Nicola Correia-Damude – Burden of Truth

By: Jamie Steinberg

Q) What are the recent projects that you have been working on?

A) I’ve just had the most amazing last couple of years. So, this past year I did a show called “Ghostwriter,” which was one of AppleTV+’s first shows. We did that for almost eight months. We shot two seasons back to back and that’s airing now. I did “Nurses,” which is a Canadian medical drama that focuses on nurses – as opposed to doctors. I did the third season of “Burden of Truth,” which is a show we’ve been doing for three seasons now and we all love very much. I did season two of “The Boys,” where I play Queen Maeve’s (Dominique McElligott) girlfriend Elena. I did “Coroner,” which is an amazing series coming to “The CW” now in the states. Then, I have a new movie coming out on Amazon Prime. It was supposed to have a theatrical release, but it went straight to Amazon Prime because of the pandemic. It is the movie My Spy, which just came out. I also did the show “Endlings,” which is a new series that came out this year that is a really cool sci-fi show. I did this amazing movie right before Christmas called Die in a Gunfight. It stars Alexandra Daddario. It’s kind of funny because her brother Matt played my son on “Shadowhunters.” Then, “October Faction” came out in January and I play Detective Gina Fernandez.

Q) How was your character Diane Evans on “Burden of Truth” originally described to you?

A) It was described to me as a guidance counselor who had been childhood friends with the lead, Joanna Hanley (Kristin Kreuk). I think it said they met as the only members of the multi-cultural students club in their small white town, which I loved. [chuckles] I did have points in my upbringing where I was the only mixed-race kid. So, I related to that right away. Then, I read the sides. I just loved them and it came super naturally. I read them with my husband (Carlos Gonzalez-Vio). And when we finished reading the scene he was like, “Wow! This character is basically you. This is a great character for you. She did have a lot of similarities to me, which is really uncommon for me. I usually play characters that are very different than myself. She felt really natural tome. Our lives are very different, but personality wise I felt like I related to the way she spoke and her feelings about the people around her. So, I was really excited about it and I thought, “Wow! This is such a great part for me.” I prepared and I prepared and then I got some sort of weird stomach bug overnight. I got the audition and I was so unwell. I was in the bathroom and I was sweating and I was completely out of it. I came out and they were like, “We’re ready for you!” I went in and I had forgotten my perfect costume. I was feeling so unwell and I left and went home and just started crying. I said to my husband, “Oh my God! I ruined that! That was such a good part for me and I tanked it!” I was so depressed. I actually called my agent and said, “Can you please call the casting directors and apologize because I really messed that up? I wasn’t feeling well.” Then, we got a call that night asking for more details and we found out that night that I was in the running. So, it was a very funny process – that part. Really all I knew about her was that she was a guidance counselor and that she was a childhood friend of Joanna. They told me a bit more about her when I got to set, but that was all I knew about her first.

Q) Was there anything that you added to role that wasn’t in the initial breakdown?

A) I think we all do. We all bring ourselves to every part – element of ourselves. Sometimes it’s not that we make the character like us, but that we see them as a certain way – we envision them a certain way – and we bring that to it. One of the things that I loved about the process of making “Burden of Truth” and working with the writing team and the creator Brad Simpson is they are very interested in actors and they are very interested in working with us and involving us in conversations, which is not always the case. A lot of times you don’t have a lot of conversations about character and story because you don’t have time or it’s just not part of the process. One of my favorite stories about Brad is as a mixed-race person growing up, I didn’t see anyone like me on TV. I didn’t see anyone that looked like my mom or stories about families like mine, which is the case for a lot of people. So, when I met Brad, I said, “What’s my character’s background? What’s her cultural background?” He asked why I was asking and I said, “I have never seen a Guyanese-Canadian character on TV. So, I was just curious.” He sort of jokingly said, “Well, she’ll be Guyanese-Canadian then. Ha-ha-ha!” Two weeks later I got a script and he had written that into the script. We talked about how my mom ended up in Canada and how it would be possible for my family to have ended up in a small town like that. He wrote it in! I actually got to do a scene where I got to tell part of my real mom’s story in the episode. That was just so moving for me, in terms of representation and allies really working with us to create representation and diversity in storytelling. I was so moved by his excitement and his openness to incorporating those feelings and the representation element into the story. Every once in a while, you’ll read a scene that…A great writer also responds to the character that an actor is creating the same way our job as actors is to interpret and do justice to the lines that are written for me. Really great writers, I find, are also really receptive to the actors they are working with so the characters are sort of grown together in some ways. And with “Burden of Truth” it is especially true.

Q) Were you familiar with any of your costars before working with them on this show?

One interesting thing about doing a show like “Burden of Truth” is a lot of us (most of the leads anyway) weren’t from Winnipeg so we all had to kind of move there together and spend these three months together. So, you get to know each other.

Q) After three seasons, what continues to challenge you about portraying Diane?

A) Season Three is a really interesting season for Diane and Owen (Meegwun Fairbrother). I loved Season One. I loved the storyline in Season One. I loved all of the content with the young women and I just thought that was a really moving season. But Season Three I just loved. I loved where all the relationships are moving. One of the things that is exciting, but also challenging about playing Diane is that she is a support person for the other characters in a lot of ways. One of the things that Diane struggles with in Season One is the fact that her own life is often overshadowed by the support she is trying to give other people – by the support she gives Joanna, by the support she gives her students and by the support she’s giving Owen. So, what’s really challenging about playing a character like that is making sure that you’re always keeping track of what her own world is. A lot of the time scenes you see Diane in she is helping other people and she is facilitating other storylines. But she has her own inner life and her personal life that is developing behind the scenes of all of that. So, tracking that journey is a really fun challenge for me. In Season Three we see a lot more of Diane and Owen’s life in a day-to-day sort of way. So, that was really cool to explore. I think tracking your character’s inner world as well as how they function in the story at large is always an interesting challenge.

Q) Going into Season Three was there someone(s) you were hoping to share more scenes with?

A) Yeah. It’s really funny because “Burden of Truth” is one of those shows where I can legitimately consider everyone a friend in the lead cast. The secondary cast and reoccurring guests as well, but it’s just I don’t see them as often. But the group of us that have been together the last three years I can genuinely say that they are all amazing people. I really do love working with all of them. I really wanted to have more scenes with Kristin this season because the first season we had so much together and then the second season most of my stuff was with Peter and Meegwun. So, in Season Three I really wanted to have more scenes with Joanna again because Kristin and I just have such a fun time. And what I love about those women is they are two strong female characters who are always supportive of each other. They are honest with each other and see each other’s faults, but there is none of this nasty, catty tearing each other down crap that goes on in the world but also a lot on TV and I think it sends a really bad, sort of false message about the relationships with women. What I love about Diane and Joanna’s relationship is that they are so different, but so supportive of each other. They are also really funny together. They make each other laugh, but they also call each other out. So, I was really looking forward to having more scenes with Kristin and we had a great time doing those. I also loved having more and deeper storylines with Meegwun. The Diane and Owen characters have a lot of really lovely stuff together this coming season. I would love to have more scenes or any scenes with Star [Slade]. She’s an amazing actress who plays Luna. I had some really beautiful stuff in Season Three with Anwen O’Driscoll as well. Really, it’s a very much ensemble cast and I look forward to working with all fo them. But I think my stuff with Kristin was what I was really hoping for more of that. I’ll give you a little hint that we do see more of that in Season Three.

Q) What are some themes we will see explored in season Three?

A) Season Three is really exciting and very dark in terms of the honesty that it strives for in telling stories about families. It explores families, similarly to Season One. There will be a lot of things around young people who have various levels of privilege inside the community. So, themes of privilege, racism and forgiveness (that’s a big one). Also, one theme that seems to go through the entire series is confronting your past. That’s one of the themes that I think is big throughout the whole series, in particular Season Three. It’s this idea of confronting your past, embrace who we are in light of who we may have been and finding peace within ourselves with who we have become.

Q) What do you think it is about Joanna that makes her the definition of a strong female character?

A) Well, one of the things that I love about the Joanna character (and this is a testament to the creators, the writing team and Kristin) is that I find so often female characters is their romantic storyline tends to be put in the forefront in a way we don’t see with male characters. Male characters have their careers at the forefront – either their work, politics or other types of work engagements. We have a tendency to place omen and female characters in these more sort of romantic roles and in real life women are just as engaged with the other elements of their life as men are. I think the Joanna character really exemplifies that. Her work and her aspirations and her focus are at the forefront of who she is as a person. She’s also a friend. She has her romantic entanglements and all of that. She is allowed to set the priorities in her life in a realistic and very individualized way. I know that one of the things I loved about Season One is that she and Billy (Peter Mooney) don’t get together. That’s not what that is about. It’s about the transition in her life with her work, with what she wants to in the world and with her family and friendships. They focused on all of those other parts of her life that are not about a man or not about a romance. On the other hand, romance and love are also a huge part of relationships and you’ll see how that develops in Season Three. She’s also a strong female character because she knows her worth, which to me is one of the most important things for us to teach young woman – how important it is to know your own worth and to value yourself. I think we live in a culture where we don’t encourage our women to know their own worth. We tend to try to keep women down and assert control over them, especially from a very young age. And I think Joanna knows her value. She knows what she can do. She knows she’s smart and she knows what her dreams are about. She knows that she can be a professional and a lover and an academic and a friend. She goes for her goals and nothing gets in her way. I also think she’s a character who is allowed to change, which I think is a really beautiful thing. She doesn’t have to be nice. I think that’s a real problem in our culture too, wanting women to be nice all the time. She exists in a world where people are not always nice and she’s allowed to be someone who struggles with social things, niceties and social and emotional situations. She’s allowed to be that character and I think that’s really beautiful. She’s a never been a general person. She’s a very specific, very powerful, very individualistic woman and I think that’s just amazing.

Q) What do you think it is about “Burden of Truth” that has made it such a fan favorite series?

A) I think there a few things. One thing that I love about “Burden” is that it is uncompromising in telling stories that the creators and writers think are important and relevant in our culture right now. For example, the stories about the injustices against the indigenous people in Canada. Those storylines are so powerful, painful and they are honest. They are real. And I think we have a tendency to shy away from tough, current issues for fear of ruffling feathers, seeming preachy or not being commercially successful. In actual fact, people want that. People want to see truth. They want to hear about the stories that are impacting communities and the here and now. They want to know what is happening. I think that’s what is so beautiful about “Burden.” It’s so honest that way. It doesn’t pull any punches in terms of the depiction of a lot of really dramatic things that are happening in our country, particularly in terms of discrimination based on race and gender. Season Two wanted to deal with issues around sexual assault and abuse of women and the horrifying abuse and murder of indigenous people in Canada. It actually drew on real stories that happened in the past. So, I think the honesty in that. I also think its diversity is really key in its success because you watch the show and you see real people. You see a real cross section of people that exist in the world around most of us. You don’t get that sort of glossy feeling from watching the show. The writing, the costumes and…I remember going to my first costume fitting and the designer saying, “We want these people to look like they live in this town. We don’t want it to be glossy. We don’t want it to be this kind of shiny version of the world. We want this to be a real people in a real town living their lives.” I think the show succeeds that way and I think that draws a lot of people to it. Also, it’s got some really clear and interesting layering to the storytelling. Every season has one central legal case. There are these sort of side stories that run through all the seasons. As you’ll find out in Season Three, we go back to some thrulines from previous seasons and we see how people are developing. We don’t just sort of drop everything from Season 1 and move on to Season Two. There are these thrulines and we see these characters in their work life and we see them at home. I think that’s what is really wonderful for audience members – to get to know a character in their role, in their work or in the main storyline, but then you see them at their house. I love that you see Diane and Beckbie. You see Beckbie, the police officer and you see Diane the guidance counselor. You see Joanna the lawyer, but then you see them in their quiet moments living their lives as flawed, beautiful people who are trying to figure out how to live the lives that they want and how to take care of each other. The backdrop might be this very dynamic and exciting legal drama, but underneath all of that are very real, three dimensional characters. We see them in their journeys in their personal lives and I think that’s really exciting for an audience.

Q) You have been a part of a number of wonderful projects. What have been some of your favorites to work on?

A) “Shadowhunters” changed my life on so many levels. The opportunities that the show gave me in my career and also the fanbase that we have is so exceptional. The traveling that I’ve gotten to do for the convention circuits and meeting all these amazing fans and seeing how the show has influenced them, that has been a shift in my life that has just been huge. But also loved doing the show because my character, in my opinion, had one of the best arcs that I’ve ever played as an actor. The character from Season One to Season Three is almost a different person, but you can see how it happened. It’s a realistic tracking of a human being going through some really difficult things that basically change who she is. That’s always really exciting to play when you get to see a character through a really complete transition like that. That was a really great part. “Coroner” is coming to the states, I think, in the next few months. That’s one of my favorite characters that I’ve ever played. The process on the show…The producer/director Douglas Mitchell and the writer Moira Bruckner and her writing team, their process is exceptional. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever done before. The room they give actors to collaborate was just stunning and the character was the most dynamic, multi-faceted with the deepest arc than I’ve ever played. So, I love that show. They are all so great. I’ve been really lucky. “The Boys” is another one. It was a smaller part that I played in Season One, but I’ve been very lucky to play characters who are experiencing significant shifts and changes in their live that reflect the culture that we’re in now, which is very meaningful to me. One of the things about “The Boys” that was so meaningful was playing a character who was out of the closest contending with being really in love with someone who is not being allowed to be who she is. That was such an emotional and interesting character to play. Having seen so many people in my generation go through that and are still dealing with that…Each show is very powerful in its own way. I’ve also done a couple television shows that I feel so deeply about because of the impact they have had on young women. I did a show called “Android” and a show called “Dino Dana” that are kid shows, but the impact that they’ve had on young women doing science. Various shows have been moving to me and I’m proud to be a part of them.

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who are fans and supporters of the work you do?

A) The number one thing that I want fans to know is that everywhere I go where I meet fans and online as well, they are always saying that we as public figures and actors do for them. It’s really important to me the fans know that what they give back to us is ten times what we could ever do for them. The support of the shows…The fact that audiences are watching that are the only reason we have jobs. It’s the only reason we are able to tell these stories is because people are watching. Then, the support of the shows and the conversations about the show and the energy that gives us and the opportunities that it gives us to keep exploring these characters and staying connected with the art that we’re doing – it never disappears now because the fans keep it alive. I really believe in a lot of the work that I’ve been doing in the work that I’ve been doing in the last couple of years and the meaningfulness. For fans to watch the shows and think about the messages and go online and talk about them and to kind of support further conversation about the issues that are being brought up and the communities that are created because of the show – that’s all the fans. That’s all the audience. Without the audience, we literally have nothing. That’s who we are doing this for. So, they could not be more important. They are what all of this is about. So, I always want audiences to remember how important they are and how much I appreciate them.