Episode 201: Rachel Nichols

Rachel Nichols’ career story is packed with memorable characters from all manner of genre entertainment. She was Kiera Cameron, the ass-kicking cop from the future, on Continuum, one of the only locally shot sci-fi series to actually set their story in Vancouver. She was Alexa, the waitress who enjoys a birthday threesome with Samantha and Richard in an iconic episode of Sex and the City. She was possibly the worst babysitter ever seen on screen in The Amityville Horror, a role for which she was nominated for Best Frightened Performance at the MTV Movie Awards and Choice Movie Scream Scene at the Teen Choice Awards. She starred as Ashley Seaver in Criminal Minds, as an FBI special agent whose father was a serial killer, and as the brilliant Rachel Gibson in Alias. We saw her as gestapo officer Martha Stroud, sworn to guard and observe Chelah Horsdal’s Helen Smith, in The Man in the High Castle, and as Angela Azarath, the duplicitous mother of Raven, on Titans. This year, she was revealed as the woman who ran down Eddie in A Million Little Things. Her filmography also includes memorable roles in big-budget projects like G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Star Trek, and Charlie Wilson’s War. In this entertaining and contemplative conversation, Rachel reflects on her time in Kiera’s shoes (“We have a lot of similarities… We’re loyal. We will throw down for anybody that we love”), how working alongside Kim Cattrall on Sex and the City changed her life and career, learning how not to take shit, her husband’s mad love for Brian Markinson, and what makes this versatile and beloved actress tick. Episode sponsor: Fish Flight Entertainment