9021One-on-One: Marisol Nichols

It's nine Gene Onegine with Jenny Garth and Tory Spelling.

Hi, Hi, how are you?

How are you?

Nichols one of the best names in the biz from Nichols.

Oh, it's so great to see. We just saw you on one of the episodes from season six where you are Ray Preuitt's beautiful new girlfriend.

Thanks.

Yeah, Wendy Stevens, right, yeah, yes, bull bangs.

Remember, Yes. I saw the pictures. I looked them up.

I was like, Wow, it reminded me of an Instagram post that you had put up saying remembering when you were just a little punk, And I was like, in that character, wow, you felt Donna should be sorry, Donoughy should be happy because Ray is obviously moved on and he's and love and she seems to be a better fit for him. But the two of you, you guys, looked great together.

I gotta say, thank you, thanks very much. Yeah, it was fun. Thank you.

Do you remember being on the episode that day? Like, do you remember filming that You've worked so many times? This is a crazy question to say, do you remember that one day?

I was brand It was brand new for me.

So I just moved from Chicago, so coming from Chicago, I think I did. I did an episode of like some TV show that's shot in Canada.

Due South.

It was called and the director from Due South, Gil was going to direct your that episode.

Bill Shelton, Yes, exactly, okay.

The next week, so he asked me to come an audition for that, and then that's how I ended up.

My soon to be ex husband was on Due South. Dean McDermott.

Oh, really amazing the soon to be I understand that I've been there, yes, but yeah, so that's how I ended up so well for me, it was a big It was like.

So this was like your second acting job ever, yeah.

Like maybe like third or maybe third or fourth, but like brand new, like I've maybe been in a.

Life for like a year.

So it was really it was like, oh wow, okay, great, amazing.

So it was memorable.

I like that, or so they talk you'd come back like I couldn't remember. We couldn't remember, Like Jamie was the series regular, right and then he left the show because sadly they wrote him as hardcore woman abuser and couldn't make it come back.

Like the female fans were like, what you beat him? Donna push you down? This years or whatever.

But yeah, so then we were saying that, you know, they made him redeemable as best they could, and he had a new song and so that we can't listen to because they will not stream any of the episodes with music.

Oh yeah, so we used.

Watching one DVD, which he's unfortunate for the fans.

I need have to pay music, right.

I don't know if there was talk of him like coming back more so, did they talk to you about that character be recurring at one point?

Yeah?

When I got it, there were like, this is possible recurring, which I was still learning what that even meant.

Like I was that brand brand new.

But I was I was like cool, great, that'd be amazing, like and it was funny because because I you know, I ended up working with Luke like years years later, but I had still I'd always remembered the nine o two one at nine o two one oh episode that I was on, Like everyone was so nice. I was a little scared. I was, you know, brand new in the biz. I was a little like, oh, these are

Like I remember working with you because we got to work together and you were awesome and really kind. Even though I was a series regular, I was always nervous because I remember being guests are on other shows and people not being kind to me. So I was always nervous about people coming on if Yeah, So I even got nervous working with guest stars, Like I was like, Oh, I hope they like me.

You know, It's all so weird, is when you know, now I've been on the other side of the camera and also been a series regular, and then there's the other side of like you know that that guest star is now going to go and talk and tell about their experience on your show that you're on, and so there's also like, oh my god, I hope I treated them right, or I hope it went well for them, or.

You know, I hope I was having a good day that day.

Right, That's never happened on our show, right, Jen. No one went on to say anything any guest stars.

No, I don't think so. Maybe a couple. But you've had such an incredible career, like you're a long hauler, like the two of us. What age did you start in the business.

I mean, honestly, twenty two. I wasn't like a kid actor.

I wasn't.

I wasn't an acting class or anything. I fell into it when I was like nineteen and I was in Chicago and auditioned for a series out in LA with Paul Thomas Witt. Do you remember Paul Thomas Witt. They did like gold and they did like all of these like early like late eighties sitcoms or whatever. So it was for a series regular for that and I ended up getting it, and I ended up being moved out to LA and that's how I got her.

But that was really like twenty two, twenty two years old.

Well, nowadays they would call that a late bloomer. I know, right, I don't call it that, but right, yeah, I guess so.

Yeah, But back then, it was like, you know, to get a gig out of Chicago in LA was a huge deal. It's not like now where you can, like, you know, on the with the Internet, you can cast from any different country that you want. It really doesn't matter. But back then it was a pretty cool gig to get.

Are you from Chicago?

Yeah?

Born and raised, Okay, Midwest.

Yeah, oh you too?

And yeah, are you still not anywhere? You'd probably know central Illinois? Like, yeah, I didn't go to Chicago ever, but you and then you moved out to LA. Are you still located in LA? Or is this I'm still in LA?

I tried, so I think you were in New York.

I don't know, I've never lived worked.

Well, when this is over, if we can exchange numbers or something. Your skin videos are amazing, but all the facialists you posted were.

In New York, and I'm like, shoot, I just need a little no.

Joanna bargains she's in LA. And Kate Summerville's in LA. They're actually LA. They're both okay, so we'll talk.

Okay, thank you.

You were seeing on your body of work, like I have just a few things in front of me Vegas vacation.

Yeah, that was. That was my first movie, like ever.

You played Audrey Griswolds.

So wait, wait, so the first Audrey was also a nine of two one zero Dana Baron, Yes, and then our friend Juliet Lewis went on, so were you the third incarnation of Audrey?

I was, Let's see, wasn't there?

No?

There was like a years one more.

Before me, and I don't know who was in that.

I don't remember, but I was like the fourth and I was the first, the one that was like not National Lampoons.

It was like a separate one.

What I sold the franchise, I guess.

So, I mean it was, oh my god, producer blanking on his name, but he was a huge.

Huge Weineberg whatever his name is.

He like he represented like the rat Pack back in the day, so he was mister Vegas and so they allowed him to do it because okay for Vegas, like he used to wrap elvis and stuff like that.

But you were a Griswolm and that's all that counts, because yeah, that is iconic.

It was iconic.

And if you picture me, like when I was on your show with the big thick bangs, they're never gonna me. Like to me, Audrey Griswold was like the all American, you know, a little bit girl, and I didn't think I looked like that. And I think I auditioned for three months for that role. Wow, yeah, forever and then ended up like getting it, like wow, And that was the first time I was like I really got to hit my mark and like the first time of anything.

Yeah, working, you're working with Chevy Chase. I'd be totally stressed too. I love him.

Yeah he was. It was really nice.

Oh good, wait, you're also you were also what did you play on Can't Hardly Wait? Which?

Oh, okay, so there was.

I mean it was this small. It was like maybe I was in maybe four or five days. So you remember the giant scene with our with like the rock guy on the stage and Jennifer Love Hewitt's there and everyone, like everyone.

The most she remembers it her ex husband was.

The party scene.

Yes, the party scene.

Girl that doesn't get to go in the closet and make out with him?

And she said, you wait, who did you want to make out with?

I think it was the geeky guy. Who was that? It was the geeky guy Seth Green? Yeah, I think so. I think so.

My gosh, that's one of my favorite movies. I love it.

I love that movie too.

You've just been on everything I was Friends, Charmed Boy, Me, twirl screen too, Like, I'm just like.

What the highest rated Charmed episode ever?

No?

Yes, really, maybe told us.

It was. It was quite the outfit. It was quite the office.

Wait, who did you play I should know this show, but.

Fuller, this girlfriend from the past. The past she's like evil, but in present times she is nice, and like the evil and the nice come together. And it was like, I'm challenging Heather Macomb's character and all of that fun stuff.

But it was fun. It was a fun role. It was a fun role.

It was just one episode.

I think it was just one episode. I was supposed to be, you know, recurring, but it wasn't.

You had many episodes on Riverdale.

With Yeah, I mean that I was a series regular.

First, well, tell us about that experience, Like, did you work closely with Luke or in?

Yeah, that was I mean, you guys know it was Luke.

Luke.

First of all, he's a total pro, like seasoned season season pro, so generous, like so generous, always wanted to make the scene better, Like he's not the kind of actor to phone it in at all.

She so could at that level of.

His career, do you know what I mean?

Not at all? We worked closely together.

I mean I was sort of he was like the lost love of my life that got to we never got together, and I mean we worked really hard to make that sort of relationship a big, major, major thing and real and like based in reality and not caricature, and really talked with the writers and like, hey, can we draw this out?

Can we do this?

And and Luke actually, I we'd gotten to Vancouver and I had my daughter with me. She was eight years old at the time, you know, and so we're in Vancouver for the first time really, and he took me and her and he's like, let me show you about the boats. I mean, do you know the boats in Granville and you could take the boats over to Grande Island. I'll meet you guys there. I'll get you on the boat.

Luke was.

He was always trying to He took all the younger kids, like you guys are like this. So when we were doing this meaning of the pilot of Riverdale, right and all the kids meaning like kJ and Lily and Cammy and everyone are like down in the road right below us, and me and Luke are sitting back and we're watching

That's funny.

Yeah, that was huge for him.

And I've met several of the youngsters on that show and they all have the same story that you know, they were, they were new, and he took them under his wing and really really wanted to prop them up and support them. And yeah, it was beautiful. I got to say I was a huge fan of Riverdale, like my kids and I watched it and they were super psyched. They were like, oh my god, this show we want. I was like, well, my friend Luke's and and they got it super like badass kick out.

Of him calling and being like, hey, it's uncle Luke and they're like, oh my god, it is Himm You're right, And that was everything for them.

As obsessed with the show as I was, I sadly when he passed, I honestly couldn't watch it again.

And that's just that was a personal choice.

It was it was hard.

It was really hard, and the funeral was really hard, and it was rough. It was my dad had just passed like maybe three weeks prior, and I'd just gotten back on set and then that happened, and I mean we all just, I mean the whole place shut down. We're all just bawling, and the kids were bawling, and it was just, you know, Luke can't go into a Luke can't go into a room or a job without like.

Filling that space.

Yeah, and with not only who he is and the size of the being that Luke is, but then also his care factor for every single person in the room and for the script and for the story and and just always had the big picture, not just his role, do you know what I mean, like just the whole story and where it could go and how it could go and how it could be great.

And yeah, I mean, you guys know.

We were in Vancouver at the same time, because you guys filled Vancouver and we were doing BH nine O two one oh. And we know that Shannon went and did the funeral. Yeah, while she was filling with us, she went back and forth.

I actually worked with Shannon. I did a movie years later called Friends Till the End on MTV, but it was Shannon. I think I played her best friend at the time. It was a fun, fun little mtwo.

Did what happened to your friendship in the movie? I'm so curious.

It's a great question. We're friends till the end. They like her and this other like Chucky.

It became like her best friend or something, and it was kind of like all about Eve, kind of weird.

Story like that.

And I was more like than going, hey, you shouldn't be that and there's something off about this and blah blah blah blah blah. But I also for at the time, there were all these rumors and she was fantastic. She was also good, great work quick bro like no drama, was great.

But you know what, those are the stories we hear the most. But yeah, you know that bullsh stuff that the tabloids and people were talking about was just not Yeah she was. They just love to do that to her.

Marisol. What year was that.

Friends till the end? I think it was maybe I want to say, like ninety I think like ninety eight, ninety nine maybe.

Okay, So did you do that before you did Charmed? And was she still uncharmed when you did Charmed?

It's a great question.

I think she was still uncharmed when I did Charmed. Okay, but I don't think I worked with her yet.

This just just wild your connection back to nine o two one zero and everybody, it's like insane.

You know, well you guys.

I mean, there's so many people that were on your show, and even Brian. I worked with Brian years later on it on a series I did called Resurrection Boulevard. He did. I think it was second or third season. He came on like the whole season.

Wow? Or did we ever work together? Come on, I know plenty of time that happened, that something we can do together.

You are so talented. You have a podcast to tell us about it.

I do.

Yeah, it's called the Marathon Nichols Podcast, mainly so that people could find it, you know, but it's it's gonna this is gonna take a dark turn, so I'll try and keep it as light as possible. But I have been working in the field of human trafficking since I mean for over decade now, and I have my own nonprofit called Foundation for Slavery Free World.

And I ended up.

Through relationships, relationships, relationships, going undercover and using my acting skills over the last decade in different states, in different countries around the world. To help put bad guys away and help get women and children out.

And so I formed a podcast, Thanks, and.

I formed a podcast to help get the word out and invite invited like not only all the guys that I've gone under cover with and different ones, but also different law enforcement, different actors in the field, actors in a different definition of the work actor.

We've had the head of.

Meta on like literally Antikenny Davis, who does all the global safety for Facebook and Instagram and all that she's been on. And the whole idea is because I had this audience of essentially teenagers and women because of Riverdale, to go spread the word like, Hey, these are the things you need to look out for. This is what's going on in your own backyard. This is what the bad guys look like, this is the tools that they use. This is how you can protect yourself, your friends, your family.

Foster care kids.

And so if you think about foster care kids, a kid goes into foster care and then they get used to the family and they're so happy. And then the mom or dad gets out of jail or whatever the situation is. Sometimes it's not so fine, and they say they want the kid back, and the kid may not want to go or the kid wants to go back. But so she formed an organization that has lawyers just for the children, pro bono, just for the law speak for the kids and help them in court.

And so we also have.

Stories like that, but it's just it's that whole subject. So that's my podcast.

It's fascinat that world that you're talking about, and I'm so intrigued. I want to know more about your undercover experiences. I've got to listen to your podcast now for sure.

And speaking of your undercover experiences, correct me if I'm wrong, please, are you developing a scripted show?

Yeah?

So when all of this so, Marie Claire, the magazine Marie Claire, came and followed me for a weekend in Michigan on some opsite did with the sheriff out there that I still actually work with.

And then they did this seven page spread.

About the whole thing, and that went everywhere and everyone was like blah blah blah blah blah. Anyway, Sony ended up buying my life rights at the time, and I wanted to create a TV show that was because what a better way to spread the word on this if you can do it through fiction and you can do it through stories stuff. So we developed that and then lo and behold it's turned Now it's turned into a film and I'm still with my same producer from Sony,

Of how that goes, Yeah, I will just exactly. Is there a working title so far.

Called Somebody's Daughter? Yeah?

Yeah, you're getting really impressive work, Like thanks aside from just all the experience and the joy you've brought to everybody through your acting roles over the years, Like this is the next level changing lives and it's very inspirational.

Thank you, thank you. It's really into it. Just you're meeting all the guys and meeting everyone, and it was like, well, hey, can you can you.

Go to Caever?

I have to ask you though, knowing what you know, Yeah, you have a young daughter.

I do sixteen.

Yeah, sixteen.

I thought it was eight and.

I got one six year old. Y they're trying.

I mean, it's just I don't have a library of knowledge about the things that you have. Yeah, all this darkness, and I am terrified to let my kids out the door.

It's one of the main reasons, was like, look, this is the world, so the only we're never going to like keep them home and keep them fully off the internet or fully off of this. So for me it was like, look, I'm just going to give her as much data as I can without overwhelming her. So she knows what to look for, and she does for the most part, Like for sure online she's helped her friends Like she's like, that's that's the bad guys.

What do you tell people? Like what are the signs? Like what do we need to know? Yeah, what are the top what our daughters need to know?

They essentially it's no longer it's very rare the white van that comes and grabs the kids off the street or whatever.

It's very rarely that.

It's more you know, if you heard the term grooming, but it's more of that.

No, wait, explain grooming.

Grooming is like slowly getting someone used to the idea of doing something that.

They normally would not do.

Right, Like, you can use it in the sense of like try not to be so dark and how to explain it without being too dark. But when a kid is under the hold of a really bad actor or trafficker or whoever, in order to get that kid used to doing things that they normally would never do, they might show them porn, they might show them things that they normally wouldn't see. And that's grooming them. That's getting them used to going see this is a good thing. See dead da da da da da da.

In essence, getting the kid to trust them.

Right exactly, and getting them to sort of let go of their own values and morals and things that they would normally have as their reality.

And changing something else.

Okay, okay, So online with let's say twelve year old, fourteen years fifteen year old or whatever, they just reach out through chat rooms because everyone's used to chat rooms and dms and that and the other, and they have a thousand fake accounts and it's literally you know, the guy with a thousand fake accounts in the basement with a ton of computers and just all day long calling the internet to try and find someone who will chat with them and talk with them.

And that fits the profile of.

Someone who's insecure vulnerable, usually from either a bad family or they think it's a bad family environment. You know, like they might post like schow my parents or something like that, and that's like, oh great, I can go in there.

They're looking for that.

Or let's say or let's say it's something like I don't know, let's say it's out You're at a mall or something and there's a there's like a bunch of girls, and the trafficker who looks like a normal guy will look like a completely normal guy or woman.

Young. I just want to ask twenty can.

Be twenties, thirties, like yeah, Michael ooh you're beautiful. And let's say that all the other teenage girls are like ew, and the one is like that's the one.

That they'll they know the traffickers and they know.

They're going after the vulnerable population, vulnerable children, vulnerable women, and that's that's like it's just the reality now, it just is. And it's it's not only women, it's also men. I mean it's not only men, it's also women. And they look like normal people, which makes you want to scream.

But they don't. They don't look like.

What you would think they would look like, or whatever's in your mind, or the men that show up to buy the trafficked girl for half an hour or an hour.

They're normal people.

Their husbands, their wives, or teachers, they're they're bankers, they're normal everyday people.

I have an ignorant question, just because you're really like informing us at this point, and this is very useful.

Do they ever traffic young boys?

Of course?

Yeah, so in America most of the boys are runaways boys and girls. But there's a there's a saying that foster care is a pipeline to trafficking usually for girls, and a pipeline to prison for the boys. And then if you're a runaway boy, forget it. I mean a runaway boy or girl, you're within three four days you're picked up. And yeah, and the foster care kids are very easy. And runaway kids are easy because there's no parent there looking out for that kid or the missing

You know, before we let you go, I want to know what is the signal the healthiess. Yeah, the signal, like I've heard, I've seen and heard through my daughters, there's like.

It's like this, that's the help signal flashing it.

Yeah.

So if you see like the thumb goes in, that's if you nail are or someone and they're they're going like this, they're signaling for help, but they can't yell help, they can't anything. And one last thing is if you do have kids out there, I've taught my you know, you teach your kids to be polite, polite, polite, polite, except if someone's doing something or trying to grab you. And then I drilled it into my daughter, especially when she was younger, to scream your freaking head off, kick,

I love this topic.

Yeah, like.

People should. There's so much we should know about this. We should continue this conversation. But thank you for talking about acting and all all the things, the fun things we were talking about, but you're you're really making a difference out there, and it's so inspiring.

Thank you. Thanks for having me