Devery Jacobs will be starring in season 2 of American Gods and will play the character, Sam Black Crow, who she feels a close connection to because of her own background as an Indigenous woman. Besides acting, Devery is also a director and is standing up for representation through her art. Read more about it below!

How exciting is it for you to be a part of the new season of American Gods! We love the show. Tell us about your role as Sam Black Crow. Do you relate to your character?

I recognize how rarely audiences have seen a character like Sam on screen, so I don’t take playing her lightly. I have been such a fangirl of Neil Gaiman’s novel, American Gods, for years, and I completely connected with Sam Black Crow. As an actual sarcastic, queer Indigenous woman, I thoroughly related to Sam’s experiences and hounded my agent to make sure I auditioned for her. Sam Black Crow is such a fun, meddlesome character whose beliefs are complex. While she’s sarcastic and opinionated, she’s also deeply curious about life, and about Shadow, who she is introduced to and encounters in this upcoming season!

The lovely Arista Arhin is best known for her role as the young Michael Burnham on Star Trek: Discovery, where she delivers a strong and emotional performance. She spoke to Defective Geeks about the challenges and inspiration for her work, as well as her upcoming show, Bajillionaires. Read all about it below!

Thank you so much for answering our questions, Arista. It is so exciting that you get to portray Young Burnham in Star Trek: Discovery! Can you tell us what it’s like working on this series and knowing that it’s part of this huge, sci-fi universe? 

It felt unreal and a little startling when I first got cast for the show knowing that I was now part of one of the most iconic TV shows of all time. When I first started filming, I felt under pressure to deliver a great performance knowing how huge the franchise was and not wanting to disappoint any of the fans. Yet, after a lot of positive feedback, it really meant a lot to me to know that people enjoyed watching me on the show. I was very happy to have been invited back to Season 2. 

Tennille Read stars as Frankie’s close friend, Bianca, in season two of Workin’ Moms. She is also the co-founder of Theatre Inamorata, a company focused on developing female-centric stories for the stage. Tennille talks to Defective Geeks about her work and the importance of representation in the creative community.

Hi Tennille, thank you for answering our questions! Tell us about Workin’ Moms and your character, Bianca? How did you get involve with the show? 

Workin’ Moms is a comedic sitcom about women who are juggling their professional careers with their personal lives and being moms. I love the show because we get to see women in different situations, expressing themselves in ways that we don’t typically see on tv. I first got involved at the end of Season 2. My scenes were with Juno Rinaldo’s character Frankie, and I think the powers that be liked our chemistry because I was brought back in Season 3. I think Bianca is pretty courageous, choosing to become a solo-parent and all, and I think she’s pretty relatable.

Jordan Canning fell in-love with directing and has directed more than a dozen short films that have been featured in festivals including Tribeca, the Toronto International Film Festival and Interfilm Berlin. She talks to Defective Geeks about her journey into becoming a director and her inspiration.

What kind of journey led you to becoming a director? When did you know it was something you wanted to pursue as a career? 

As a kid I was always watching movies. That was usually what me and my parents did every night after dinner– that, or watch Star Trek: The Next Generation. When I was alone, I would make up stories and little scenes and play them out in my room (did I mention I was an only child?). I went to university in Montreal for creative writing, working mainly in short fiction. After I graduated I moved back to St. John’s and started working at a production company, writing for a docu-drama series about ghost stories and shipwrecks. (Think Creepy Canada, but on the East Coast.) I started conducting the on-camera interviews, and eventually I began directing the dramatic reenactments.

Defective Geeks is feeling particularly lucky with this interview, featuring actor, Jade Hassouné, who stars in Shadowhunters as Meliorn an extremely handsome and alluring fairy (aka Seelie). Jade himself is as alluring in real life– get to know him more below and find out about fandom, acting and his journey into his music,

Hi Jade, thank you for doing this interview! First of, what has it been like being a part of a show as big as Shadowhunters? What has been the best part about it? 

Hello! Thank you for featuring me! 

Well it has been a dream come true, that’s for sure. And the two best parts has been the life-long friends I’ve made on the show, with who I get to travel the world now to meet (the other best part): the fans. The fandom is something extremely special, it is rare that a TV show gets such a huge following and we are all very fortunate to have this ocean of love constantly ready to support our every move. 

Born in Athens, Greece and raised in Lake Louise, Alberta, actor Michael Antonakos is the voice of Alexios in Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed® Odyssey, the latest game in the blockbuster series released last month. From theater, to film and television, to voice acting and motion capture– Michael has done it all! His voice can also be heard in Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, Dead Rising 4, Mass Effect Andromeda and many more. Read about his journey into acting below.

Hi Micheal, thank you for doing this interview with Defective Geeks! Tell us about Assassin’s Creed® Odyssey and your character, Alexios. What is it like being the voice of a video game franchise that so many people love?

You’re very welcome! Thank you for chatting with me.

Well, it’s a hell of a game to say the least. It all takes place in Ancient Greece around 431BCE, the beginning of Western Civilization, and the height of the Peloponnesian war between Athens and Sparta. You (the player) get choose to be a male (Alexios) or female (Kasandra), a mercenary (Ancient Greek: misthios) who can fight for both sides, while on a quest to unite their family and uncover a malign cult called the Order of The Ancients.

It was pretty cool to be a part of this incredible franchise. It comes with a lot of weight to it, but I’ve been very honored to be a part of such a massive game.

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Shira Taylor created SExT: Sex Education by Theatre back in 2014 for her dissertation during her time at the University of Toronto, in order to explore the use of theatre for sex education aimed at young students. The play, SExt, has been performed by youth peer educators at Canada’s largest theatre festivals to thousands of students in schools and indigenous reserves across Ontario and Saskatchewan. She has also worked with teachers to implement sex education in an art-based, culturally-inclusive and impactful ways.

“Bodak Consent”– a Bodak Yellow (Cardi B) parody– was created through SexT’s partnership with the Canadian Foundation of AIDS Research (CANFAR). Read the interview below with Shira to find out more!

Thank you so much for talking to Defective Geeks and answering our questions today. Can you tell us about SExT: Sex Education by Theatre, how it was founded and why you wanted to start it in the first place? What are the programs’ main goals?

Five years ago, I walked into one of Canada’s most diverse and over-populated high schools, located in an immigration destination of Toronto, with the idea of having sex education more comprehensive, relevant, and impactful by emboldening youth to sing, rap, and dance about everything from chlamydia to homophobia to racism. This visit led me to create the peer education program, SExT: Sex Education by Theatre, as my PhD Thesis (Public Health, University of Toronto) to empower youth from communities where talking about sex is cultural taboo to take center stage. Our main goal is to support young people to reflect on, challenge, and communicate their realities and celebrate their unique identities through performance art. Youth are invited to tackle current issues head-on in a non-judgmental environment that promotes education, discussion, creativity, and personal discovery.

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Using a catchy dance beat, Bree Taylor’s new song, You Played It All, is about dating and relationships in today’s modern world and was inspired from Bree’s personal experience. She spoke to Defective Geeks about her rise as a musician, what it meant to overcome negativity in her life and embracing her passion with 100% confidence. Read more about her journey and her new song below!

Bree Taylor’s new single, You Played It All, from her first EP Unbreakable is out now, available on Spotify, iTunes and GooglePlay.

Hello, Bree! Thank you for taking the time and answering my questions. First of all, how long have you been singing and what has it been like pursuing music as a career? Who are your personal inspirations?

I have been singing since I was a kid. I always loved singing, writing and being creative and I was always surrounded by music growing up so wanting this as a career has always been on my mind and in my heart– it just took me a long time to really get the confidence to go after it. I was a very shy and introverted kid because of bullying in school which was the opposite of who I was at heart. I felt like I had to suppress myself. I was told I wasn’t good enough and couldn’t sing and it discouraged me from performing and affected me in having that confidence to pursue it as a career. It took me growing as a person and going through life events to really set me back on this path and realize that this is my purpose and what I am meant to do. I owe a lot of it to my relationship with God. I truly feel that this is my God given purpose and when I trust and have faith, I find that that is when magic happens with my music.

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