By Mike McCarthy
You have seen him kicking ass on Showtime’s hit show Ray Donovan this season, and make sure to check him out in the season finale` Sunday night. Nikola Kent is one of the fantastic stories of immigrating to the U.S. and living your dream. Having left Yugoslavia when he was 17 to avoid being sent off to war, Nikola went on to graduate from Harvard with a degree in Computer Science, work for IBM and start two of his own tech companies. His true passion was always acting, and making that transition seemed pretty seamless for him whether it be behind or in front of the camera. He is staying busy with work and is trying hard to make it into some Marvel or DC films, and we definitely can’t wait to see that happen.
Wingman Magazine: Harvard Grad, Tech entrepreneur, avid athlete and now an actor. To say I am impressed is an understatement. When you left Yugoslavia what was your main goal when you got to the states?
Nikola Kent: I grew up on American television, that’s how I learned English. Yugoslavia was not part of the Eastern Block and really wasn’t part of the West, we were right in the middle. When I was 17, the war started and basically everything went apart. I didn’t really know what I was going to do, but I knew that I didn’t want to stay there, so one day I came up with the idea that I was going to tell my parents that I was going to America. The goal really was to just really have a life and build a life for myself. Anything was better than to stay and go to war, which I understood quite well, so coming out to the States was a good escape route and the goal was to stick around long enough to make a life out here.
WM: Had you already been accepted to Harvard when you immigrated to America?
Nikola Kent: No, I had just started senior year of high school and I found this program that was sort of an exchange, but not really an exchange and I got a house family in upstate Minnesota for the last year of high school. I came to the states and finished high school, I had no money and nowhere to go. It just happens that when you are a foreign national applying for scholarships, public schools can’t really help you out, but private schools can since they have the funds.The only choice I had was to really go big or go home, so somehow, magically, randomly I still have no idea to this day, I ended up at Harvard.
WM: You learned english by watching early 90’s teen soap operas like 90210, Party of Five and Melrose Place. So two questions…any phrases or idioms from those shows that you still say? And were you watching the shows to learn english or for the gorgeous women?
Nikola Kent: Probably not, but I remember when I was first looking for a host family, “where am I gonna end up, what is the family going to be like.” You have the perception and an idea of what America looks like, obviously that is the Hollywood version, but I remember getting a call telling me that I got a family and I was going to be in Minneapolis. I was just like, “ Oh my god, that’s where Brandon and Brenda are from, it is like a dream come true.” (Brandon and Brenda Walsh, Beverly Hills 90210 for you youngsters out there). I get a call back a few minutes later telling me the exact city I was going to, which is way up in Minnesota and has 1000 people in it. This was not the America that Hollywood perpetrated on television.
You get a little bit of everything, so learning english and the seeing the gorgeous women didn’t hurt when you are a teenager.
WM:The season finale of Ray Donovan is this Sunday. You play Davros, part of the Armenian Mob. Tell us about your character and if we can see some growth for the character as the season ends and if he will be back for the 4th season.
Nikola Kent: He is an interesting character, and not necessarily the type of character that I inspire to be as an artist, but it’s a great opportunity. I love the show, and I watched it before I was on it. It’s a dark show like a lot of the shows on Showtime. I play the favorite grandson of Grace Zabriskie (Twin Peaks, Big Love). She is the head Mafiosa in Los Angeles and the Donovans come to her to borrow money, and what they don’t realize is that in the Armenian culture, you don’t come ask for $10,000 and you pay it back with an extra 15%, you basically become bait in their business. You unwillingly enter into a partnership with the family. I play this guy that has the really odd relationship, on one hand he is sweet and nice and the other hand he is beating people up. It’s fun in the sense that he is not the stereotypical tough guy. He is just a guy that has a boyish side with his grandmother, who then tells him what to do, which is usually a pretty brutal part of it. In the finale` you are going to see my family, the Minassians and the Donovans are coming to a head. I will leave it at that, but it was a great time and an amazing cast.
WM: Working with actors like Liev Schreiber, Jon Voight, Ian McShane, do you find yourself watching them in a little bit of awe and taking everything in?
Nikola Kent: Yeah, absolutely. At first I remember showing up on set and you are obviously nervous, and there’s Jon Voight and your first scene is with him. There are only a few critical actors on set and some crew. I joined the show in it’s third season and it’s all new to me. You think you have to have everything figured out ahead of time and piece it all together in your head. But you show up and actually in this show, everyone is figuring things out as they go, especially Jon. What I learned from him was that to always ask questions. We will be doing takes and Jon will tell me to try something one way, and then a different way. So when I realize that everyone is really collaborating on the set and shots, my nervousness just kind of went away. One of the most fun scenes I’ve ever had on set was an overnight shoot with seven people in a fight, but it took a lot of rehearsing and steps to figure everything out.
WM: What was your audition for Ray Donovan like?
Nikola Kent: I read the breakdown, which is what you get about the character for the show. I figured it would be a thug type character with an eastern European accent. I really don’t fit the type but I am from Yugoslavia and I can do a Russian accent. I walk into the audition and it’s a room of all these guys that are six foot five and have no necks who you would never want to meet in a dark alley. But honestly, in Hollywood this is some of the most acting you get to really do. I had a shot of tequila before the audition, and went in and the director just said, “ have some fun.” So I had a little more fun after the tequila kicked in. I am not really sure what happened, but it all seemed to work out. I had this huge monologue about how I was going to beat people up and kill them. I went on with my day and got a call about a week later saying I got the job.
WM: What was the show Sock Monkee Therapy that you were involved with about?
Nikola Kent: It was a fun little show. I have a buddy who was a writer on Dexter for eight seasons and he’s a really funny guy and a great sense of humor. He always thought, “ what if there was a show where the patients are just talking, talking talking and just looking at them is a sock monkee who never does anything. Somehow, the patients would be destined to figure out the answers to their problems on their own. So we started collaborating on this idea, and we shot eight 10 minute episodes. It was going to be on the CW or go to one of the online channels, but I was mostly part of the creative process.
WM: A lot of actors like to just be in front of the camera. Do you picture yourself in the director’s chair at some point? and what kind of films would you like to direct?
Nikola Kent: I gravitate more towards indie films, and films that have more of a story. I haven’t thought about directing, because that is a really special talent in being able to really see people, and what they can do and really push to get the most out of them. I’m working on two scripts right now with another one of my friends from Harvard. I am not sure about directing but I do love the creative process in general.
WM: You just finished production on a new film, in Italy. Tell us about it and when we can expect to see it.
Nikola Kent: The film is called The Return and directed by Keith Parmer. We filmed around this deserted castle in Reggello which is outside of Florence, half of the castle was renovated into this amazing ornate building and the other half was just falling apart. It’s sort of an homage to The Shining where a whole bunch of people get invitations to Italy from their long lost relatives. Of course when they get there, they start having hallucinations and seeing things that aren’t there and you can’t tell what’s real and what isn’t. It’s a mystery, horror and thriller type of genre, which we shot over the summer. I am not really sure when it’s going to come out, but probably sometime next year. We had a great cast and an even better experience.
WM: You are obviously extremely intelligent, graduated from Harvard, worked for IBM and started 2 of your own tech businesses. What made you want to get into acting and how did you make that transition?
Nikola Kent: Acting has always been a passion since I was a kid, and growing up in Yugoslavia you just don’t have a whole of opportunities to do that. Once I got to the States and I was trying to go to college, I was always good in computers and it was an easier route for a degree. I graduated and worked for IBM, I realized that I always liked the creative part, and seeing the technology develop and change. After a while I decided to change over to acting, because every actor brings their own point of view to a part. So just like in acting, in the the tech world everyone plays their part in the creative process.
WM: If you could be in any movie that you have seen, what would it be and what part would you want to play?
Nikola Kent: One of my favorite films is the Bourne Identity. I think it was one of the first films where as far fetched as the story is, I think all of the scenes it is kind of a European film where it is sort of grounded. But I also really liked the 007 remake of Casino Royale with Daniel Craig. But yeah, Bourne Identity would be the favorite.