And here is the Transcript of the Interview
The following is a transcript of an interview conducted by Nathan, the winner of our Season II Psychic Contest, with Shawn Ashmore (Jake) on March 21, 2000.
Shawn: Hi Nathan! How are you?
Nathan: Hello! I’m fine!
N: Shawn, where are you from?
S: I am from Toronto in Canada. I’ve been living here about 10 years.
N: Do you have any brothers or sisters?
S: I have a twin brother named Aaron and he’s an actor as well. But only one brother, no sisters. And I have a dog named Jess.
N: Did you go to a public school or were you tutored on the set?
S: When I was in school I did a little bit of both. I went to school when I could because there's nothing like being in a classroom and having your own teachers so you can ask questions and stuff. It’s easier to do your school work in class because you can concentrate. But when I was working I was tutored on the set, but that is harder because there is so much going on around you that it’s hard to concentrate.
N: What’s your favorite subject?
S: I love English - it’s my favorite subject. And after that I would say Science. I had fun in Science.
N: Do you enjoy school?
S: When I was in school it was a lot of fun. I miss my friends from high school.
N: What is your favorite food?
S: I like tacos, and pizza is always good! I like a little bit of everything. (Nathan likes anything with chicken!)
N: What hobbies do you have?
S: I play guitar. I really like music - listening to and playing music. And I really like to read.
N: What’s your favorite sport?
S: Snowboarding. I love snowboarding. And my favorite team sport is hockey. (Nathan’s favorite sport is street hockey! How about that! His favorite team is the Nashville Predators.)
N: Do you have a favorite professional sports team?
S: I like the Edmonton Oilers hockey team. They’re from Alberta, Canada where I used to live.
N: Have you read the Animorphs books?
S: I started reading them when I was auditioning for the show and I really liked the books. That’s when I got really excited about the show. (Book #3 is Nathan’s favorite book.)
N: What kind of books do you like to read?
S: I like to read all kinds of books - science fiction, biographies, history books.
N: Do you like video games?
S: I love video games.
N: What is your favorite type of music?
S: That’s a tough one because music is one of my favorite things. I listen to everything: blues, hip hop, reggae, rock - I listen to everything. It’s kind of like my taste in books. I get bored if I listen to one type of music too much, so I listen to a little bit of everything so I don’t get bored!
N: What’s your favorite group or singer?
S: Hmm, of all time.. Bob Marley is my favorite singer of all time.
N: Who is you favorite movie star?
S: I have a lot of favorite movie stars. Right now I’d have to say Samuel L. Jackson. But it changes all the time.
N: Will you be starring in any movies soon?
S: I just finished a small part in a movie called X-Men based on the comic book. It’s coming out this summer.
N: What is your favorite TV show?
S: I like "Friends." That always makes me laugh. I like Joey and Chandler. They’re really funny and always make me giggle whenever I watch.
N: Who has had the greatest impact on your life?
S: Probably my parents just because they’ve always been there and supported me when I wanted to do acting. ‘Cause it’s kind of a big choice! My mom would always help me rehearse and either my mom or dad would drive me to auditions. They did a lot of work to help me do what I wanted to do, so they’ve had a really big impact on my life.
N: Who gives you the most encouragement?
S: Again, I’d have to say my family. My grandparents, my parents, my twin brother Aaron - all of them give me a lot of encouragement as an actor and in my life in general. They’ve really been good for me.
N: When did you start acting?
S: My brother and I both started at the same time. My mom was in a twin and triplet club in Alberta where we lived before. A casting agent asked my mom if we would be interested in being in a toy commercial. Of course we wanted to be in that, and Aaron got the part but he was sick on the day, so I did it. And then we just started doing commercials and having fun.
N: Where you nervous when you started acting?
S: Yeah, very nervous. Because behind the camera is tons of people that you don’t see when you’re watching a show - all the actors, the camera people, the directors, the producers, the lighting people, everyone who makes the sets look good - so there are tons of people there! So when I first started I was really nervous. It’s not so bad anymore, you get used to it.
N: Do you enjoy acting?
S: I love acting. If I can do it for the rest of my life, that’s what I’d like to do. I have lots of fun doing it, I meet lots of cool people and I even get to travel. It’s also kind of fun because you get to be someone new for every part, you get to pretend you’re someone else, and that’s fun.
N: Is it hard to act?
S: I just have fun doing it so it doesn’t seem too hard to me. I just try to do my best. I guess if you like what you’re doing, it never really seems that hard.
N: Do you have to memorize a lot of lines?
S: Yeah, that’s the hardest part. Sometimes you have to memorize a lot of lines and it can be kind of hard. But I just take it slowly and do a little bit at a time and then I can do it. But sometimes you get stuck. You mess up and everyone starts laughing. Everyone messes up, so it’s not that big of a deal.
N: What is you favorite episode of Animorphs?
S: I have two favorite episodes - one is "The Capture" where Jake is Yeerked and Ax has to morph Jake and try and fool the family -so I got to play Ax acting like Jake. And the other is "Not My Problem" where Jake wishes the Animorphs never got their powers. I liked those because they were different and I got to play sort of a bad guy in one of them - that was fun! (Nathan’s favorite episode is the first one, "My Name is Jake.")
N: What is your favorite morph?
S: Definitely the tiger. It’s the strongest and the scariest and the Yeerks hate the tiger. (Nathan chose to morph the hawk because he’d like to fly. Shawn said he would also choose either something that could fly or swim. It would be cool to breathe under water.)
N: Is it hard to get the animals to do what they are supposed to do?
S: Sometimes. Some of the funniest times on the sets were with the animals. You never know what’s going to happen when the animals are on the set. The lions and tigers and hawks - and even the lizards sometimes run around, and not in the direction you want them to! And the cockroaches run around and get lost.
N: What is the funniest thing you can remember that happened while taping a show?
S: To me it was both the funniest and scariest - I kind of put my fingers up a tiger’s nose. I’ve told this story a lot, because it’s definitely the strangest thing that’s ever happened to me. It was the scariest, but now when I look back on it it’s really funny. It’s that scene where I was acquiring the tiger’s DNA and I was touching the tiger’s head and something startled it and he moved his head and my fingers went up his nose! Then the trainer told me to slowly back away and I did. I was so scared! And it’s also always funny when people mess up their lines. You get the giggles when you get tired and someone forgets their lines. Some people would get frustrated because it would take longer to film things but it was always fun. We had a lot of fun on the set.
N: Can you tell us anything about Season II?
S: Hmmm, I don’t know! I go to the prom and guess who I take? (Nathan guessed right, of course!) I think you’ll like the new season, it’s very cool -- lots of morphing and action.
N: Are you good friends with any of the other actors on the show?
S: I am good friends with all of them. We had such a good time on the show, just hanging out and getting to know each other.
N: Do you get together and do things when you are not on the set?
S: While we were filming we did a lot of stuff together - went to the movies, went out to eat. It’s harder now because everyone is back in their own towns, but we run into each other sometimes and we always laugh about the fun we had.
N: What is your favorite movie?
S: Stand By Me is a really good movie. That’s always been one of my favorites. It’s a book as well, a short story.
And that's the end of the Interview. HomePage