Nick Wechsler For MOST Magazine

NICK WECHSLER
FAN FAVORITE JACK PORTER ON ABC’S NOMINATED SERIES REVENGE
He’s taller, and more of a man – he can fix stuff and mix adrink. I can break stuff and drink a drink.
The “shorter” but just as handsome, actor Nick Wechsler tells Fashion Most how he and his character, bar-owner and fan favorite Jack Porter on ABC’s nominated series Revenge, differ. Jack is the sexy, funny, and un-pretentious character in the Hamptons (where the show takes place) that we are all always rooting for. And in real life, Nick is just as down to earth as Jack with no interest in “summering” in the Hamptons, “I’m not opposed to it, but I don’t have cause to go to the Hamptons. It’s probably a beautiful place, but the imbalance of wealth alienates me, and it makes me uncomfortable.” This could be due in part to the fact that Nick grew up with seven brothers born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico and probably the reason he developed his unique brand of twisted humor, which reveals itself when he says the only food he cooks is “pop-tarts,” and his favorite food in general, the “white man’s Indian food: Chicken Tikka Masala.”
The charming leading man may not have a passion for cooking, or sports for that matter, disclosing that “Honestly, I’ve never understood sports fanaticism because to me it’s arbitrary – like where you happen to be born dictates what team you root for. I think you should root for whoever you want.” But he divulges that, “I do play sports. I play dodgeball-more than any adult should.” In fact though, it is music he loves, and as a zealous concert goer, he finds singer and song-writer Mike Patton, best known for being the lead singer of the alternative metal band, Faith No More, to be his longest standing idol. “He’s hands-down the greatest vocalist in rock music right now and ever as far as I’m concerned. He’s also had a tremendous influence on my musical and artistic tastes.”
As an artist from a young age, Nick headed for Hollywood immediately following high
school graduation, to pursue his dream of acting. Shortly after arriving in L.A., his dream was fulfilled when he was cast as Kevin “Trek” Sanders, a child prodigy conceived at a Star Trek convention, in the syndicated series Team Knight Rider. With his career gaining momentum, he then landed his breakout Teen Choice Nominated role as Kyle Valenti in the WB series Roswell. After the show wrapped, Nick went on to land recurring roles in such series as: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Without a Trace, and Vanished, as well as guest starring roles in Crossing Jordan, Cold Case, Chase, Malcolm in the Middle, and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. His work on the big screen includes roles in the feature film Fling, and independent films Chick’s Man and Lie To Me. However, it is still Nick’s current show Revenge which is responsible for giving him what he considers to be his most memorable moment in his career so far-the moment when Jack’s dog Sammy died. “I’ve gotten more compliments on that moment than I got in anything in my career. Emily, his co-star on Revenge, and I talk about it, we both talk about it in the press because we both felt it. It’s where we most lost ourselves and felt true. She herself said that she’s never felt that since. It was just this beautiful thing – where we lost awareness of the set and the camera. It’s the most real that I’ve ever felt, and I’ve been chasing that feeling ever since.” Nick makes every scene feel that real, yet as easy as he makes it look on camera, he dishes that upon arriving at the set each day, he gets there “in a blind panic to cram my lines into my brain hole. Despite having studied for many hours before each scene, I still get there and blank the moment they say, ‘Action.’ I have jitters that I have to get rid of by cramming lines.” Whatever his process is, it obviously seems to work for him and his sense of humor is never far away as he always attempts to make the main character, Emily, laugh when the director yells “cut.” His own character has not had an easy life, and Nick has done superbly at portraying Jack’s numerous ups and downs and emotional scenes, as he has had to live through loved ones dying all around him at the hands of the powerful, amoral characters whom he and his friends work hard to take down loyal, and we’re often too moral for our own good. We both also have a really hard time letting go of injustices.” This is apparent in that Nick is an avid supporter of the AIDS Walk Los Angeles and New York which he first participated in with a friend. “While there, I heard people’s personal stories about having struggled with the disease at a time when there was a huge stigma to have it. You hear the numbers, and it’s a far-off thing, but then you talk to people who have heartbreaking stories. That’s what made me want to come back and support the cause year after year.” Nick advises that, “We should listen to people, contribute what we can, and just be a part of the awareness.” Listening and trying to help people is why Nick revealed that there was a time when he was really interested in being a therapist.
Right now though if he was not acting or residing in L.A. he perhaps would be interested in writing or living in England. His fondness of England came from dating “this really lovely girl, who used to live in Bristol. I traveled there a lot to see her.” England to him, “just felt more handmade than where I grew up and most parts of America that I’ve been to, and I loved that. I could really feel its history-I could feel the smallness of so many of the buildings and the narrowness of the streets. It wasn’t like a grid, and I just thought it was beautiful.” England is indeed a gorgeous place, but hopefully neither Nick nor his counterpart Jack will be leaving us anytime soon, and we can continue to enjoy and cheer for him on-screen for quite some time.
In : MOST Magazine