From Hollywood to Reykjavík
What is a Hollywood actor, musician and comedian doing here on earth? That was the question that arose when a journalist learned that Nick Jameson lives in this country, who has played in a large number of Western movies and TV series. Nick agreed to tell his story and invited a journalist to visit his apartment in the city center, but he is a true city rat who wants to go on all his journeys. Namely, Nick got fed up with being stuck in traffic together in Los Angeles where he lived almost all his years, or until seven years ago when he was following his intuition and chasing his dreams. All the way to Iceland.
Reykjavík called me to it
“I came here at Christmas one year because I wanted to go somewhere I hadn’t been before and where it felt like Christmas. So I came here and completely fell in love with the country. The following Christmas I was going to go to one of the Nordic countries, but I just wanted to come back here. That trip was even better than the first. Then I came here on the third Christmas and that’s when I moved here. So I had never actually seen Iceland in daylight when I made this big decision,” says Nick, laughing.
Nick says he immediately connected with the people here.
“I met a lot of people here and immediately made friends in cafes and music venues. It’s hard to explain why, but after a few years here, I have more friends than I did in Los Angeles,” says Nick.
“It was as if Reykjavík was calling me to it, telling me to move here because there were a lot of good people here,” says Nick and says that he never really got along in Los Angeles.
“I lived there for a long time because of my work as an actor and often thought about moving elsewhere but didn’t know where I wanted to go. So when I fell in love with Iceland I had to just let it go. I got rid of all my possessions and came here with empty hands,” says Nick, who has now lived here for seven years.
Played bass with Foghat
Nick was very interested in music from the time he was a wet child, but the acting bacteria left him much later.
“I was always in bands as a child and teenager; mixed luck. When I was fourteen years old in Greece, my band had a song that went to the top,” he laughs.
“When I moved home from Greece, I was in a band in Philadelphia that was doing really well. I went from there to Woodstock, New York, and started working in a recording studio because I wanted to learn how to control the recording of albums. Albert Grossman owned the studio, but he was the agent of Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin. Many rock stars of the 1960s passed through there. Then I met the band Foghat and released their albums for a while,” says Nick. He would later join the band, but he is a versatile musician.
“I play mandolin, guitar, keyboard and bass and I just played bass with Foghat. I played mostly rock and blues in years at Woodstock,” he says and says he writes a lot of music himself and has always done so.
Got more drama roles
How did you go from music to acting?
“I moved to Atlanta to make an album and extended there. I was rock climbing when I fell off a cliff and broke my ankle, which meant I was in and out of hospitals this year. Because of that, I lost my record deal with the Motown label. I was completely broke! I had a friend who worked at speaking and I thought: I can do that! All my life I had been imitating and was fascinated by voices and different accents. I made a recording and was hired and felt very comfortable in this job. It was an easy job; a man showed up, dubbed for half an hour and got his salary,” he says with a laugh.
“One thing led to another and I ended up doing improv and stand-up and acting,” he says, and says he started acting in an improv troupe in Atlanta.
“I then moved to LA and continued that and was in a few improv groups. I started an improv band and that has always been my passion; making up songs on the spot. From there, I went into acting, and it helped me a lot to be an impersonator and pick up accents. That way it was easy to get a role that required it,” says Nick, who had studied acting at a school in Atlanta but moved to Los Angeles.
“I studied with Gordon Hunt, who is Helen Hunt’s father, among others. I got a role very quickly and learned the most from being on set,” he says.
“My first role on television was in The Golden Girls, where I played a troubadour in a restaurant. At the same time I was in an improv show and a famous director came and saw a show, which was very poor! The next day he called and wanted to hire me for a drama role. I wasn’t funny that night and he must have thought that I was so bad at comedy, maybe I could do something in drama,” he laughs.
“Then I got a role in the legal drama The Antagonists. It was a lot of fun to act in these shows. I, who had been a lot of comedy, thought I would get more comedy roles, but as time went on, I got more and more drama roles. But I did both.”
Make me a villain
The acting career was going well and Nick had plenty to do, but he was mostly in supporting roles.
“I had an agent, both for movies and TV and then for dubbing. I was also always into music and improvisation,” says Nick, who used every opportunity to stand on stage and compose improvised music.
In the 1990s, Nick starred in many sitcoms, such as Seinfeld.
“I played there a German tourist who ends up on the streets with Kramer. I still run into people who say they saw me on Seinfeld,” he laughs.
“I then got roles in shows like Criminal Minds, NCIS, Lost and then I played in 24, for three seasons. It was fun. I played the Russian president,” he says, adding:
“I’m ashamed of them right now,” he laughs.
Nick played the part with Russian rhymes otherwise.
“I had to learn a little Russian,” says Nick, getting into character; the Russian accent is not hidden.
“I came into the fifth series and was in a few episodes. I then played in the sixth series and the eighth, but there I was the villain, which I was not before. I first played him like the diplomats I had seen in my upbringing; cultured and educated and no scoundrel at all. But then I got to be the bad guy in the last series, which is every actor’s dream, to play the villain. A man laid down in prayer and asked for two things: don’t kill me from the series and make me a villain,” he says with a laugh.
“I ended up being responsible for everyone’s death in series eight,” he says natively.
Nick says that filming 24 was very relaxed, despite the action on screen.
“It just happened that you span a text on the spot and it was all right,” says Nick and says that he made many good friends on set.
Did people recognize you on the street in Los Angeles?
“It happened, yes,” says Nick, denying having lived a somewhat glamorous life as an actor in Hollywood.
“Most of the acts there just show up to work and live a pretty normal life.” I worked very hard and if I wasn’t working I was doing music, improvisation or stand-up comedy.”
Started as a stand-up artist in Iceland
Dubbing cartoons and video games is a job that Nick enjoys, but he has, among other things, the use of speaking in the hugely popular cartoon Frozen.
Unfortunately, readers can’t hear Nick’s voice, but it would best be described as extremely charming, rough and vibrant, reassuring even.
“I’m currently working on a cartoon that Paul McCartney is doing which I thought would be great.” It is based on a children’s book by him. I can do this work here in Iceland, but I am still trying to do this kind of work. I don’t take on any roles now in Los Angeles unless they are great or pay very well,” says Nick, who says he visits there several times a year.
Did your friends and family find it strange that you suddenly moved here?
“Iceland is a respected country and people think it’s cool. People now know much more about Iceland than before. Now it is wrapped in magic. People didn’t think it was strange, but maybe they were surprised. They didn’t understand that I was leaving acting in LA and going to Iceland. I thought most people admired me for taking this step, for chasing my dreams. I have a love affair with Iceland. I found my magic place.”
the follow-up interview is with Nick in the Sunndagsblaði Morgunblaðin this weekend.