Matt Cohen – Finding The Way

Q) What are the current projects that you are working on?

A) I am actually not working on any projects right now since “South of Nowhere” because we wrapped last week. I am kind of not doing anything right now, but going out on auditions and hoping to book something else. “South of Nowhere” in my mind is going to be a huge hit. I hope we will be back for a second season. Time will tell!

Q) Tell us about the premise for the show “South of Nowhere” and your character, Aiden.

A) Aiden is this jockey type of guy that you take two looks at and think he is just the typical jock. He really has a big heart and is going through a lot of things with his exgirlfriend, Ashley (played by Mandy Musgrave). They broke up and she had a miscarriage. Now, she is questioning her sexuality and in turn Aiden begins to question his ability as a man, since he is thinking that maybe he was the reason she is having these doubts. As far as the show, you have a lot of real life situations that teenagers are faced with right now. All of the characters are very real to life. I compare Aiden to twenty of my best friends in high school. It’s a very similar character going through very similar things. I think a lot of kids are going to pick up on that and enjoy the fact that somebody is actually putting out there what is really going on in today’s youth.

Q) What made you want to be a part of this project?

A) It’s got a lot of similar characteristics that I went through in my life. I would love to work on just about any project to be a so-called “working actor,” but it’s more important that I can take a project that I believe in and something that I think will have an affect on somebody watching. Maybe it will spark something inside for them to confront someone about a problem or issue. There are so many fillers right now on television. You can watch so many things just to waste time, but I think it is important to make movies and TV shows that will affect somebody and maybe change something in their life for the positive.

Q) What is your most memorable moment from filming?

A) I think that every moment is memorable for me. Me, being a new actor to Los Angeles (I’ve just been out here a year now), every day I wake up and I kind of don’t want it to end. It’s just like Christmas for me every day. It’s like I’m going to get this great big present with these great people. Every day is a new memory. I love to work on a show that has so much potential and I think people are really going to enjoy it.

Q) Did you have any fears about starring on such a controversial show?

A) Absolutely not! There is so much controversy out there now with everybody. If anything, it’s something that entices me. It’s something that is a little out of the ordinary and is a show that is not scared to step up and say, “Look, this is what our show is going to be about because this is what the kids need to watch right now. It’s going to affect all these kids that are watching it.” I think that people are going to watch this show and be like, “Wow. We’re watching real life situations go down right here.” I think that’s what people are going to be interested in, not just the same old vague blah blah… It’s grounded and it’s going to be something real in your face.

Q) Is there a lot of chemistry between the cast of the show?

A) Yes, the first night we met we all hung out. Ever since, we’ve all kind of been like best friends. It’s really weird because relationships don’t tend to be like that on set. All of us hang out; literally every single character on the show gets together. We’ll go do karaoke or just do whatever. We just do a lot of things together, which is really good for the show since it makes being on set really comfortable which is a definite plus. It’s always good to wake up at five in the morning and go to set with people that you are not nervous to be around.

Q) Why should viewers tune in to see “South of Nowhere?”

A) It’s very real to life. All of the situations that the characters go through are dramatic instances that you are probably going to catch everybody from thirteen to eighteen or nineteen years old going through in their life. From race to self-expression to really not knowing whom you are at that age. It’s kind of like all of these kids on “South of Nowhere” are in the process of just wondering, “Should I be with these people? Should I hang out with those people? Should I do this? Should I go to that party? What’s the right thing to do?” It kind of leaves you lost and kind of leaves “south of nowhere” so to speak.

Q) What was your transition like from Florida to LA?

A) It was pretty drastic! I actually met a manager by the name of Sharon Lane in Florida. She had given me a couple meetings over about three or four weeks and told me I should probably move to LA if I wanted to pursue this acting thing. It’s going to be really hard to pursue in Florida. I was up and out of college. I left everybody I loved, everything I knew, every friend I had and came out to LA.  I didn’t know anybody, outside of my manager, and it was just weird. It’s hard being a twenty one year old guy coming to a place where you don’t know anything. You don’t know a street name, where you are going to live and you are kind of lost. I just believe that everything happens for a reason. She was enough sign for me to get on my wheels, move out to LA and pursue this thing I wanted to do all my life, but was scared too. I’ve always been a person who does not want to pass up an opportunity. I don’t ever want to look back and wonder and say, “What if I did that?” I’ve always been the football player and all of my friends and everybody was kind of like, “Oh, yeah, sure you want to be an actor!” I kind of put it to the back until I realized I was twenty-one and if I was going to do it, I had to do it now.

Q) What is your latest obsession?

A) I am into extreme sports, like alternative sports, very heavily. I am going through withdrawals because I haven’t been able to snowboarded or wake boarded. In Florida, I used to wake board all the time and it is a huge passion of mine. I really love to do it. I’m trying to get the whole surfing thing out here, but it is just not really doing it for me. I used to race motorcross when I was in Florida and I used do skydiving. I used to do all of these things that were great adrenaline rushes, but now that I am acting and on a show, I can’t risk getting hurt, so it is really hard to give up those passions.

Q) What do you do in your spare time?

A) I like to play a lot of sports. I play basketball, although I’m not a great basketball player. I am not horrible, but I definitely excel at football more. It’s kind hard though to go and get a football game going so I started playing basketball. It worked out because I play basketball in the show. I go to the gym a lot and find myself in there because when I am there I really don’t think about what is going on in my world. I put it away and sweat a little bit. It feels good.