APRIL 2018 04 ALEX SPARROW
16 LOLA FLANERY
30 CANDICE KING
on transfering his success in russia to a career in america
on her new role on the 100 + her love for cartoons
on reviving her role of caroline forbes + her career goals
06 MORGAN WALLEN
18 LIZZY GREENE
40 HIGH VALLEY
on keeping his head down + his plans for 2018
on nicky, ricky, dicky & dawn + what’s next for her
on their decade-long hustle + the success of “make you mine”
10 ALISHA WAINWRIGHT
22 GRAHAM PHILLIPS
44 MINA SUNDWALL
on her stumble into acting + the new season of shadowhunters
on moving behind the camera + his roles in blockers + riverdale
on her academic aspirations + netflix’s revival of lost in space
26 ARIEL MORTMAN
on her life in israel + the new season of greenhouse academy
CATHERINE POWELL
publisher, editor, photographer, designer, writer
CARLY BUSH writer
ELIZABETH FORREST writer
RACHEL HILL writer
MARISSA JOHNSON writer
IAN HAYS
BRITTANY LANDAU writer
NICOLE MOOREFIELD writer
OLIVIA SINGH
writer
writer
CANDICE KING FASHION CREDITS
COVER/PAGE 30: Dress by CURRENT AIR; Belt by LOVESTRENGTH; Shoes by KATHERYN AMBERLEIGH CONTENTS/PAGE 38: Top by JOHNNY WAS; Pants by AQUA; Scarf by FLYNN SKYE; Shoes by KEDS PAGE 33: Shirt by WAYF; Jumper by FLYNN SKYE; Bracelets by PEGGY LI; Choker by BRACKEN PAGE 34: Bodysuit by FLYNN SKYE; Pants by LULUS PAGE 36: Coat by CADIEUX; Jumpsuit by KAREN ZAMBOS; Bracelets by MELINDA MARIE PAGE 39: Dress by CATHERINE GEE; Shirt by SKIES ARE BLUE
alex sparrow Words by MARISSA JOHNSON Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
Alex Sparrow is already one of Russia’s biggest names and now he’s taking America by storm as one of the stars of Lifetime’s UnREAL. Stepping into the spotlight at only 15 years old, Alex began his career on Russia’s X Factor and established himself as a superstar, going on to make hit records and write soundtracks for major Russian films. With a viral video for his single “She’s Crazy But She’s Mine” and plenty of accolades under his belt, Alex is now coming to American film and television, and even releasing an English album. Alex cur04
rently plays the resident bad boy on UnREAL, a talented dancer named Alexi who is competing for Serena’s (Caitlin FitzGerald) heart on Everlasting and providing plenty of drama and surprises throughout the season. After overcoming a stroke at 25 Alex is stronger than ever and doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon, with more movies and music to be released in the near future. Growing up in Russia, did you always know that you wanted to be a performer? When did you start to make
singing/dancing a career? I grew up in a family which had more kids than money, but since I was 6 I started to learn how to play the accordion, and at one point my father decided to sell his car, which was one of the major sources for feeding our family, in order to be able to buy me an instrument so I could go as a kid to professional music contests. So, I started to perform on stage as a musician very early, but I had another passion which was soccer. At the same time, I played in the local junior team, and when I was 15 and just
before one of the international accordion contests, I injured my finger at the soccer game and realized I had to choose between being a musician or a [soccer] player. I chose music and never regretted it as it gives me an incredible chance for creativity and energy exchange with the audience when you are coming on stage. There is nothing on earth which makes me feel more happy and complete than this. What was your experience on Russian TV like? When I came to X Factor, I was 15 and already had won numerous music and singing competitions, but it was the first time I was on TV and exposed to the cameras. So that was the moment I understood for the first time what it meant to be an artist who is recognized on the street and be the one who is watched with expectations and interest with what he will do next. That was the beginning for me. And 10 years later, at Dancing and Skating With the Stars I was already an artist who had expectations and a star status. I perceived everything around me completely differently, but still worked without sleep and was wanting to win, because it’s in my DNA. After finding so much success in Russia, was it a natural transition to move over to American entertainment? If you dream, it should be a real big dream. For a guy who grew up in a big family where there were lots of children and love but very little money, I have
already achieved a lot and my life is already like a dream. For a guy who survived a major stroke at 25 and could not talk and move, and now is a part of a great American TV project and writing music that is becoming popular on different continents, my life is already like a dream. Returning to your question, whatever I have achieved I was right away putting my goal to the next step higher. So, I was ready to move on and get to the new level. And as soon as I was cast for UnREAL, I knew immediately that this is what I needed in order to develop and move forward, as an actor, because the character that I was lucky enough to portray in UnREAL is an example of exactly what the profession of an actor is for and why this profession requires such self-giving and immersion. How did you end up auditioning for UnREAL? You will not believe me, but it was the first part in my life that I got without anyone meeting me in person. I sent my self-tape and was invited to L.A. for the casting appointment. But I was in the middle of shooting in a European project as a lead, so I could not go. I knew that there were hundreds of competitors for this role, and was sure that as I couldn’t come there was no chance. And I was greatly surprised to get the contract as an answer. That was really amazing. So I was blessed to have a chance to work on this great project, and it was an amazing experience for me. Alexi is one of the most dif-
ficult characters I’ve ever portrayed in my life, and it’s one of a few I ever played who has nothing from me personally. Nearly none of the things he does, I have done or have ever experienced in my life, so it was very interesting for me as an actor, and hard not only morally but also physically. For the scene in the theater I rehearsed ballet dance on my own for two months and lifted huge dumbbells in between shootings to be able to lift the ballerina on one hand and repeat it for another 350 takes if needed. What can we expect from Alexi this season? My Alexi is the most unpredictable character of this season. He’s an explosive and even dangerous guy, charming and full of vices, so he will surprise you a lot this season, as much as he was surprising me! His heart is broken by a woman whom he still loves, and can not let go. But first of all, he is an artist of insane talent and passion, a man with an incredible inner drama, in the final stage of self-destruction. What else are you working on this year? This year I am planning to shoot my first feature film based on my own script, hopefully - with one of my favorite Hollywood actors as a lead. And after that I will sit down with my computer and write music for this film. I am blessed to do only do what I love, and to have my passion to be my job. And, talking about music, I [will be] releasing my English album I wrote in collaboration with RedOne. NKD NKDMAG.COM
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alisha wainwright Words by CARLY BUSH Photos by CATHERINE POWELL Glam by CAMILLE THOMPSON
MORGAN WALLEN Words by MARISSA JOHNSON Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
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Morgan Wallen is country music’s newest superstar. He’s written some of this year’s biggest hits and now he’s climbing the charts with his single “Up Down” featuring Florida Georgia Line. Born and raised in the mountains of Sneedville, Tennessee, Morgan started singing at an early age in the church where his father was a preacher. Growing up, Morgan was passionate about music and sports and learned to play the violin and piano but eventually gave up music to focus on sports when he was 8-yearsold. Up until the end of his high school career, Morgan’s focus was solely on baseball. “I played over 100 games a year, that was my plan, I was supposed to go play baseball in college and then I ended up getting hurt,” he says. After a career-ending injury, Morgan rediscovered his passion for music. “I was trying to figure out what I was going to do so I started writing songs and learned how to play guitar,” he says. Despite his love for music, it was still devastating to give up the sport that he’d dedicated his life to, but through it he found inspiration. “I’m a person of faith so I was definitely questioning, but I think that’s where my first songs came from,” Morgan reflects. During the transition from playing baseball to pursuing music, Morgan’s mother became his biggest
supporter, “I would play my songs for her and she would give me enough courage and confidence” he says. With her encouragement he eventually he began playing for friends at bonfires and continued playing music at his church. In 2014, Morgan’s mother signed him up for the auditions for NBC’s The Voice, and with his friends and family by his side he ended up making it onto Usher’s team. “I’d never played a show or anything. I’d never even had a crowd, it was either my family or my church,” he says. While he was on The Voice, he was encouraged by the coaches and producers to perform pop music, but it wasn’t until he performed a country song, a cover of “Stay” by Florida Georgia Line, that he truly felt like he’d found his footing. Even though he was eliminated from the competition after that performance, Morgan didn’t regret his choice. “I’m just glad I went out doing what I wanted to do, but I got to meet a lot of people through that experience.” After his final performance on The Voice, Morgan gained the attention of a booking agent that also worked with Florida Georgia Line and Jason Aldean who believed in his music and offered to work with him if he made the move to Nashville. In July 2016, Morgan packed up everything he had and,
with the help and support of his parents, made the move. For his first few months in Nashville, alongside a team of mentors and fellow songwriters, Morgan bunkered down and focused on writing new music and developing a unique sound and style as a new artist without playing any shows, and by the fall he signed a record and publishing deal with Big Loud Records. In 2016, Morgan went on his first radio tour to promote his first single “The Way I Talk” and quickly gained the attention of country music fans everywhere. “[The radio tour] was cool for me because the only places I’d ever really been were Tennessee, Florida, The South, and California for The Voice,” Morgan says, “So it was cool for me to go around the country to all of these places I’d never been and meet all of these people I’d never met before.” Morgan’s first single was successful enough to put him on the map and led to him getting the opportunity to open for Florida Georgia Line on their arena tour last year. During their tour, Morgan and Florida Georgia Line teamed up for “Up Down”, which has made its way into the Top 20 on country radio. For Morgan, remaining true to himself and doing things on his own terms was the most important part of his introduction to the muNKDMAG.COM
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lola flanery Words by BRITTANY LANDAU Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
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Whether she’s fighting for survival in a post-apocalyptic world in The 100, ruling over the Seelie Court on Shadowhunters, or just heading to class with her friends, 12-year-old Lola Flanery puts everything she has into every role that she plays – both on and off screen. Lola was born in Los Angeles, but her family moved to Toronto when she was 3-years-old, where she began to dip her feet into the entertainment industry. “Occasionally, I would do some modeling, but when I was about 9 years old, my modeling agent signed me up for an acting class just to see how it would go,” she explains. Three weeks and a few new friends later, Lola realized that acting was for her. “I gave it a shot, auditioned for an acting agent, and that went super well, so that’s how I got into acting. For the past three years, acting has been my life,” she says. Shortly after, Lola went to her first audition for a horror movie called Lavender and got the role of Alice. “Beginner’s luck,” she jokes. Lola describes the film as “a very scary movie with a different kind of subject matter”. From that point on, her love for acting only grew. Shortly after Lavender, Lola was cast as Reese Witherspoon’s daughter in 2017’s Home Again. “She’s a very amazing and talented woman and she stands up for what she believes in,” Lola says of Reese, “Playing my role in Home Again was very different from what I normally do because Isabel is kind of a shy, nervous girl. It was out of my comfort zone, but Reese was always there and she was always very happy and fun to work with,” she says.
This Spring, Lola can be spotted across television screens as both the Seelie Queen in Shadowhunters and Madi in The 100. “When I first booked the role of Shadowhunters, I was so confused about what the character was because she is like a fairy queen that’s like a billion years old, but it’s so rad,” Lola says of the Seelie Queen. As for her character on The 100, she can’t give away everything just yet, but promises that “she’s going to be the most awesome 12-year-old you have ever met.” She immediately connected to her castmates and feels right at home on set. “They’re all super nice and welcoming. It’s like a new family,” she says. With The 100 being filmed in Vancouver, Lola is close to her friends, but still finds it hard to create a balance between her school, home, and work lives. “I had to be in Vancouver for six months which was a very extended period of time. I think the hardest part wasn’t so much being away from my friends and family, but was probably schoolwork and catching up with it while also keeping on top of work,” she says. “It is hard because there’s two different lifestyles you’re living school and work - which is a very unusual combination. I think it’s just handling management of your time, which isn’t normally something a child has to learn, but as my mom will tell you, I am not the best at it. I’m trying. It’s a work in progress.” Despite the challenges she faces, Lola wants to keep acting in her future. “I want to do more of the roles that I am doing now. I’m used to just being a sister or a kid
version of the main character, so I really enjoyed playing my characters on Shadowhunters and The 100 since they’re not your average little kid,” she says, “I think I want to do more of that to get more out of my comfort zone and be more adventurous with it.” Eventually, Lola wants to transition to a different entertainment role. “Acting is definitely something I want to continue and pursue, but what I do want to be eventually is a director. I want to make my own movies and film my own movies,” she admits. While Lola chases her big dreams, getting an education is still very important to her. “When I first started out, I always thought, whether it be in high school or college, that I would take a break from acting to focus on that general aspect of school since it’s so important. Schoolwork does come first. I hope to go to high school and college and get the basis of life down, but I definitely want to keep acting,” she explains. However, Lola knows she should focus on just being a kid for now. She still enjoys hanging out with her friends and binge watching cartoons, just like any other kid her age. “I really love cartoons and I have been getting a couple of auditions for voice acting roles which is pretty cool because you get more channeled into your voice rather than physical movement,” she says. “I really like silly little cartoons, which my mom despises. I really like South Park which isn’t really for my age, but nonetheless, it is an animated cartoon. My guilty pleasure is Spongebob Squarepants. I just really like your average kids cartoons.” NKD NKDMAG.COM
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lizzy greene Words by ELIZABETH FORREST Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
Teen actress Lizzy Greene’s life changed when an agency came to one of her childhood theater performances. Immediately, they liked what they saw. They asked her mom if they could sign Lizzy, and their attendance ultimately led to the audition that got her onto her dream network, Nickelodeon. She auditioned for the role of Dawn in the series Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn. “I was telling myself ‘Listen, I’ll go in there and give my craziest, best performance or I’ll leave regretting that I didn’t’,” she remembers of preparing for the audition. There were no nerves, only excitement, and she landed the part. Dawn as a character is so similar to Lizzy herself that it often doesn’t feel like she’s doing any acting at all on set. Lizzy describes Dawn as “very outgoing, very confident, and the glue that holds the family together”. As a network, Nickelodeon often writes characters around the actor or actress. Because of this, Dawn didn’t require much writing at all because of all of the similarities between her and Lizzy. Lizzy also co-starred in Nickelodeon’s Tiny Christmas, a movie with a message of acceptance and remembering to never judge a book by its cover. In Tiny Christmas, Lizzy’s character Barkley was nothing like a character Lizzy has ever portrayed. “She wears a fanny pack; that explains how crazy she is,” Lizzy laughs.
Barkley was a challenge because she was such a polar opposite to both Dawn and Lizzy herself, but she enjoyed the opportunity to play a new type of character. Barkley had a great sense of humor, and an end scene gets serious and allows viewers to learn more about why Barkley is the way she is. At 14, Lizzy has work days that can last from seven hours to nine and a half hours, depending on whether it is a rehearsal day or a shooting day. She travels between living in Los Angeles to act and Texas to spend time with her family, so she is always on the go. The long days and constant traveling is made easier by the people she works with on set. “I would go for sushi every Thursday at lunch time with Allison [Munn],” Lizzy remembers. Allison (who plays Lizzy’s mom on the show) wasn’t the only cast member she would get along with; Lizzy was close to everyone and credits those around her for teaching her everything she knows about acting. In addition to enjoying the job itself, Lizzy draws inspiration from her fans and loves to meet them. She likes to listen to their stories and learn about which episode of Ricky, Nicky, Dicky & Dawn are their favorite. One recent, memorable fan meeting took place outside of a roller skating rink. When Lizzy was leaving, fans of the show began to recognize her and wanted to take pictures with
her. One fan had a birthday that day, and after staring at Lizzy shocked for a few moments, she came over to Lizzy and jumped on her to hug her. “That’s why I love my job so much,” Lizzy says, “Because I can touch people like that. They get so happy when they see me, but at the end of the day, I’m just a kid that was picked from a small little town in Texas.” Since Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn has reached its end, Lizzy is thinking more about the future. Professionally, she looks up to Ellen DeGeneres and Oprah Winfrey as her role models because they are confident, driven women that make it their goal to help others. In the future, Lizzy would love to play a more mature character and is interested in playing confident, empowering characters similar to those of her role models - and she would also love to do her own stunts. “They would always want to get a stunt double for me, and I’d say, ‘no, no, no I can scale the building!’” Lizzy remembers. (For liability reasons, that hasn’t happened yet, but she hopes it will become reality one day.) Lizzy has also given some thought into whether she would prefer to stay in television or move onto working more in film. Television and film are two completely different worlds based on the camera shots: movies are typically shot on one camera, while television shows are often shot with multiple cameras. “With a multi-cam show, you go much faster NKDMAG.COM
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graham phillips Words by IAN HAYS Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
ariel mortman Words by NICOLE MOOREFIELD Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
While most people spend their early 20s just planting their feet in the real world, 24-year-old Ariel Mortman is already exploring the globe and thriving in her dream career as Hayley in Netflix’s Greenhouse Academy. Born in New York, Ariel lived 26
in the states until age 10, when her family moved to Israel. “My mom’s Israeli and my dad’s American, and they decided that they wanted to live here,” she shares. Ariel discovered her love of acting in high school, but her career was postponed by mandatory service in the Israeli army. “At the age
of 18, everyone here is enlisted,” Ariel explains. After completing a year in the intelligence, Ariel taught refugee preschoolers for another year before finally getting into acting professionally. She moved to Tel Aviv and in 2014 landed her first major role as Maya in
the Israeli Disney series North Star. The show ended after two seasons, and while on a three-month backpacking trip in Japan, Ariel began auditioning for Greenhouse Academy. “I didn’t really have anyone to self-tape with, so I would find random people at the hostels I was staying at,” she admits. Although she first auditioned for the role of Jackie Sanders (played by Jessica Amlee), Ariel ultimately booked the role of Hayley Woods. A unique amalgamation of teen drama and futuristic technology, Greenhouse Academy is perfect for the whole family to enjoy. After their mother’s trip to space goes gravely awry, siblings Alex and Hayley Woods enroll in the prestigious academy their mom once attended, only to discover conspiracy within the walls. “Someone said that it’s like Gossip Girl meets Harry Potter,” Ariel recalls, and agrees is a good description. Along with Waldorf-esque drama, students are split into the Ravens and the Eagles, similar to Hogwarts houses. An American remake of the Israeli series Ha-Hamama, Greenhouse Academy is set in southern California (although the show films in Tel Aviv). When cast as Hayley, Ariel watched some of Ha-Hamama for the plot but refrained from contacting the original actress because she “wanted to find my own way of playing Hayley and sort of understand the character on my terms,” she explains. Though the American plot closely follows its predecessor, Ariel would love to see new characters introduced if Greenhouse Academy continues past Ha-Hamama’s three seasons. “Just having Reina (Hardesty)’s character, Aspen, come in made a good impact,” she imparts. “Even though she’s supposed to be the evil one, she’s probably one of my favorite characters on the show.”
Additionally, Ariel would love to see two houses mix and characters switch teams, if only for the ensuing drama. Of all the cast members, Ariel is closest with Finn Roberts, who plays her brother Alex on the show. “We automatically connected even just through the audition process,” she reveals. After the stressful final auditions, the pair went to a record shop together to detox. “We sort of bonded the second we met and we’ve been best friends ever since.” “The second season was definitely a lot more fun to shoot [than the first],” Ariel shares, because so many new relationships were explored. Throughout Season 2, Hayley grows closer to Brooke (Grace Van Dien), whereas “in the first season we barely interacted, we just sort of hated each other on the side.” In addition to working with more of the cast, Ariel adds that Season 2’s plot was especially exciting to film. “The drowning scene that I had was actually the most difficult scene I’ve ever had to film,” she recollects. Although there was a talented crew ensuring her safety throughout, “there’s no fake way of drowning,” and she had to spend 8 hours flailing in the ocean for the scene. Despite the trauma she went through, “it was definitely fun as an actor to get an opportunity to do something like that.” The experience instilled in Ariel a love of stunt work and she aspires to one day expand her horizons to film, especially action movies. Along with her career goals, Ariel hopes to spend more time traveling, as it is “one of the things I love doing the most,” she remarks. Some of her favorite trips so far have been to London, Paris, and Japan. As a seasoned traveler, the worldwide reaction to Greenhouse Academy
was the most exciting part of the experience for Ariel. The morning after its release, “I woke up to messages from kids saying they finished the show,” she remembers. “I’m so grateful to all of the kids that watched it.” Despite her initial attraction to Jackie’s character, “I’m probably a little bit more like Hayley,” Ariel confesses, and while the role of reformed juvenile delinquent Jackie Sanders is certainly exciting, Hayley Woods is arguably just as cool. “She’s very real,” Ariel relates. “I feel like she represents something.” On one hand, Hayley is a tough girl with strong convictions. “She’s strong, and she’s independent, and she’s not afraid to say what she thinks.” On the other, Hayley can be vulnerable and break down. “She lets herself feel what she feels, and I sort of like that,” she elaborates. “Just because she feels sad or cries doesn’t make her any less strong.” What makes Greenhouse Academy unique, Ariel articulates, is that “all the characters on the show have a lot of colors. I don’t think that there’s any one character who’s the bad one [or who is] the good one.” As the show progresses, she adds, viewers are able to look past a character’s exterior to see his insecurities and where his behavior stems from. The show’s characters, she postulates, are what viewers love about Greenhouse Academy. “[Kids can] relate to it because everyone has different sides. Everyone could be a little bit mean sometimes,” but still have a good heart and honest intentions. In addition to delivering dynamic characters, the show teaches important lessons like friendship and collaboration. “Even if it is a competitive school, you understand that in the end, they’re all there to help each other.” NKD NKDMAG.COM
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CANDICE KING Words & Photos by CATHERINE POWELL Hair & Make-Up by EMILY DAWN Styling by AUDREY BRIANNE
high valley
Words by OLIVIA SINGH Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
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High Valley is a country duo comprised of brothers Brad and Curtis Rempel, and their career is one that’s the result of 11 years of hard work and dedication. They’ve toured with superstars like Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, released EPs and albums, and played shows all over the globe – and they’re not stopping anytime soon.
“I was selling trucks for Dodge for six years and my bosses would let me in my office make cold calls to music festivals and radio stations and everything,” Brad explains. “We got told ‘no’ many many, many, thousands of times and then every once in a while, someone would say ‘yes’ and we’d take around three months off of work and go tour and
doesn’t realistically happen so quickly. “It’s been, I would say, a slow climb from then until this last year and all of a sudden it kind of cranked wide open,” Brad says. “Every year was great. Every year was better than the previous year, but it was slow and steady. So when people are like, ‘Hey, you have to be
“It ’s been, I would say, a slow climb from the until this last year and all of a sudden it kind of cranked wide open.” Brad and Curtis grew up in La Crete, Alberta, Canada with their four siblings. They describe their childhood as one filled with music and guitars in the home, since both of their parents play – so it was only natural that they gravitated toward music. In fact, the earliest version of High Valley began when Brad was 12 years old and Curtis was 6. High Valley transitioned from an informal band to a serious career over a decade ago.
then come back to work.” This continued for several years, and while Curtis was still in high school and Brad was working, they decided to focus more of their time and energy on building their career. Eleven years ago, Brad quit his job and Curtis completed his high school education on the road. Their success didn’t happen overnight, nor did it occur after a year or two. It took even more time, and they understand that success
patient,’ in this business, we’re very familiar with it.” High Valley slowly gained more popularity in Canada, and then America when they moved to Nashville, Tennessee. 2017 was arguably one of their most significant years. Last year, they played sold out shows in California, toured with Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, were nominated for three Canadian Country Music Association
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SUNDWALL
Words by RACHEL HILL Photos by CATHERINE POWELL
MINA
If you haven’t heard of her yet, you certainly will soon. 16-year-old actress Mina Sundwall is geared up to bring television classic Life In Space back to, well, life. As a child of an Italian mother and Swedish father, Mina’s parents were set on providing the New York City native with an international upbringing. After living in Paris for a year at the age of 10, she also studied at a boarding school in Spain for five months at the end of her eighth grade year. Growing up, Mina was known to tell a white lie or two. It was all part of her storytelling repertoire. “In elementary school we’d always have show-and-tell every week where you’d be like, ‘I’m doing this this weekend,’ and everybody would always say, ‘I’m having a sleepover’ or ‘I went to the zoo,’” she recalls, “I said my mom is quitting her job and going to open a candy store. Everybody in the room was like ‘What is happening?’” Mina and her family then began to consider if acting was something she would be interested in and could take seriously. (Cue the open casting calls.) Soon after, she booked with an agency and hit as many auditions as she could. At the age of 7, she acted in a small role in Celebrity Ghost Stories and realized she was on her destined path. Fast forward to 2016, Mina was cast as Penny, the quick-witted middle child, in Netflix’s remake of Irwin Allen’s 1965 sci-fi classic, Lost in Space. Despite being only 16, she’s familiar with the general premise of the show prior to reading the script thanks to various pop culture references, such as ‘Danger, Will Robinson’. Lost in Space is centered around the Robinson family who must flee Earth as it deteriorates from irreversible
environmental changes, a prevalent theme covered in today’s disputes and an issue Mina believes should be taken “much more seriously”. As they flee to the new space colony, trouble arises and the Robinson’s find themselves stuck on an undiscovered planet, having to learn how to survive on their own. Mina has enjoyed taking part in Penny’s journey of personal growth and development. Initially, Penny struggles with feeling a bit out of place, but by the end of the first season she evolves in her own self confidence. “When we first get to the planet, it’s very much live or die. So I think everybody comes into this mode of, you know, finding the best solution as fast as possible,” Mina says, “But when things get a little more settled in, it’s more about finding who she is and finding out that she’s stronger than she thinks she is.” Penny’s character development and sarcastic jabs were leading factors in Mina’s attraction to the script. “I was so immediately drawn to it because it was exactly my kind of humor and what I love to do. But mostly just that within the first script was such a roller coaster of emotions. By the end of it I was like, ‘Wait a minute’,” says Mina. We see Penny very shaken at the start, but she transforms through a self-actualization type process and realizes she’s so much stronger than she thought. “She [Penny] can do so much more than she would have ever expected to, both physically saving people and what she can put herself through, but also mentally, who she thinks she is and how secure she is with herself,” Mina adds. Being a sci-fi centered series, Lost in Space boasts some heavy special effects ranging from robots, spaceships to the planet itself. “You have one
X here and one X there the director goes, ‘OK, this one is where this thing blows up drastically and this is where a bunch of people die so look and feel.’ And I’m just like, alright, sure, let’s work with it,” recalls Mina. This type of acting comes with a learning curve, and understandably so. In many ways, all aspects on this type of set are choreographed in order to achieve the stimulating sensation viewers get when watching. “It’s every little movement working together with lights and effects and green screen and the camera and making sure it’s so precise and so specific that everything is perfect,” says Mina. Filming for the series took place over six months in Vancouver. Finding, and sustaining, a healthy balance between work and schooling proved to be somewhat of a challenge for Mina. ”The hardest part was kind of going into this immediate, not being in school, putting your mindset to something different, which is something I’ve never done that drastically before,” she says. As a student who takes quite a liking to learning, Mina plans on attending college and studying psychology, which she believes plays a role in the craft of acting by “looking at everything that’s wrong and different moods and disorders and how we think and what we think.” In terms of what’s ahead, Lost in Space promo, college prep, and maybe even a service trip to Ghana this summer are all on the calendar. Mina’s dream role? Well, she’s a huge Black Mirror fan. “I would love to do something with the whole concept of whether or not people can see you through the camera on your laptop, on your phone and see everything that you’re doing at all hours.” Who knows, that might just be in store for her. NKD NKDMAG.COM
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