Avaah Blackwell is both an actor and a stunt performer, known for her versatility and power on screen. She is lucky enough to be a part of one of our personal favorite series, Star Trek: Discovery. Read all about it below!

Hi Avaah, thank you for chatting with us! We are huge fans of Star Trek: Discovery. What can you tell us about the current season? What can you tell us about the Osnullus and what is it like playing one?

Hello and thank you for chatting with me! So great to hear you like the show and thank you for all of your love and support! Season three is airing on CBS All access in the States and Crave in Canada. You can catch season two on Netflix! This season is an incredible ride for all of the Starfleet crew aboard the Discovery! We are in the future fighting for everything we believe in and everything that StarFleet is about! 

Actor, Sydney Meyers, is known for her roles in shows such as Shadowhunters and The Expanse. Now, she stars in Netflix’s Grand Army, a show that represents and explores many social issues that teenagers are facing today. Season one of the show is now available on Netflix.

Tell us more about your new show on Netflix, Grand Army. What is the series about and what drew you to the project? Who is your character, Anna Delaney, and what role does she play in the story?

The series is a true to life look at five teens in Brooklyn and their lives in school and online as they struggle to find themselves and their voices in their community. I was working the casting sessions in Toronto as a reader and I was immediately drawn to the rawness and authenticity of the scripts. I was invested right away and knew that I wanted to be a part of the project. Anna is Joey’s best friend since childhood and Tim’s twin sister, she’s also the motherly figure of her group. She is put in the middle of a conflict that arises between Joey and the rest of her friend group and Anna is forced to pick a side and ultimately to deal with the consequences of having to do that.

What was the most compelling aspect about playing someone like Anna for you personally? Do you relate to her in any way, or what do you admire the most about her?

It was really interesting for me to play someone who is 16 years old, it felt like such an interesting exercise in hindsight to play a high school student and look at her actions and decisions as an adult and try to really take myself back to the place I was when I was that age. I relate to Anna’s nurturing side and her desire to do well.

For the young adults who will be watching, how do you hope they’ll respond to the show and to your character plus the other people in the show?

I’m really just hoping that young people will watch this show and feel seen and heard and represented. I hope that this show will act as a catalyst to open up conversations that need to be had. I hope it will give young people the courage and the space to discuss these issues with the people in their lives.

Why do you think it is important to explore these harder topics and situations that many teenagers are now facing today? What makes Grand Army’s story-telling authentic?

I think it’s important that young people feel their struggles are being heard and are being represented and I think it’s important that adults look at shows like this and understand what the young people in their life are potentially dealing with. It’s important to bring these issues out of the shadows and create a space for conversation and solutions and healing. The story telling in Grand Army is authentic to me because it is messy. It isn’t glamorized, the kids don’t always get it right, they don’t always make the right choice, it isn’t always fun. It’s real, and it’s messy and it hurts and often they fail. That is real life.

If you could go a few years back and give the teenage version of yourself advice, what would it be and why?

To be blatantly honest, I feel like when I was in high school I had so many adults telling me “these are the best years of your life!” with the best of intentions, but I think that really was hard for me to hear because high school sucked. I read a book later in my life that said “if life were to suddenly get easy, I doubt it would happen in High School”, and that felt so relevant to me. I guess I would say to my teenage self, you don’t peak in high school and that’s a beautiful thing. You have your whole life to blossom, have patience with the process. These hallways aren’t the whole world. That might not be the shiniest answer but I think that’s the truth for me.

As an actor, you’ve gotten to play in different worlds– Shadowhunter, V-WARS, The Expanse, etc– do you have a dream project or role you’d love to play one day?

I feel like there are so many roles that I’ve watched brilliant artists do and thought “man I would love to play that”, but the truth is, that role was so special and impactful because it was unique at that time and the artist portraying it was at a particular place in their life that they brought something unique to it. So it’s hard for me to point to any role and say “that’s a dream role”. There are things I would love to do, people I would love to work with, challenges I would love to take on. But I’m hoping that there will be a role, or roles that come my way that when I see that script I feel inspired, and it feels right and I’m at a place in my life where I can bring something to it and the story is relevant and that would be a dream. That’s all I can really hope for. I don’t think I can draw that out at this point.

Thank you so much for doing this interview! For our final question, if you could choose one super power, which would it be and will you use it for good or evil?

I’d love to be able to learn/adopt any new skill I wanted. I would obviously use it for good, what are you talking about– the world needs no more evil. We’re set there.

Follow Sydney on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Jessica Huras is a Canadian actor and filmmaker, and Bing! Bang! Bi! is her latest short film, which she wrote, directed and starred in. The film is a personal exploration of representation of bisexuality on the screen and is currently screening at Frameline International LGBTQ+ Film Festival, then at the Inside Out Film Festival in October. Find out more about the movie and Jessica below.

Hi Jessica, thank you for answering our questions today for Defective Geeks! Please tell us about your new short film, Bing! Bang! Bi! What inspired the story and the title?

The film is a bi-visibility, slice of life, comedic short that follows Morgan– a recently single, struggling actor, who is trying to navigate her sexuality and express herself amongst her oldest friends after arriving in her hometown for an unusual gig. I wanted to write a screenplay that was personal and meant something to me. My process was inspired by a scene I had observed between two exes who hadn’t seen each other for almost 20 years. By contemplating the fluid nature of relationships and love gone by, I started to zero in on what I really wanted to explore– the intricacies of being bisexual. The title is a play on the song at the end of the film. That Sophia Loren track really encapsulates the buoyant and slightly vintage feel I wanted the film to have.

At eight-years-old, Carina Battrick’s rising success as an actor shows her passion for performing. Her upcoming film– Viggo Mortensen’s directorial debut– Falling will be set to screen at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival this month. Read more about Carina and the movie below!

Hi Carina! Tell us about your upcoming film, FALLING– what is it about and what role do you play in it?

Falling is a family drama spanning over many generations. It is a story of the relationships we form with our loved ones and how those connections affect the life we lead as adults. In this film, I play the role of younger Sarah and what I really liked is how the relationship between my character and her father is portrayed when she grows up. How small moments that we might think are not big at the time can really have a big impact on who we end up becoming 30 years later.

Leanne Noelle Smith took a leap into creativity and never looked back. Today, she is working on multiple projects, including Vasilios Filipakkis’ web series, FAK YAASS, about a dysfunctional Greek family and the main character’s struggle to have them accept his sexuality. Learn more about Leanne and her role in the show below!

Hi Leanne, welcome to Defective Geeks! Tells us about yourself and your journey into becoming an actor. Did you always know you wanted to become an actress? What inspired you?

It has been quite the interesting journey from when I was a kid dancing in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, to today, being the actress/producer that I am. It all started with me in ballet from the age of 5, I loved performing and always have. I grew up with some incredible mentors that always inspired me, went on tours, started modeling– and then found myself drawn to acting back in high school.

As millennials, we are often boxed into very specific generational stereotypes. In Avocado Toast the series, Perrie Voss and Heidi Lynch hopes to give the viewers a more complex representation on the lives of two women growing into their relationships, sexuality and experiences. The series premieres on Amazon Prime on May 18th– learn more about the show and creators below!

Hi Perrie and Heidi, thank you for answering our questions today. Please tell us about Avocado Toast the series– what is the show about and what inspired the title itself?

Heidi Lynch: The show is about female friendship and mother/daughter relationships. We explore bisexual millennial coming out stories and coming to terms with watching baby boomer parents fall in love again. That article about millennials, mortgages and avocado toast. We wanted something symbolic for causing a wedge between our millennial and baby boomer characters.

Hazy Little Thing explores people’s relationship with social media and their own mental health, from the minds of filmmakers, Sam Coyle and Erin Carter. With what’s going on right now globally during this pandemic, can you relate to the feeling of isolation and loneliness despite constantly being “connected” via technology?

Hi guys, thank you so much for joining us on Defective Geeks! Please tell us about your new film, Hazy Little Thing. What is it all about?

Hey thanks for having us! Hazy Little Thing follows Billie, a writer, blocked in the wake of her past success. Spiralling further and further into her fear of failure and lack of self-acceptance she posts a particularly self-deprecating post on social media, and after seeing this, her sister and a few close friends rush to her rescue to throw a sort of intervention under the guise of a surprise birthday weekend. 

Actor, Tina Jung, talks to Defective Geeks about taking on this intense role in Queen of the Morning Calm and the challenging topics the film explores. Learn more about her emotional and mental journey and read our interview with her below.

Queen of the Morning Calm looks so emotional, with a really unique perspective on life as a struggling immigrant and a woman of color– tell us about this movie and your character, Debra.

Queen of the Morning Calm is an empowering story about a young immigrant sex worker trying to break free from the cycles of poverty and abuse, all the while learning to be a more nurturing mother in the process. Debra has always lived at the mercy of men believing that things will eventually get better by staying silent and always doing what she is told. She is dragged along knowing she is unhappy with her situation but stays because she feels the need to take care and save others around her. In order to survive, she begins to trust herself learning that she is the only hero she needs in her world. Through her journey of breaking free from the labels that were put on her, she gathers the courage to take risks and fight back, she learns to take control, find her voice, and be her own savior from a world that turned its back on her. It is a story of emancipation, a lesson on self-love, and a discovery of self-worth.