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Gabrielle Christian stars as Spencer Carlin on The N’s South of Nowhere. Playing the girl next door with a secret, she shows fans another side to the issues prevalent in today’s teen society. With her head, and her heart in the right place, Gabrielle Christian keeps it real.

Photo Credit: Chris Cuffaro/The N

THE STAR SCOOP:
What has the overall South of Nowhere experience been like for you so far?

GABRIELLE CHRISTIAN:
Wow. It’s basically for me been over a two year process of the pilot, and then the first season, and the second season and hopefully the third now. It’s been a great experience. It’s been really cool for me to play an interesting, young character that you don’t really come across every day. It’s been a lot of fun. Our cast gets along really well. We get together on Friday nights and watch the show together.

THE STAR SCOOP:
How does it feel to play a character, who, for so many teens, is so real?

GABRIELLE CHRISTIAN:
It’s really awesome because, nowadays in entertainment, it’s pretty rare that you come across a part that is real. Because things are so sensationalized, kids want to see a lot of drama, that is kind of what appeals to young people. But, nowadays I think it’s important that kids can see [characters] they can relate to. Our show is one of the only shows that doesn’t really sensationalize on especially the lesbian factor of girl and girl together, where in a lot of entertainment today, it’s more about the hot new thing, and it’s not really about the real life feelings and emotions that kids are going through. And it is prevalent in today’s society. From what we hear in our response, it’s helped a lot of kids come out or to deal with their own personal experiences, and I think it’s great.

THE STAR SCOOP:
How do you go about making the relationships that your character enters seem realistic, especially when it’s not completely who you are?

GABRIELLE CHRISTIAN:
Honestly, a lot of the feelings that my character went through, I also went through in high school, not really the sexual identity crisis, but just dealing with relationships, and personal relationships, and boyfriends, and the trials and tribulations you go through. A lot of my own personal experiences kind of helped me draw for my character, when I was drawing up different ideas for Spencer. I actually had a lot of friends in high school that were questioning their sexuality, and I kind of would relate back to their stories, and I knew what they were going through at the time, so that helped me try to portray my character better. I sat down and I read a lot of scripts and books, and saw some movies that dealt with sexual orientation and younger people going through those experiences, and that also helped me.

THE STAR SCOOP:
Do you think South of Nowhere is paving the way for other shows to deal with issues we don’t normally see?

GABRIELLE CHRISTIAN:
Definitely. I think it’s been a prime example, and if people can look at it in that retrospect, then they could, but a part of me thinks that, it’s kind of like a breakthrough in this day and age because there hasn’t really been a show that has dealt with females in the way that we have. l think our show can be a breakthrough point for that. I think it’s opened people’s eyes to hopefully making more shows like ours, because it’s really seemed to help people. I hope it’s helped.

THE STAR SCOOP:
Your character is kind of questioning, there is that uncertainty; she is the most relatable for a lot of girls.

GABRIELLE CHRISTIAN:
Yeah. What I love about her is they make her so real, and when people think about lesbians, they have this total image in their head. They don’t think about the girl next door from Ohio, the regular plain Jane girl that you wouldn’t think would ever have any differences, just the typical girl next door. Whereas Spencer is that girl, but she is different, and she feels different. I know through my experiences with fans, through letters and people that I’ve met, they’ve really related to that. It’s like people don’t think they’re any different, or they feel any different, but they are.

THE STAR SCOOP:
Where is Spencer headed?

GABRIELLE CHRISTIAN:
Well, I don’t want to give too much away from season two, but as our fans have seen so far, since season two premiered, it’s kind of like this season Spencer has this new confidence about her; she’s a little more secure with who she is. In season one, she was more in the exploration, but now she pretty much knows, and she’s confident and she’s able to express that, and throughout the season that’s kind of how she deals with expressing it, and being comfortable with it, and being like, this is who I am, and nobody’s going to change that. I know the Ashley character has really affected her, because Ashley’s strong, and she does whatever she wants no matter what people say. I think that influence on Spencer has made her also a lot like Ashley. I think for seasons to come, it will just grow stronger. Hopefully it will get to the point where her parents and family can accept her for who she is. That seems to be a lot of people’s problem, that I’ve spoken with, with coming out, just the fact that your family or your friends can’t really accept it because it’s different, or it’s not “normal.” I think for Spencer it will be, and it has been so far.

THE STAR SCOOP:
Fans get caught up in the characters sometimes. What would you say is different about you from your character, Spencer?

GABRIELLE CHRISTIAN:

In a lot of ways, I’m actually very similar to my character. We kind of come from the same background. She’s this girl from the Midwest, from Ohio, from the suburbs. I’m this girl from Maryland, and I grew up in the suburbs with a family, a very Catholic conservative family, that’s what we kind of share, which is cool because it’s really helped me to be able to relate to her personally. Sexually, no, I haven’t really gone in the same route as Spencer. That’s probably our biggest difference, but I do have personal experiences with friends and relatives in my life that have. It’s kind of like, we have our differences, but we’re also very much the same. Spencer has a little more confidence than I do, and I respect her for that, that’s something that I aspire to have one day. But I think we’re a little different in that way. We kind of dress the same, I feel like Spencer would kind of look like me. I feel like we kind of have the same look and the same personality, we just have different sexual preferences. As an actress, it’s an honor to be able to play something that you’re not, but something that still speaks to people. I don’t think you can ask for anything else as an actor.

THE STAR SCOOP:
What else have you got going on at the moment? Any other places for your fans to see you?

GABRIELLE CHRISTIAN:
Since our last season, I have an episode coming out on Drake and Josh that I guest starred on. It’s actually a recurring role that I did last year. The character is Lucy, and she’s one of Drake’s ex-girlfriends, and it’s kind of comedy, it’s for kids. A lot of South of Nowhere fans also watch Drake and Josh. That’s the only one that’s coming out in the next short period of time. For long run, I did two independent films. One is called South of Pico, and that is actually going to go to the Berlin Film Festival. It’s international release for now. I also just did a little horror film, it’s a short horror film. They’re hoping to submit it to Sundance short film festival. Not any huge films, just independent films here and there. I’m auditioning. It’s hard when you’re on a television series, you have a pre-commitment.

THE STAR SCOOP:
What would you like to do in the future, then? Do you have any goals about the kind of roles you’re looking for from here?

GABRIELLE CHRISTIAN:
My dream has always been to break into the film world. I love movies. I love especially independent films. I feel like our show kind of has that feel, because I feel like sometimes they have a better message, and they’re not all about the glitz and glamour, and making the most money like a lot of the blockbusters are. So I’m hoping, especially with the experience of playing someone like Spencer, people can see that I can do something different. I do love challenging roles that really speak to people. I’d love to continue acting. That’s the plan for now.

I also have other passions, though. I have a charity that I’m very involved with, for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. That’s another passion that I have. And I’m hoping that with the publicity we’ve had through South of Nowhere, I’ve been able to kind of use that for my charity as well, and that’s also really important to me. I hope one day that I can make that on a bigger level. [For more information on Gabrielle's charity, visit www.sidssurvivalguide.org]

THE STAR SCOOP:
Is there anything else you’d like to talk about?

GABRIELLE CHRISTIAN:
I actually have a web site that’s going to be coming out in the next few weeks. There’s another one, an old one, but my new one is realcool, because it focuses on the show, and my acting, but it also has an entire page for my charity of Sudden Infant Death that I’m involved with. There’s a page you can go to and make donations, and just learn about what it is, and how to make awareness of it. We do annual swimathons and walkathons, and there’s going to be a 10k run coming up. I also attend those events myself, or I try to attend as many as I can. We actually just had one in September, and the success rate was fabulous, we made like four thousand dollars more than we did last year, and a lot of that was actually contributions from the fans, which is really cool, because people want to listen to you. If you are in a public place, in your work you’re able to kind of make that message. That’s just been really important to me and the success that I’ve had.