Niki Kemeny (Voula) Interview by Natalie Earl

NE: Did you ask to leave Degrassi Junior High or did they just end your part after the "shoplifting" incident?

NK: Actually, the shoplifting episode wasn't my last one. I was there for the whole first season and I appeared in 11 of the 13 episodes, with 4 leads and 4 or 5 secondary roles, and 2 or three rep roles. It was just a few lines, or background classroom stuff. Regarding leaving, that was actually my agent's choice. I was a newly burgeoning actor in the Toronto scene and had acquired an agent a year earlier with some other work I had done. After we finished filming the first year and before it aired, she suggested to me to that she could find me some "union" work; and thus get me my ACTRA (Alliance of Canadian Cinema Television and Radio Artists) card, which I subsequently did. So at the time, we never realized it would be so wildly successful, and she felt that I might do better in a unionized production company. So much for her instincts! I did get to do quite a lot of other stuff though, which was great, but none quite as "big" as Degrassi got.

NE: Whom of the cast and crew do you still hang out or correspond with?

NK: Unfortunately, no one at this time. Nicole Stoffman (Stephanie), Stephan Brogren (Snake), Bill Parrot (Shane) and I went to the same high school, so throughout the high school years we
were pals. After high school, I moved around a lot: from Toronto to Ottawa, to Vancouver, to Europe, back to Vancouver, and now to London. With all that, I really only managed to keep in touch with a small kernel of my best friends.

NE: Did other kids bully or snub you because of your association with Degrassi?

NK: I was quite lucky in this regard. I went to a performing arts high school where lots of the other students were involved in miraculous undertakings of their own, and so I was never singled out. Though it was a supportive environment both for me and for the other students involved in professional pursuits.

NE: Are you married and do you have any children?

NK: Not officially married, but involved and living with the same incredible guy for about five years now. No kids, but I would like some a few years from now.

NE: Tell me about your educational and career experiences after Degrassi.

NK: Careers - After Degrassi, I continued working in the theatre and TV scene in Toronto. I did some work with CBC (the national network), I did some independent shows, and I always continued to do theatre. As of the last year, I've been working as a host of a local program in
London. It's a daily half hour light news show that I am the co-anchor.

NK: Education - After high school I began a degree in journalism in Ottawa, but soon felt restricted by that, and so transferred into English. After finishing my degree in English, I went traveling to Europe and landed a job as an English teacher at a college in Hungary. I enjoyed that quite a bit and so decided to get my Bachelor of Education when I returned to Canada. The teaching jobs in Ontario are scarce right now, our politics and economy being what they are, and so I've got a part-time job teaching drama right now. I film the news show every morning, and teach in the afternoons. I've also got a Master's Degree underway for English Literature
with a focus on theatre.

NE: Tell me how you auctioned for the show and what it was like on a typical day on the set. How did everybody get to work? By bus, car, subway?

NK: Having an agent, she simply sent me to the audition as she found out about it, and I went. It was mostly like other auditions: I read from a script and did some stuff for them on film. The typical day was quite long--though that is typical for any set, really. We started quite early in the morning. Usually, my Dad drove me to the subway station, I took the subway downtown and then a street car to the Degrassi office. A little minivan was usually there waiting for us that Sari Friedland, our production manager or others drove; getting the lot of us out to the distant Etobicoke set. This was in the early years before many of us had driver's licenses and it was quite a cross-town distance. For me, living really north of downtown, the whole journey usually took about an hour and a half. I can't recall for sure, but I think we started filming at 8:00, and so I routinely left at 6:30 --but I could be a little off.

NK: The day was normally a bit of hurry-up-and-wait, as with most filming. There was a little room for the boys change room and another for the girls, with clothing racks out front listing our characters and the filming day (day 1 clothes, day 2 clothes, etc...), depending on the duration of the scenes in film-time. We'd squeeze into the back rooms and change, and put on our own make-up, if any, unless there was some special effect like a bruise. The principal characters would have a couple of runs at the scene with rehearsals, and then the others would
be brought in. We'd film a few takes from one angle, film a few from other angles, and then move on to the next logical scene to film.

NK: Often we'd film them out of order from how they were shown, so that we would maximize the use of one space, or of a certain grouping of characters that were all there at once. We didn't need to come in everyday of filming, just when our characters were needed. Typically, a lead role required about 6 days a week times 2 weeks, and they were usually about ten to twelve hour days. Quite a lot of time!

NK: When we were on set but not directly involved in filming, there was a big room we lounged in, did homework in, gabbed in, played in, joked about in, etc... and that's where the set tutor was. That's also where we ate lunch, which the Kit and Linda supplied for us.

NE: Tell me about your achievements and accomplishments such as travel, self-enrichment, volunteer, community service, clubs, and organizations.

NK: I love traveling--a bug I got bitten by, I guess. I've been across Canada twice by car. I bicycled from Paris to Budapest the summer before the year I lived and taught in Hungary. I've lived in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, and now London; and most recently I've returned from a backpacking trip across South-East Asia, visiting Indonesia (before the coup), Malaysia, and Singapore.

NK: I've taken a great interest in education, pursuing a few university degrees for myself, and as a high school teacher for teenagers. Actually, recently I was taking a course on American Sign Language too, which was really eye opening. I love languages. I went on a French Immersion program in Quebec--which is, incidently--where I met my boyfriend, and I learned some Hungarian the year I lived there. I also enjoy creative writing and theatre, and have been involved in those at university, and in the community. I enjoy some sports too, like bicycling and swimming, and I play on a soft-ball team. I also volunteer some time at a community TV station.

NE: How was Niki different than Voula? How would you describe yourself now?

NK: I think I'm a bit more strong-willed than Voula. She got kind of whiny and petty when she was upset, and then held a grudge forever. I'm more likely to be explosive off the top and then be done with it and hold no grudges. I hate fighting or being angry, and so I like to get it over with as fast as possible. I think I'm less conservative than Voula, too. Both in my taste, and in my pursuits, though I'm probably as bookish as she was.

NE: What are your favorite television shows, movies, and music groups?

NK: For movies, I just love the Princess Bride. I howl every time I see it. I think it gets funnier and funnier each time. I also really enjoyed Fargo, the Fifth Element, and most other quirky or dark films. I see a lot of films, but, as with music, I have a major mental block when it comes to thinking of titles or bands. For TV, until recently, I really enjoyed Seinfeld--I was a die hard from day 1, but lost interest in the last two or three years. I guess I'll have to admit, I'm also a closet ER fan-- I suppose I just came out of the closet on that one! It's stereo-typical but true, George is a babe; there's just no way around that.

NE: Did the actors attend regular schools or did they have a tutor on the set? Were there cliques within the Degrassi cast? Did the actors date and hang out with the same people "in real life" as they did on the show?

NK: A lot of the actors attended regular local high schools, and a few of us attended an Arts School (like from "Fame" but without the spontaneous singing and choreographed dance numbers). There was also a tutor on set, because filming each episode took two weeks, and lead
roles would usually need to be there the whole time, and so would miss quite a bit of school.

NK: I guess there may have been some cliques, but we were a small ensemble, especially in the first year when I was there. I felt that everybody was pretty much friends with one another. There were some "crushes", but I don't think any bona fide dates came of it. At least not while I was still there! It was difficult to hang out after filming because we came from all different parts of the city, for one thing. For another, we spent so much time together on set, usually my free time got taken up with being with my school chums, or family, or doing other commitments.

NE: Did the students get to write or formulate ideas for the scripts?
NK: Before we began filming each episode, we'd have a read-through in the Degrassi office, where the writers, it was mostly Yan when I was there, would get some input from us as to the believability factor, how our characters were developing, etc..

NE: How was Degrassi different than your real junior high and high school? Did teachers expect you to act like Voula?

NK: I was a pretty social kid and still am, I guess. I never had trouble making friends and I was outgoing and involved in school life. Also, my school being an arts school, there were lots of other kids like me. As a result, my experiences with real school were far less traumatic than the experiences of Voula and the other characters in Degrassi. However, I don't doubt that the sort of traumas the characters faced were real enough to some people.

NK: My teachers seemed to take Degrassi in stride. I actually don't recall them ever talking about it with me much except to ask how it was going, or be encouraging about it. I never got the impression they expected me to be like Voula or were shocked if I wasn't.

NE: What are your ambitions for the future? What are your most current undertakings?

NK: Right now, I'm teaching drama part time and hosting a half hour TV show, but I'd like to move into scripted TV. Where each episode is carefully planned and filmed, rather than the speed of the news format. Down the road, if the economy improves and the Minister of Education pumps some more money into schooling, then there will be more jobs and I might consider pursuing teaching full time. But even so, acting is a huge part of who I am now, so whether I do it for a living, or just for fun with community theatre. It'll always be a part of my life. I get too itchy for it when I'm not doing it.

NE: What special message do you want to give to Degrassi fans?

NK: Now that's a toughy! I'm not sure, except to say that their support over the years has helped make Degrassi as successful as it has become, and I think they're great for hanging in with us as they did!

NE: What opportunities or experiences did the show provide that made a difference in your life?

NK: It was great getting on TV. I had only done theatre before, and moving into this whole other medium opened it up as a potential career choice. It also taught me lots about the nature of media in general, which has given me a good understanding of television and the impact it has on our society as we become more and more reliant on TV to be our community.

NE: What are your favorite memories from the show (funny, touching, embarrassing, etc..) Were there any disaster days?

NK: I thought it was really neat hanging out at Kit and Linda's house when we filmed at "Lucy's". They had a great house and it was always a bit like a party being over there in small numbers, rather than the whole herd of us. I also felt really special whenever we got to film on-location away from the school. For example, filming in the department store, the police station, the hospital. Somehow that just felt a little "cool-er" than filming at the school.

NE: Let's make believe that Voula went on to Degrassi High. What story ideas would you have liked to have happened for her?

NK: I would have liked to have seen Voula become a motorcycle babe and get into drugs.... no, just kidding! I think it would have been neat, though, to see Voula bloom out of her nerdiness a little and become more mainstream. Maybe even get a love interest? Something like that would have stretched that character in delicious ways.

NE: How does it feel watching Degrassi reruns on Showcase? Does it seem like a different lifetime?

NK: It really doesn't feel like me. Sometimes I'll flick by and not really notice I was on unless someone else comments about it. Also, I've seen them so much by now that it's not as interesting to me as it used to be. When I first started working on the program I'm doing now, it was neat for a while that I was on back-to-back with myself. My program airs at 6:30 locally, and Showcase airs Degrassi at 7:00; but that's just an ego-stroking thing. Other than that, one thing that was weird was catching Degrassi in Quebec, and watching myself on TV with a French girl dubbing in my voice. That was kind of like a disembodying experience. Very weird.

NE: Do you have any rare or obscure facts about the show?

NK: Not really. It was a great show to work on, and a fantastic opportunity that I'll never forget. Even though I didn't stay with Degrassi through the years, it was great fun, and I always think about that time fondly. I certainly never dreamed it would have as much impact as it has had, and I'm still always amazed and flattered when people talk to me about it.