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The cast of “Degrassi” talk Fiona, Adam and the new season

Have you ever wondered what the collective screaming of hundreds of teenage girls sounds like? Yeah, I haven’t either. And yet, after attending a Saturday premiere party for the Degrassi: New Beginnings spring season, I am now intimately acquainted with this sound.

At the event, I had the chance to talk to a number of current Degrassi cast members, including Annie Clark (Fiona), Jordy Todosey (Adam), Munro Chambers (Eli), Jahmil French (Dave) and Melinda Shankar (Ali).

Read on to hear Annie tease Fiona’s upcoming romance, Jordy discuss her singer-songwriter aspirations, and other cast members chime in with their two cents about filming scenes with Adam and Fiona.

AfterEllen.com: I’m from AfterEllen, which-

Annie Clark: Oh, I love that website!

AE: -focuses mainly on LGBT storylines, so I’d love to talk to you about your character. I know Fiona’s set to graduate in the near future. Do you have plans post-Degrassi?

AC: Yeah, I just applied to university for this September, so we’ll see about that. I still have another season after this, so I’m planning to go to school at the same time, but continue acting as well if I can.

AE: So what’s going to be up with Fiona for this season? And you say she’s sticking around for next season?

AC: Yes, I think I can say that. [Laughs] She’s definitely in this next half of the season, and she’s set to be in season 12, too. For this season that we’ve just filmed, all of her friends graduated, so she’s trying to find her place in a new group of friends and trying to kind of reinvent herself a bit. And she gets herself into a really good new relationship. Like, the only healthy relationship we’ve seen her in, with a character that we’ve already met.

AE: Oh, we’ll look forward to this!

AC: Yes, I think you’re going to be excited.

AE: Is it Charlie, or someone else?

AC: It’s not Charlie.

AE: So someone else.

AC: Someone we know, but they’ve never been together before.

AE: And I know a lot of our readers related to the storyline with Holly J. What was it like working with Charlotte Arnold on that?

AC: Charlotte Arnold is, like, my best friend and idol. I have loved her forever, and I consider myself so lucky to have worked with her because she’s such an easy person to work with. We’re so comfortable with each other that even when we had to kiss or anything like that, it was always very easy, but that’s like with everyone — everyone I’ve had to be in a relationship with on-set is so professional and comfortable, and it was just a treat.

AE: When you have really great on-screen chemistry with one of the other characters, do the writers ever jump on that and add more storylines between you and that other actor?

AC: I think so, yeah. I think that’s kind of how it started with Charlotte and I, too. We were enemies for the first season, we had no scenes together and were only really together because Holly J was dating Declan, but then I think when the writers saw our scenes together, they were like, “Oh, this could work,” and then we became best friends. And even how they write our characters, I feel like a lot of our characters start off a certain way, and then the writers get to know us and add certain elements into the characters.

Another actor on the show, Munro Chambers, who — outside of his own character Eli’s drama — has served as a good friend to both the characters of Fiona and Adam, took a moment to talk with us about why he thinks the Eli/Fiona and Eli/Adam friendships work so well.

AE: Eli has been very involved in both Fiona and Adam’s storylines as a friend. What can you tell me about those dynamics?

Munro Chambers: I think it’s amazing, both storylines are incredible. With Fiona, not only was she going through coming out, but she was dealing with being an alcoholic. I feel like the relationship between Fiona and Eli is very strange — I didn’t really know what was going to happen.

AE: Well, you had great chemistry on screen.

MC: Thank you, and that was the thing. Both characters have been through their stuff, and on that level they’re not going to judge, for her being an alcoholic, and with him — you’ve seen him with Jordy’s character, Adam, about being transgender, and he doesn’t care. He’s like, “Everyone else thinks you’re weird, which is wrong — why would I think you’re weird?” He’s very accepting, and I feel like that’s why he’s such a good friend to both of them. They’re all outcasts in a way, and he’s like, why don’t you just accept people? And he’ll defend them in any light. I love that about that relationship.

Jahmil French’s character Dave sparked controversy with Adam last fall before they made up with each other and became close friends. He brought a nuanced performance to the screen through this storyline, and he spoke with us about how he approached those scenes in order to keep his character’s actions realistic and accessible to viewers.

AE: What was it like working with Jordy last fall?

Jahmil French:Oh she’s great, she’s a really committed actress. It was intense drama but we managed to keep it fun and keep it light, stay committed to what we had to do, so it was great. I loved it.

AE: What did you do to get into the right mindset and emotions for those scenes?

JF: I tried to keep reminding myself of the need that my character was coming from. That it wasn’t about being a bad guy, it wasn’t about offending people, but it was from a place of belief. So for me it was just keeping it honest with myself, and in every scene reminding myself of what has happened and what I’m going to do. It was just a matter of consistency.

Jordy herself took a few minutes to chat with us about what’s ahead for both herself and for Adam.

AE: Last season when we talked, you said that you really wanted Adam to just be a guy and not have to go through drama, maybe get the girl finally. So does Adam get to be happy in the next half season?

Jordy Todosey: I mean, he’s doing the radio show now, which is awesome, and he just gets to be a guy and hang out with Dave, and there might possibly be a secret admirer amongst the school. We’ll see if that works out or not!

AE: And do any of these storylines have you interacting with the new cast members?

JT: Yeah, we have new cast members this year, and definitely, Adam interacts with some of them.

AE: Have you found that fan response to you has changed as Adam has been introduced and gotten more storylines and as he’s grown over the seasons?

JT: Yeah, I think Adam can speak to anybody who’s either being bullied, or just being in high school and really figuring out who you are. I feel like a lot of people like to see Adam just being himself and getting used to who he is in his own skin … I was very naive going into the role, so for myself, it’s opened my eyes a lot to people like Adam. I think the more talk about people like Adam, [the more] it helps other people who are naive, and people who maybe are going through that, and I definitely think that it’s helped raise awareness … And I love how being transgender doesn’t define him. It’s just one of his features, and they also have him doing a radio show and going through other things, too. I really like that about how Degrassi handles the situations.

AE: What have been some of your favorite storylines to film?

JT: Adam’s been through so much, whether it be bullying or being thrown through a window or getting shot. [Laughs] Those are great to film and they’re so much fun, but I also like the more relaxing scenes where he’s just hanging out with his brother at home or in the radio booth. Honestly, to pick a favorite is impossible for me.

AE: How do you prepare for the more serious scenes that you have to do?

JT: You know, there are many different methods of acting, but for Adam, I think it was mostly just really understanding who he is and becoming him in a way. Obviously he’s gone through a lot, and hopefully I portrayed it to the best of my abilities without making a mockery of it. But yeah, just becoming him and getting into the mindset of Adam.

AE: And how do you “become Adam”?

JT: Well, mostly when I’m getting changed in the dressing room and binding my chest or putting on the many layers of Adam, I kind of start to walk like him and talk like him and just really become a guy, literally. If there was a guy version of Jordy, it would be Adam.

AE: I know you have time left on the show yet, but have you thought about what you’ll do when your character graduates in the future?

JT: Oh man, let’s not think too far ahead! I mean, Adam’s in grade 11 now, so I’ll be graduating next year. Right now I’m excited to do that. If I’m not working, I’d like to go somewhere for either music or directing, even writing would be fun. Also music is a huge passion of mine. Possibly — obviously that’s a very hard industry to get into — but just putting out an album.

AE: Are you working on any projects outside of the show?

JT: Yeah, actually I just finished a song not too long ago, which is really exciting for me. I’m a singer-songwriter, and I’m trying to get an EP together, which would be amazing.

And finally, Melinda Shankar (Alli) popped in briefly to discuss with us how Alli has been with almost every boy on the show except one.

AE: One character you’ve never dated is Adam.

Melinda Shankar: I know, I always wanted to! I wouldn’t mind Adam for Alli — you never know with Degrassi! Jordy Todosey: Even Drew, Adam’s brother, was dating you [Alli] at some point.

AE: Adam and Drew seem to have a thing where one goes for a girl and then the other goes for the girl.

JT: We fight over girls, yeah! I think Adam wins every time, personally.

I agree, Jordy, Adam always wins. Tune in tonight to watch the spring premiere of Degrassi: New Beginnings and to see what’s in store for Adam and Fiona.

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