By Mike McCarthy
The life of an actor is hectic and Alison Wandzura is on top of her game right now. Alison is currently starring on the new SyFy hit show, Van Helsing. She also has stints on the shows Rogue and The Magicians coming up in 2017 that will definitely keep you on the edge of seat. Alison is a Canadian actress who started directing her and her two brothers in shows in their basement. Seeing that footage would be absolutely incredible, but I am sure she has honed her skills in front of and behind the camera since then. When she was 26, Alison was working a marketing job during the day and acting at night. It was then that she made the decision to move from Calgary to Vancouver and become a full time actress, where she has been working continuously since.
With Van Helsing being picked up for a second season already, it should mean lots more of Alison’s character Nicole. Alison has been other science fiction hits like Supernatural, X-Files and iZombie to name just a couple. You may think that she seeks these out, but Alison loves all of the genres of film and television and puts everything she has into her part. Make sure to check out Alison Wandzura on Van Helsing, Friday nights at 10 on SyFy Channel.
Wingman Magazine: There are so many films that involve Abraham Van Helsing, when you were approached about the show, what kind of research did you do?
Alison Wandzura: Not really. Our show, even though it borrows some elements from the feature film and story line, it won’t be a reflection of that that movie. It’s not a tv version or continuation of the movie, but it does have a tie to the movie. Our main character is Vanessa Helsing, who is the great granddaughter of Abraham, but we don’t make reference to that. It’s not like the people who are hoping to see more of that movie will see it in this show, it is a completely different story. There are some similar elements, but I didn’t dig too deep into that story because it’s completely different.
WM: Tell us about your character Nicole in Van Helsing and how big of a role she has in catching vampires.
Alison Wandzura: It was quite a pleasant surprise to see that the expanded the role for the full season. If you want to generalize the situation then there are two camps: the bad guys and the survivors. Nicole is part of the survivors. They are defending themselves against the vampires that have taken over power of everything else. Nicole isn’t a vampire, she’s a vampire fighter or a refugee really. We don’t actively hunt vampires in the beginning of the season, it’s more a cat and mouse game just trying to survive in this abandoned hospital.
WM: With this being a new twist on Van Helsing and it being in the current era, what can we expect from the first season?
Alison Wandzura: People will be pleasantly surprised with the depths that we go into with each character and their motivations. Rather than just being a regular blood and gore, glory to win kind of thing, which is the power struggle there are a lot of depths to each character. That’s what really attracted me to this story and show. I wasn’t a fan of the vampire and zombie genre and wasn’t into the shows or movies. When I read the scripts for these shows it was definitely different. It’s the general pretense to what they are operating, but you really get attached to the history of these characters because they are real. Of course vampires are make believe but the circumstance seemed very real, as well the relationships that are formed. Neil LaBute is our showrunner that you may know as being this amazing playwright. Well he brings out the darker side of humanity which definitely happens in this show. I don’t even think Neil LaBute thinks himself as a vampire show writer, but he absolutely “sank his teeth,” into these scripts.
WM: With all of the shows based on zombies right now, do you think that like The Strain and Van Helsing will sway it a little more in the vampires direction as well?
Alison Wandzura: Every time a new zombie or vampire show comes out, I think everyone does a collective eyeroll, “Like really?” (HAHA) But I think that’s where it is important to differentiate yourself, whether it be the style of the show or the storyline of the characters. Vancouver was the shooting location for the Twilight films, however long ago that was. We do our share of apocalyptic dramas in this town, I think it has a lot to do with the fact that it’s always raining. This show is completely different from Twilight. Where Twilight and stuff like Vampire Diaries are more of a teenage fanbase, we are going to be more of an adult fanbase. When the audition for the show came up I was just like, “we all know how this goes.” So I went and got out a pair of black leather pants, three coats of mascara, extra eyeliner and wear my best bra and show up. I ended up getting a role but when I went to the wardrobe fitting you quickly realize that this is not the theme of the show. We were all trying to be all spruced up for what we thought of a teen vampire drama and instead we all look like we just rolled out of a ditch. It’s the only job I have ever had where they make you look even more rundown than when you wake up in the morning. They put fake dirt in your hair and cake dirt all over your face, which accentuates the circles under your eyes. In all the work that I did on the show, I didn’t have one wardrobe change, because where else would I get it? That’s what makes the show realistic.
WM: So we go from Van Helsing to your TV movie project, Story of a girl with Kyra Sedgwick in her directorial debut for Lifetime. Talk about a complete 180 of genres. What is the film about, if you can tell us.
Alison Wandzura: It’s a 180 degree change where my character will be more clean cut, will have more wardrobe choices and no dirt under her fingernails. It’s Kyra Sedgwick’s directorial debut and she is just so well known as an actress. Having her on set in that way will be such a good step in the right directions for females in film. Her husband, Kevin Bacon is in the film as well. I am so excited to work with her because she has such great energy around her that it’s just so contagious. I don’t think I have ever had an audition where I felt so welcome and so appreciated in the room. Sometimes you don’t feel the way when in the audition room as an actor. The story centers around a young woman and goes through her adolescent years. It has some social media themes and the perils of social media. Mostly, it’s a coming of age story for this girl.
WM: Singer Sisters was a comedic short you worked on that was crewed by almost entirely of women. How empowering does it feel to know that networks and other production companies are making these types of opportunities?
Alison Wandzura: We did have a sprinkling of men on set, but it was mostly women. It wasn’t something where it specifically said, “men need not apply,” but we took an extra look around to see if any women would be interested doing jobs that you typically would see men doing on set. That just made it feel very empowering to not only be in a story, but to bring other women into the project. I definitely see myself as a producer in the future, but it is a lot of work and will wait a little while until I produce again.
WM: You also have episodes of The Magicians and Rogue coming out soon. You have a lot going on, is it hard to keep everything balanced when you have so many projects going on?
Alison Wandzura: I find as an actor, we never really have too much work. To everyone that looks me up on IMDB or something and they see all these jobs I have done, they think I work all the time. Some of these shows and films I am only on set for a couple of days and then move on to another project. We always like to have more work and are looking for more auditions and love what we do. The hard part as an actor is having to balance out other jobs when you are first starting out. I do voice-overs, I am a reader for casting directors, I was a standardized patient for medical students. It’s knowing when to break away from other things and to be able to support yourself with one job and not have so many other jobs to worry about.
WM: On your Instagram a few weeks back…you were at the ER and decided to watch someone get their head stapled, and you faint at the sight of blood? 2 questions…why would you do that…and how can you work on a show like Van Helsing if that happens?
Alison Wandzura: Yes, this was an unfortunate incident. I was visiting my fiance’s mother, who is a nurse at her work in Ontario. She told me to come by the hospital and visit her. She let us in the backdoor, and I immediately the actor in me thought that I needed to shadow these people doing their jobs. I need to see how things are really done, steal some of their lingo and steal the way that the move (laughing) for the next time I play a doctor. I asked if we could watch what was going on. There was an elderly lady who had fallen and hit her head, and had a laceration on her scalp. My fiance’s mother was like, “sure.” I am sure there aren’t a lot of people asking to watch or there to have her showcase her work. They were more than happy to let us watch. The doctor’s were making jokes about how she would be a redhead that night due to the amount of blood, and had to use saline to clean it all out. So finally they find the cut and I see this flap of skin and this dark, dark blood and I started to feel a little bit faint. Then.. the cut squirted the doctor and sprayed his scrubs. That was my…andddd cut to commercial. I had to leave the room almost immediately, ran into the hallway, sat down, felt nauseous and the last thing I remember was hearing the sound of the side rails of a gurney being clipped into place as I was being loaded onto it. I should’ve know…it’s not the first time that this has happened. Maybe we think we have outgrown it…obviously I hadn’t.