to [director] Jon Cassar and [director of photography] Rodney Charters because I learn a lot from those guys. They have been doing it for so long, and they are at the top of their game. It's such an opportunity to see how they do it -- like how John will shoot to create tension in the show by planting the camera behind a chair, so you're peeking out. I've learned so much just by being in their environment.
Are there any cool secrets of the CTU set? I read somewhere that the desk phones actually work.
They do actually work, which is kind of interesting. Let's see ... When you see the main characters in the background and you don't hear what we are saying, though it looks like we are in deep in conversation about nukes, grids and coordinates, we are saying the most absurd things you can possibly imagine and trying to keep a straight face. If the sound guy ever turned up the sound on what we were actually saying, it would be hilarious.
I want to talk for a minute about 'Resurrection Blvd.,' the Showtime series where you got your start. What do you remember about that show?
You want to know a real quick trivia thing? The stages where we shot that are right next door to the '24' stages where we shoot now. It's kind of wild. I was learning on 'Resurrection Blvd.' It gave me a really great opportunity to learn how to create a character and act in front of the camera. It was my first series that lasted. (Laughs) I was pretty green. It took me the whole first season to create the character [Victoria Santiago] and get into the groove, where as now I'm able to do things a lot faster.
Yeah! (Laughs) At the Golden Globes -- it was my first time going -- I was in line at the In Style party. It was this big, huge party, and I was really excited, but they had shut down the line. And I had planned all week for it, but they had shut it down. The fire marshal was there and no one was getting in. I was in line with huge names -- guys that have won the Globe, guys that are Oscar-nominated. No one was getting in. This was the day after the premiere of '24,' and the security guy -- this six foot tall guy -- looks at me and goes, "You're on '24.'" And I said, "Yeah!" And he goes, "You were giving Chloe a hard time. She's my girl." And I go, "Yeah, mine too." And he's like, "Alright, go to the back of the line, wait for me and I'll be there in two minutes to let you in." And literally, I bypassed all these huge names, and he took me and my publicist into the party. That was the coolest thing in the world.
Can't beat that. Here's the thing about Chloe -- it took a couple seasons before she was able to get out of CTU and see some heavy action alongside Jack. Do you think you'll get to do something similar one day?
I think it depends on if it serves Jack. Chloe has such a relationship with Jack and it was set up the season before, that getting her out of CTU and putting her in that situation just helped fuel Jack's story. So I don't know.
That's true. Plus, the closer you get to Jack, the greater your chances are of getting killed off.
Exactly! (Laughs)
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