Exclusive Interview with Actress Natalie Malaika

Natalie Malaika is a rising star with fierce talent and ambition. You may recognize her from her appearances in The CW’s Charmed, Hallmark’s Good Witch, ABC’s Conviction, and the feature film Picture Day. Now, she’s currently starring alongside Sam Worthington in the Netflix thriller Fractured. 

I got the chance to talk to her about how she got into acting, what she learned from working with Sam Worthington on Fractured, her interest in the stock market and more. Keep reading to see what she had to say!

Tell me a little bit about how you got into acting originally. 

I’ve always been in the performing arts, but my journey began as a dancer and as a musician. I started off in ballet and all of those different dance styles and playing piano. I did take some acting classes when I was younger but I didn’t really get serious about it until I went to high school because I went to an art high school, and that’s when I started to mix and mingle with a lot of people from different performing backgrounds and I started to pick up an interest in acting then. So yeah, pretty much like 12th grade of high school is when I started taking it a bit more seriously.

So then was there a specific person or experience that you would credit with helping you decide that acting is what you wanted to do for a living?

I mean all together, performing can be a pretty precarious industry, but I think the precarity of dance and the limiting factor of aging and the body of a dancer is what led me more towards acting, because I think there’s more longevity. And when I started to delve into acting and start took my first professional acting class, I started to really love it and decided that’s the area I wanted to put my focus on.

Wow. That’s awesome. So do you have a personal acting bucket list of things you want to still accomplish in your career or roles you want to try? If so, what are some of the things on it?

I have a bucket list of people that I want to work with, and I have a bucket list of roles I want to do. In terms of people I want to work with, I would love to work with Kerry Washington, Viola Davis, and Ava DuVernay. Niecy Nash was on my list, but I recently checked that off, which was so awesome.

That’s awesome. So let’s talk about Fractured. First, what did you think about the project when you read the script and what was your audition process like? 

During the audition process, I got the sides to study and I did a self tape for it from home. I actually found out about the audition the night before it took place. Once I booked the role and I received the script, I was so fascinated, I couldn’t put it down. 

Tell me a little bit about the character you play and how she fits into the story. 

I play a nurse. She’s part of a very pivotal moment in the film. I can’t give too much away so you’ll have to watch the film on Netflix [laughs].

Gotcha. So what was it like working with Sam Worthington and Lily Rabe? 

I didn’t have the chance to work with Lily, but I did work with Sam and he is he really interesting to watch. He’s a bit of a method actor, especially with this being a thriller and him being the center of everything that’s going on. it was interesting and a good learning experience to see how he worked during those very intense scenes. He’s also super nice. When he had some downtime, he was very open to talking to the other actors and people around. 

That’s awesome. So I know you also have this project The Color Rose coming out. What can you tell me about it? Do you know when it’s expected to come out? 

I’m not sure when it’s expected. I’m thinking potentially next year. It centers around these seven girls who grow up in a very religious town, and as a way to rebel against our religious upbringing and our schooling and stuff like that, each of us embodies one of the seven deadly sins. Basically we all kind of start to go missing a little bit one by one and there’s a lot of mystery in terms of what’s happening in this town. But yeah, another little bit of a thriller film. I’m on a roll with thriller films. 

I was going to say. Do you like the thriller genre? I mean clearly you do if you’ve booked a couple. But do you like working in that genre?

I do. I love thriller films. Thriller is one thing; I can do thriller. Scary movies, I have to watch those during the day [laughs]. But I totally love it. I love the twisty-turny, dark plots of thriller films. And clearly they seem to like me.

So you’re still relatively new to the acting game and I know Fractured is one of your first major roles. What are some of your acting industry related goals or benchmarks that you’re aiming to reach in your career the next couple of years? 

Well definitely I think like most actors, especially actors coming from Canada, the big thing is wanting to eventually make their break into the states, and LA specifically. And I think that is going to be in the books for me in the next little bit and that’s kind of the next big step for me. So that’s a big benchmark that I’m looking forward to. It’s only been a year since I graduated university and started kind of narrowing my focus in on acting and I’ve seen the ball start to roll. So I think as I continue to narrow my focus, I’ll see more things happening for me. 

Last question — our website is called Talk Nerdy With Us because we all have an inner-nerd. So what is something you are currently nerdy out about?

I’m currently super into stocks. I started taking an investing in stock market course, so I’ve been really into stocks and analyzing stocks lately. I actually have my last class tonight, so I’m learning a lot with that and hoping to start putting all of that knowledge that I’ve gained into actually manipulating the stock market [laughs].

Make sure you follow Natalie on Instagram. Fractured is available now on Netflix.

Photo Credit: Rashelle Campbell