Nick Wechsler, born and raised right here in Albuquerque New Mexico, always had dreams of being a comedy star. After graduating from Highland High School, Nick took off to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting. By his own admission, he hoped to go into comedy, but has been popular in dramatic roles. “I haven’t had many opportunities to do comedy,” said Wechseler. “Which probably just means I’m not very funny”. He jokes, of course, with many successful TV series under his belt like Team Knight Rider, Roswell, and Revenge, we know he’s good at his job.
In his current role as Jack Porter in Revenge, Nick says this is one of the harder characters he’s ever played simply because Jack is a good guy. Being a comedian at heart, his sense of humor skews to negative, making it easier for him to play a villain. But, no matter what the character is, Nick has a formula for bringing them to life. “I will read a script several times to extract as much information as I can about tone and history and character, and then I store it, internalize it. I just try to relate to these guys.” Every character has a piece that you can relate to. If you can relate to him then other people can too.” Understanding is the basis of how Nick creates his memorable characters.
Jack is a challenging and different character for Nick to play and is helping him stretch and grow as an actor. Variety is everything in a field where becoming typecasted is easy. The change of pace keeps thing fresh and new. “I will read a script several times to extract as much information as I can about tone and history and character, and then I store it, internalize it. I just try to relate to these guys.”
His rise to stardom has been an uphill climb. He’s had some major success along the way, but also had some times of serious self-doubt and struggling. “I’ve been at it for 16 years. I’ve had some success, but I’ve also had long stretches of nothing, which was demoralizing,” Wechsler shared. “I think the hardest part of acting is trusting your worth, despite near-constant rejection.” Like many other careers out there you can be riding high one day and crashing and burning the next. You need to build up your confidence and self-esteem. In Nick’s case, his lively sense of humor has helped through his valleys.
He reminisces about the early days when he went out to Los Angeles and the time spent with his roommate, Taran Killam. At the time, Nick wanted to be on the cast of Saturday Night Live to explore and develop his comedy side, but he ended up with dramas and no SNL. His old roommate, on the other hand, wound up on SNL and Nick is so proud of him. “The comedic part of me is jealous of the dramatic part,” joked Wechsler.
Before leaving Albuquerque for the City of Angels, Nick was a theater actor, with many performances under his belt. But when it comes to taking the jump from primetime to the stage, he admits he’s a little apprehensive. “I’m kind of terrified of the stage now. I haven’t done any theatre since high school. I used to like it a lot back then, but that was before I did this for a living. I have a fear that if I returned to theatre now, I’d be eviscerated. I should probably do it in that case, get past my fear of it. It’d probably make me a better, more confident performer But here’s the deal, nah” Nick feels his place is in film, but after so many years in the industry, the stage may be in the distance, distance goal.
Showing off his twisted sense of humor, Nick creatively dodges a direct question about the future of Revenge. His convoluted answers point to show rating, executive decisions, and audience response, but not a definite yes or no to if Revenge is coming back. So for those of you hoping for some insight into the shows return next season, Nick isn’t giving away anything. “But what the hell do I know?” Wechsler says. “It’s all up in the air until it isn’t” Nick isn’t one for making plans. He likes to stay flexible and keep his options open, whatever they may be. “I don’t currently have anything in my pipeline. Which is probably best, y’know? Because then I’m available for whatever. Like watering my plants, or staring at the walls, or sobbing into a pillow.”
With such a versatile career, Nick won’t be watering his plants or sobbing into his pillow for long. He is bringing his sense of humor to his “good guy” dramatic role with a flare all his own. If the fans of Revenge have any say in the matter, the show will be returning for another season, maybe more.
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