A supporting character could easily slip into the background on a show like, but Jasika Nicole makes sure that doesnt happen. She plays Astrid Farnsworth, lab assistant to Walter Bishop (John Noble). Shes there whenever Walter is explaining the crazy science of the week, and she serves as a trusted confidante for the eccentric scientist.If you havent been following, heres my best attempt to catch you up for the purpose of this interview. The Fringe team Walter, Olivia (Anna Torv) and Peter (Joshua Jackson) discovered an alternate universe. Over There, the other Bishop, dubbed Walternate, wants to destroy our universe. He sent Olivia from his world, Fauxlivia, to get close to our Peter, which she did. Now our Olivia is back to sort out the mess of cross-dimensional travel and Peters feelings. Theres also an Astrid Over There, and even some alternate copies of characters who died in our universe.While most of thecrew was shooting in Vancouver, Nicole grabbed a few days off set in Los Angeles for a working party. Fox held their twice yearly soiree for the Television Critics Association at Villa Sorriso restaurant in Pasadena. Dressed up in white, Nicole roamed between the courtyard, indoor bar and corner alcove throughout the night. It was near the desert station that I finally caught up with her.Shed seen me tailing her throughout the night but kept getting stuck in other conversations withover there. I wonder how many other movies were different.Oh yeah, there are so many. Actually, Im not sure but I feel like you will see something. The episode were doing now is number 15. Its a flashback. It was at one point called Aftermath and it pretty much picks up from where the last flashback left off. So youre with the doctor, but youre with him in both universes. So now one doctor doesnt have a son anymore and hes having to deal with that, and then this doctor has a son and hes trying to get him back to the other side. Or is he? You dont really know because he falls in love with him.Dont you have to say Or is he? about everything onOh yeah, I totally do. It should be: Or is he? at the end of everything.So its dot dot dot, then the question mark?Yes, thats how it goes.Not ???, not ?...No, no exclamation points either, just Its like a really soft subtle, hmm?Ive done exclamation points sometimes.Youve got to take them out. You cant use those anymore. Im sorry.What other episodes have you gotten to stand out in?Not a whole lot lately. Unfortunately. And as much as I want to be a bigger part of it, I totally respect that the story is not about Astrid and it doesnt need to be. Its a great story so sometimes I get frustrated and I wish that I was doing more but I love the story that were telling and I don't think that it should be told in a different way and when its Astrids time to shine or come in or something and do something more than youve seen her before, then it will be beautiful.Were you happy you got to be involved in Peter and Olivia talking about Other Olivia, give advice and be a shoulder to cry on?I loved that scene and actually, after we did the scene, they said, Oh yeah, were going to put in a lot more Astrid/Olivia scenes. Which I havent seen yet but its only 15 but it makes sense for the two female characters who work with each other to have some kind of a bond. It hasnt ever been established before so Im hoping that there will be more of that because Olivias kind of freaking out right now. As well she should be. Shes been through more traumatic situations than anybody can count on a hand. And Astrid, thats her job, at least in this universe. Her job is to be the confidante to everybody. My ideas is that in 20 years shes going to write a memoir. Shes going to tell everybodys secrets because Walter talks to her, Peter talks to her, Olivia talks to her. Shes got all the juicy gossip.What is your life like? Youre on the show every episode but you have down time.Well, Im an illustrator so Ive been doing a lot of work lately. Ive been trying to appreciate the time that I have off. Anyway, I spend a lot of my time drawing and Ive been asked to be a part of a couple of books that are stories about growing up or being a kid. Im submitting comics for them and was asked to contribute some comics. So Im super excited to do that. Im trying to use my time wisely when Im not working on the show.That's a good use of down time. You could even do that on the set in between takes.I have. I have brought my sketchbooks. Ive brought my inking implements and my paper and drawn while I was on set before. Its not too far away from my reality.Is there a publisher putting those out?Well, one of the books is called. I have no idea who the publisher was but this woman wrote me because she wanted to put together a compilation of poems and artwork and writings that are kind of a response to the rash of gay suicides that we had a couple months back. So she wanted people to say, If I could speak to myself when I was younger, this is what I would say. So Im going to do a comic about that. I have no idea who the publisher was or if its going to be a big book or anything. Im just excited to be a part of it. Then the other one does have a publisher, I dont know the name of it. Its about what does it mean to be a grown-up. So Im working on all these things about the duality of being an adult versus a kid, which is really strange that its happening at the same time.Every generation goes through this. Why doesnt the next generation tell us, Dont worry about high school. Youll grow up to be successful and the haters wont.And you know what? I was talking to people about this recently. I don't know if my high school self would hear that and believe it. I think that its so far beyond comprehending, its too hard to get out of that moment. It sucks and I feel like all we can do is acknowledge it and convince them that it will get better but its not going to be better for them at that moment. Theyre still going to have to go through the shitty high school years because thats just how it is.I certainly would have believed that high school would remain shitty.You just didnt think that it would get better when you got older?I might not have believed it would get this good, but I knew I would do something. I was preparing for real life, so I didnt care what happened in school.Do you think that you would have wanted to know in concrete terms? Is there kind of a thrill to live your life and discover it?Thats the dilemma. Knowing might have removed the need to try as hard as I did.I know, its a tricky little thing so all I know is the story Im going to tell but I cant wait to see what other people have to say about that.How do you draw? Can you learn or you just have it?Ive just done it. I have a comic about how I used to draw when I was in preschool. Dont be offended by this. I would draw naked pictures of my mom only because she was the only person Id ever seen naked and I thought it was so cool because I knew we were both people but she looked so different. It wasnt graphic. It was two big dots then a little dot and a lot of squiggly lines down there. That was it but I would draw them for kids in my class. They were like, Will you draw me a picture of your mom? So Id draw them a naked picture and I was like peddling pornography in my preschool class. I got caught and I got in trouble but Ive been drawing since then. Its always been a way for me to feel satisfied, creative and its even more important now that Im a part of a television show where I have a very small voice. Its nice to have something that is still a creative outlet that I have complete control over and everything looks how I want it to look and thats okay.Some people just sit and start drawing and it makes a picture.I don't know how other people do it but for me I just start with a line and something comes out. I never have an idea of how I want it to look unless its a comic. With those, I have pictures of panels where Ive done thumbnails and I want it to look that way, but before I started doing comics, I would just doodle and it would turn into something that was funny or neat and pretty.airs Fridays at 9 on Fox.