astrid farnsworth and the women love fest day five

Sometimes an actor can be a character's greatest and most powerful advocate, and that is definitely the case with Astrid's actor, the amazingly multi-talented Jasika Nicole. Not only does Jasika do a fabulous job portraying Astrid, she is also an articulate and thoughtful spokesperson about her character. She understands Astrid, and sympathizes with her, and that brings so much more to the character's depth--even when we see her so little! Beyond Fringe Jasika is also a talented writer, artist, cartooner, blogger, comedian, singer, dancer, baker, knitter... god it exhausts me just thinking about it. She's also FREAKING ADORABLE. Basically, all around amazing human being.

But don't take my word for it--check out her words for yourself!

"I would like to see more Olivia and Astrid scenes. ‘Cause I had that awesome scene, and it was a few episodes back, when Olivia kind of opens up and is a bit vulnerable to Astrid for probably the first time ever. And it was so nice to have a scene like that with her because she’s [Anna] such a fantastic actress but her character is so—like, you just wanna give her a hug ‘cause she’s really pitiful sometimes. And I feel like Astrid can be her new BFF. And I want that to happen at some point in the future. I don’t know if it will, but that’s my wish."

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"Interviewer: Does Alt!Astrid have an onset nickname like Fauxlivia and Walternate?

Jasika: Kickasstrid."

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"Astrid’s lack of back­story has been a sen­si­tive spot for me, and a lot of her fans, for a while now. I am ecsta­tic to have been a part of the Fringe team from the very begin­ning, but I have fallen in love with Astrid and I want to see so much more of her. At the same time, it is impor­tant for me as an actor to rec­og­nize that Fringe is not about Astrid’s char­ac­ter, and that she is on the show to sup­port the big­ger story of the three main char­ac­ters. I have talked with the writ­ers about what I could expect from Astrid in this fourth sea­son, and while they admit­ted that they will not be explor­ing her back­story, they did say that there would be an Astrid-centric episode, and more impor­tantly, that her rela­tion­ships with the other char­ac­ters was going to be dif­fer­ent in this new Peter-less real­ity. I can only hope that if Astrid doesn’t get much more to do this sea­son, her own spin­off, Farnsworth P. I. will debut on Fox in the next few years to extremely high praise. And John Noble will guest star."

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And if you're a fan of Jasika Nicole's (and why wouldn't you be by now?) please do read this wonderful article she wrote for The Advocate this May. While not specifically about Fringe and Astrid, Jasika writes so openly and frankly about being an American in Canada, about living as a Queer woman of colour, the differences and similarities between our two countries, about being in a committed relationship, being twenty-something, working, finding time for yourself. There's just really something I think everyone can relate to on some level and she's just so interesting. Read it!

"The United States is a work in progress, but it is still my home. It feels comfortable and easy, and even my struggle as a queer woman of color is necessary and important to the history and the future of the country. I have learned now that embracing one territory doesn’t mean I have to exclude the other one, and it is entirely possible, healthy even, to have an open relationship with both places."

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