Imagine being able to travel back and forth through time and meet people not only from the future but also the past, especially those you might have grown up admiring. This is what you might call a “perk” for our heroes in the Sci-Fi superhero TV series DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, who have spent the past few years journeying throughout space and time to repair tears, fractures, and other damages to the timeline. Along the way they have also risked their lives battling an array of powerful and in some cases supernatural adversaries who have tried to hamper the Legend’s efforts to set things right. In the season five finale Swan Thong, our heroes ended up in 1970’s London after defeating Lachesis, the second of the three Fates. They celebrated with a big party, and while recovering from those festivities in the sixth season opener Ground Control to Sara Lance, our heroes discovered more trouble was looming on the horizon. Their leader, Sara Lance, had been abducted by aliens, and David Bowie – yes, that David Bowie - witnessed the event. Danish-born actor Thomas Nicholson earned the opportunity to play a younger version of the legendary singer, and like all his jobs, he took this one very seriously.
“Because David Bowie was a real person and not a fictional character. the constant challenge was really doing him justice in my performance,” notes Nicholson. “On the one hand I wanted to get his look right, learn his accent, his mannerisms, etc. and portray those as accurately as possible. On the other hand, I wanted to make sure that this was my version of David Bowie and not anyone else’s. The initial hurdle for me was feeling comfortable enough with the accent as well as mannerisms that I didn’t have to overthink things and worry if I mispronounced a word or something like that. As a result, I could then just have fun with the role.
“One thing that really helped me put my mark on the character is that Legends isn’t a David Bowie biopic. In real life, David Bowie was never actually in this scenario where he’s talking to the Legends about Sara [Caity Lotz] being taken and playing a particular song for them. My approach to that scene was not so much about making conscious [acting] choices, but instead something I discovered reading the script and feeling the vibe that day on-set. Being in this environment with these people the night after a big party where everyone had been drinking, and possibly doing more than that, I felt I would be playing sort of a ‘spacey’ version of David Bowie. I hope that makes sense. I don’t think that dishonors David Bowie or his memory, but it does certainly honor the show, because it’s so wacky. I just found something in that scene that allowed me to bring a certain playfulness to it that didn’t seem un-Bowie like.”
In the Legends season six opener, Sara Lance wakes up onboard a spaceship where she is surprised to discover that one of the team’s allies, Gary Green (Adam Tsekhman), is, in fact, an alien who has been disguising himself as a human. He and his boss/fiancée Kayla have been collecting aliens and historic figures from throughout the universe. Gary’s mission was to infiltrate The Time Bureau as well as the Legends in order to eventually add Sara to their collection, but he did not count on becoming enamored of humanity. He and Sara succeed in taking over the ship and eject Kayla out into space. However, in doing so, they also accidentally release some of the trapped aliens into the timeline, which sparks off our heroes’ new mission to locate, apprehend and return these creatures to their rightful places. Who would have thought that David Bowie would wind up helping the Legends find Sara. Making his debut on the series was an unforgettable experience for Nicholson in more ways than one.
“A great deal of work was done in hair, makeup and wardrobe to make me look as much like David Bowie as I could,” he says. “One person who did my make-up told me, ‘I did this for David Bowie before.’ I asked him if someone else had previously played David Bowie on the show, and he explained to me, ‘No, I actually did David Bowie’s make-up for another show.’ He wasn’t the only Bowie fan I met working on the Legends set. There were a number of people who were excited to see this icon portrayed on the series, which was another reason why I wanted to, again, do him justice.
“My first day of work on the set was also the cast’s and crew’s first day of production for the season. Not only had there been the normal hiatus between seasons, but it had been extended for three months because of COVID. Everyone was excited as well as grateful to be back working with their friends and colleagues, so there was a tremendously upbeat and positive atmosphere on the set from day one. Despite that, I was quite nervous. I enjoy my nerves and they help me most of the time, but I felt this way up until the first take where I strummed the guitar for the first time. After that, everything sort of fell into place and I thought, ‘Oh, this is going to be fine.’ I was lucky and it was such a joy in my first episode to work with all the lead cast. It was great to meet the people we see week in and week out and find that they’re all charming, fun, playful and, most of all, incredibly supportive.”
Along with reprising his role of David Bowie in a second sixth season DC’s Legends of Tomorrow episode Back to the Finale: Part II, another of the actor’s latest gigs is playing the recurring role of Jack Orsatti in Motherland: Fort Salem. At the time of this interview (mid-June), he was unable to elaborate on his character’s involvement in the show’s current second season, but he did tease about what fans could look forward to. “My character is introduced as sort of a mystery and someone who is tracked down by two of the show’s leads,” he says. “Over the course of a couple of episodes, they’re going to find out what he’s all about. In a weird way, and in a way that my character doesn’t mean to, he actually ends up bringing them together with an unlikely ally. The show’s second season really opens up to the world outside the military academy and to which my character belongs.”
The son of a Danish mother and an English father, Nicholson grew up in Demark. Besides Danish, the actor is fluent in three other languages, which, in turn, has helped hone his ear for accents. This skill has served him well when it comes to playing Canadian, America, English, Norwegian, Bosnian, and Danish characters. Nicholson initially pursued another career path as well as considered a second one prior to setting his sights on the entertainment world.
“I actually discovered my love for acting when I was in my late 20’s,” he says. “I have a journalism degree and worked as a journalist for a couple of years. I also played music for a while and thought that that would be a dream I would go after. However, I don’t think I’ve ever had the drive or ambition to do the work required when it comes to a creative career other than acting. I’d been living in the United Kingdom for a couple of years before moving to Vancouver [British Columbia] in late 2011. As kind of a Christmas/moving in present, my girlfriend got me part-time acting classes, and that’s when I began to discover my love for the craft. I did it for a little while as a hobby, and when I finally decided to pursue it professionally, I enrolled in this intensive one-year acting program that taught me a bit of everything. When I finished the program, I managed to get an agent and continued to further educate myself with additional classes while auditioning for acting jobs.”
Virgin River, Riverdale and Damnation are among Nicholson’s other TV credits. He has also appeared in a variety of other genre series including The X-Files (the 2016-2018 revival), Supernatural and Project Blue Book. “I watched the original X-Files as a kid and became a huge fan,” recalls the actor. "Back then, I assumed actors were almost like a ‘different species.’ It never occurred to me until much later that it was an actual profession. When I booked a role in the very last episode of the series, it was kind of a personal win for me. It was sort of like coming full circle in a weird way, and something that was really satisfying.
“If you’re a Vancouver-based actor, it’s almost like a rite of passage to book a job on Supernatural, which ran for 15 seasons and was shot entirely here. Even though I was only in one episode, I got to play an important part in one of the main characters’ lives as Bobby Singer’s [Jim Beaver] alternate universe’s son. A number of my friends have also been on this show, so it was really cool to become part of the Supernatural family.
“As for Project Blue Book, I was excited to work with Aiden Gillen. Back in his younger days, I saw him in the TV series Queer as Folk [playing Stuart Jones], but probably like most people, I especially became aware of him from his role [of Petyr "Littlefinger” Baelish] in Game of Thrones. It was great to watch how Aiden works and conducts himself on-set. I also really enjoyed working with the episode’s director, Loni Peristere. In the episode, my character has this interrogation scene and lets something slip that he shouldn’t. Rather than just being results-oriented and suggesting I play it as a bit nervous, Loni kept giving me little things to think about, like if my character didn’t give up this information, he would essentially be throwing his best friend under the bus. That was such a fun way of working and it really inspired me to be part of the creative process,” enthuses Nicholson.
Steve Eramo
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