Hailing from Vancouver, British Columbia, Nolan Gerard Funk is an emerging talent in Hollywood, who is quickly gaining heartthrob status. Wowing viewers in his role as aspiring rock singer Nikko Alexander in Nickelodeon’s TV movie Spectacular!, Funk has displayed his skills in acting, singing and dancing.

Although Funk’s role in Spectacular! might be his breakout performance, his fame has been steadily building ever since he started acting as a young boy. Now 22, he’s been gracing the small screen, with appearances on such shows as ABC’s Castle, Fox’s Lie to Me and the CW’s Smallville, Supernatural and Aliens in America, along with the Steven Spielberg mini-series Taken. In 2003, he made his first big screen appearance in X-Men 2, and then went on to make the independent films Malevolence, Dead Girl and Triple Dog.

Funk spoke to MediaBlvd Magazine about his road to becoming an actor and his future hopes for his career.

MediaBlvd Magazine> How did you end up getting into acting? Was there someone or something that inspired you to choose this as a career?

Nolan Gerard Funk> I had always wanted to do it, ever since a really young age. When I was in my teens, I competed nationally as a gymnast, and then I became a diver. And then, ironically, a new dentist that I went to, Dr. Hill, had kids in the business. He knew that I wanted to act and he sent me to an acting school where I was discovered by some agents.

MediaBlvd> Had you ever considering pursuing sports, or had you just always known you wanted to be an actor?

Nolan> I was ready to go to the Olympics. I was already competing nationally in Canada. When I was 10 years old, I had my first Western Nationals, as a gymnast. But, I knew, deep down, that eventually I always wanted to be a performer. At the time, I was obsessed with being an athlete. I loved it. Ironically, 10 years later, I’m in Spectacular!, and I’m doing back flips and stunts.

MediaBlvd> What was your first professional acting role?

Nolan> I think the first gig I ever did was a Hot Wheels commercial, or some kind of toy commercial. And then, shortly after, I did the Steven Spielberg mini-series Taken, which was pretty cool. And, another one of my first jobs was as a mutant in X-Men 2, so I basically spent 30 days, hanging out with Halle Berry on the set. Going on location with Halle Berry is always a good thing. I was paid lots of money to appear in the film for about two seconds.

MediaBlvd> How did you get involved with Spectacular!? Was it just through the regular auditioning process?

Nolan> The casting director was aware of me, and I was on his pitch list to the network. And then, when it came to auditioning for it, it was probably six weeks where I was singing or acting or dancing. There were so many different work sessions and levels to the audition process that, by the time I actually got it, I was like, “Are you serious? Are you sure I don’t need to come in, one more time?”

MediaBlvd> What was it about the project and the character that appealed to you?

Nolan> When I read the project, I thought, “Not only is this fun, but I like that it has an edge to it,” and Nikko and I are really not that far apart. I’ve been working for a long time and I’ve played a lot of different roles, and the role of Nikko, out of all the roles I’ve done, is probably the character that has the most of myself in it, so I just felt really honest in it and I could totally relate to his drive and ambition, and the lessons he was having to learn about how you get your objective while still dealing with a group. At the beginning of the movie, he is really insistent about being a solo act. I moved out at a young age, and I felt like I had to really fend for myself and do everything on my own. In the film, not only does he encourage an individuality amongst his peers, he’s also able to learn about being a part of something greater than himself, and I think that’s a really important lesson.

MediaBlvd> Was it difficult at all to play a teenager again, or did the fact that your character is a little edgier make that easier?

Nolan> I don’t have an issue relating to being 17 because, quite honestly, I don’t look much different and I don’t feel a whole lot different. But, yeah, because that character is so unique in his approach and the way that he navigates through the world, I did find that it just fit like a glove. The hardest thing about shooting the movie was getting up every day at 5 am, for 15 hours a day. I’m not a morning person, but other than that, it was pretty easy.

MediaBLvd> What was it like to work with Tammin Sursok? What did she bring to the project?

Nolan> They brought in two girls for me to read with, so that they could check chemistry, and when I met Tammin, I just thought, “Wow, not only is she beautiful, but she’s a really good actress,” so I was a huge advocate for wanting her to play that role. We had a really great connection and I just had a blast working with her, so it was a really positive part of the project for me.

MediaBlvd> What did you enjoy most about making this, and was anything particularly challenging?

Nolan Gerard Funk & Tammin Sursok at the MTV Video Music Awards held at Paramount Pictures Studios in Hollywood, Calif. on September 7, 2008.

MediaBlvd> Did you have a favorite song or performance?

Nolan> My favorite song is “Don’t Tell Me,” the opening number, just ‘cause the lyrics are so true to who I am, and I feel like it’s an anthem for what’s going on now. All the societal ideals that we’ve had imposed upon us and that we’ve grown up with, we’re realizing were faulty because look where we are. That song is all about not conforming. The whole movie, from “Do It Your Own Way” to “Don’t Tell Me,” really celebrates individuality. For God’s sake, my last name is Funk, and I can’t tell you how many people wanted me to change that. Obviously, I’m an advocate for not conforming. And, in terms of performances, I loved “Break My Heart.” It was so much fun. The fact that they let me do 20 takes of a full-twisting back flip off a stage, when I’d never done tricks off of a stage, was pretty bad-ass.

MediaBlvd> Can you talk about working with a vocal coach and recording the music for this film? Did it teach you anything about yourself, as an artist, that you didn’t know, before doing the project?

Nolan> The studio hired me one of the best vocal coaches in L.A., this guy named Eric Vitro, and he was extremely helpful to me, throughout the recording process. I was given three days to learn the songs, and I’d never recorded anything before. That was more about just really getting in there, feeling it and getting it done. But, as an artist, I learned that you have to be economic with everything, including really rationing yourself, so that you have enough energy to last you the whole day. And, you have to understand that, ultimately, when you’re doing a scene, it has to feel right, but there are a few scenes in the movie that I thought were great and, when I was shooting them, I was like, “I don’t know about this.” When I saw the final outcome, I realized that, even if you are second-guessing yourself, sometimes if you really are committing to something, the outcome can be totally opposite to what you expected. And, I just learned that I love doing this. I loved being able to do a musical, and I loved being able to have the responsibility of carrying a movie and having the role that carries the film. It’s a big responsibility, and I discovered that I would rather have that responsibility than have to show up for half the amount of days of work.

MediaBlvd> Would you be interested in revisiting this character for a sequel? Have you given any thought at all to what you’d like to see happen with Nikko?

Nolan> It’s so preliminary to even think of a sequel, but this is a character that I’m very close to and I would love for him to go on his journey. As for the journey, I feel like, in the first movie, he learned about being a leader, and the second movie should be more about how he’s leading his life now.

MediaBlvd> What’s it like to receive the kind of fan attention that something like this brings? Has it exposed you to a new, younger fanbase?

Nolan> Yeah. It’s really, really fun because, growing up, I didn’t have anybody like me in the media, who was in my age category, that I could look up to. It’s really flattering, when I have kids and parents come up to me and tell me that they feel a new drive in their life, after seeing the movie. I love to keep in touch with my fans. I have this thing called the Say Now number, where my fans can call in and leave me messages, and then, when I’m not doing anything and I get a message that I really like, I call them back. The number is                     818-748-9076         . It’s the way I keep everybody posted. If I’m going to be performing or I’m going to be on a TV show, I let everybody know. I’m just really grateful and surprised by all the attention this has brought.

MediaBlvd> You’ve done so many interesting and varied projects. Have any of them been particular memorable, or were there any that you learned a lot from?

Nolan> I had a lot of fun on this movie, Triple Dog, that might be hitting festivals at the end of the year. I played this obnoxious, Guitar Hero-obsessed jock in it. What I did recently, that I found really rewarding, was a guest lead on the ABC series Castle, where I played this rich prep-school boy. I got to work with a great director, like Rob Bowman, and it was really interesting because there was a scene toward the end of the show where the stakes were high enough that it needed to be the equivalent to the detective, running down the street, finding the screaming missing child. I needed to be able to bring all those stakes and that intensity, while just sitting in an interrogation room. It taught me a lesson about bringing stakes to a scene that reads so uneventful on the page. And, being able to sing recently was amazing. I had never performed for a live audience and, on January 12^th, I did a concert with David Archuleta at the Hard Rock Café in Times Square in New York City, and it was a blast. I had an awesome time. I had a sinus infection, and I was sick as a dog. Of course, you get hit with sickness when it’s important. But, it was great. I’m just so grateful. I’m getting sent some really awesome scripts, and it’s just so cool to even be considered for working with some of the people that are interested right now.

MediaBlvd> If you had your choice, are there specific types of roles or genres that you’d like to do, that you haven’t gotten the chance to yet?

Nolan> Yeah, absolutely. In terms of directors, I’d love to work with Baz Luhrmann. I’m a huge fan of Moulin Rouge, Romeo & Juliet and Strictly Ballroom. I think that would be so much fun. I’m also really interested in doing a period piece. I’m someone who really pays attention to the story, and whether I can bring something to the role that’s true. There are roles that have been done in the past, where I’m like, “Oh, man, I really want to play that.” I’m attached to this movie right now that’s a re-telling of a really classic story, and it’s a comedy. But, at the same time, I’m dying to do an intense drama with a character who’s going through something really severe. In Spectacular!, I played a lot of myself in the film, and now I’m really wanting to take on a character that maybe has similarities at the heart, but I want the circumstances and challenges that they’re dealing with to be extreme, dramatic and totally opposite to what my life is like.

MediaBlvd> Are you hoping to pursue both acting and music, or are you going to focus on just one?

Nolan> You never know what can happen and, right now, I’m just really open. I loved the process of recording this album and I love singing, and if the right opportunity presents itself, then absolutely I’d be interested in it. But, at the moment, I’m adamantly pursuing an acting career.