Exclusive Interview with Riverdale’s Marisol Nichols

Talk Nerdy With Us recently chatted with actress Marisol Nichols, who is a Chicago native. Marisol is best known for her work on Vegas Vacation, ER, Resurrection Blvd., Cold Case, Blind Justice, In Justice, 24, Felon, The Gates, GCB, NCIS, Criminal Minds, and Teen Wolf. Currently, she’s filming a CW pilot entitled Riverdale based on the characters from the Archie Comics.

In addition to Marisol’s work on screen, she’s an advocate for human rights. She founded the Foundation for a Slavery Free World and its mission is to ‘uphold and instill in others the inalienable rights guaranteed by the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. [Slavery Free World plans to] eradicate all forms of modern day slavery worldwide. Whether it’s in the form of adult or child sex slavery, slave labor, or debt bondage.’

Read our interview below where we discuss Teen Wolf, Riverdale and Lost Girls.

Tell us about your audition process for Teen Wolf? Did you watch the show before auditioning?

I didn’t know anything about the character and I hadn’t watched the show, but one of my representatives was a huuuge fan so he was giddy when I got the job. I figured she was a bad guy, tough and kind of a badass. So I tried to come up with a character of what I thought was right. Threw on some black leather and went in. 

Corinne was quite the antagonist, but what was your relationship like with Shelley [Hennig] and Meagan [Tandy] off-screen?

Great, we joked around, talked a lot and filled the time with fun conversation. They’re both professionals and Shelley really helped fill me in on a lot of the backstory that I wasn’t aware of. 

Will a powerless Corinne be back for season 6? 

(laughs). I cannot say, but I didn’t die. 😉

For those who don’t know, can you tell us about your Foundation for a Slavery Free World? 

Thank you for asking. I kept hearing stories and news pieces about trafficking and the more I dug into it, the more I was horrified. I began meeting with different organizations, legislators and other nonprofits for this issue and I wanted to tell others about it. I founded Foundation for a Slavery Free World so that I could produce even more briefings and events to enlighten others and shed a light on not only this issue, but what’s being done about it. Starting my own nonprofit just seemed like the next step to do and it also opened up the door to expanding my reach into these areas, partnering with other organizations and individuals and how we can all help each other.

You have two projects coming up Riverdale and Lost Girl. Let’s talk about Lost Girl first. What can you tell us about the film and your character Romina? 

Lost Girls is a short film about human trafficking. The producer of that film came to one of my human trafficking events to get data and information for her project. She asked me to be part of the project and I was happy to lend my time and support to it. 

I play the Trafficker. I haven’t seen it yet, but I expect to see a rough cut when I get back into town. 

Being an advocate for human rights and trafficking what’s it like portraying a trafficker?

You basically have to get into a very evil place to be the kind of person who would enslave another human being. You have to turn off all emotion and any part of being human. I wanted to convey that for a person to do something like this, you’d have to essentially be a non-human machine.

Moving onto Riverdale! Can you tell us about your audition process for Hermione Lodge?

Well, this character is completely different than Teen Wolf or any of the cops, detectives or FBI agents I’ve played on other shows before. It was pilot season, this is the busiest time of year for any actor. I think Riverdale was one of the 20 auditions I had in a time period of three weeks, so there’s not a lot of time to prepare. I read the character and got a sense of what I thought I would like to bring to Hermione and, fortunately, it worked out.  

Did you read the Archie comics growing up? 

Not really, but I was familiar with Archie, Betty and Veronica and the comic’s legacy. I’m happy to be part of something so many people love.

Did you screen test with Camila [Mendes]?

No, I didn’t have to screen test at all. It felt more like a collaboration of what I brought to the show and what they had envisioned for the character. I met Camila at the table read and I’m delighted to be working with such a talented and intelligent girl. 

What can you tell us about this version of Hermione?

I can’t really talk about it, but she’s Latin. (laughs). No short white hair and a bit more of a tan. Sorry to be so vague, but out of respect to the creator of the show and the network, I have to remain silent at least for now.

Is she still married to Hiram? 

Next question. 😉

(Laughs). How would you describe the pilot in five words?

Subversive, fun, mysterious, scandalous, enjoyable.

We at TNWU all have something nerdy/geeky about us. What is something nerdy or geeky about you?

I’m a super huge sci-fi freak. I’m constantly reading new books all the time. I’m currently reading something called Alien Apocalypse and I can’t put it down.