PopGurls Interview: Degrassi’s Stacey Farber (2004)

Source: PopGurls
Author: Amanda
Published: June 7, 2004
Document Type: Online Feature Interview
Source Links:
View Archive Version 1 (Wayback Machine)
View Archive Version 2 (Wayback Machine)

Stacey Farber is 16, rapidly approaching 17 (her birthday is August 25), but is as articulate as someone twice her age. Her character on Degrassi: The Next Generation, Ellie Nash, has been through the ups and downs of a typical teenager on a television drama. Her first crush turned out to be gay, her mother is a drunk, her father is in the armed services and is rarely home, she cuts herself to ease the pain, and she’s navigating the waters of a new relationship with the show’s troubled bad boy. Oh, and she still has time for playing in a band and an internship at the local TV station.

I spoke with Stacey on the phone on her last day of grade 11, and learned that she doesn’t let much scare her. She’s also genuinely thrilled to be playing Ellie, is excited to see Ellie in a good relationship with Sean, and has a thing for The OC’s Seth Cohen. (Who doesn’t?) And, in the proud tradition of PopGurls interviews with Degrassi cast members, she had a cold. “It must be a Canadian thing,” she told me.

Let’s just jump right into it. Ellie is the girl on the fringe of her social circle. In real life, where do you fit in? Are you a leader? A follower?

I’m a little bit of both. I lead sometimes, and sometimes it’s nice to just follow – not into doing bad things, of course – but sometimes it’s nice to just sit back. I don’t think anyone in my group is really a leader or a follower, fully. If I have any position in my social group, I would say that I am the entertainer. Maybe it’s because I’m the actor, that probably has something to do with it. I’m not the class clown, but I’m usually the one making my friends laugh and making sure that they’re having fun.

Fans assume that their favorite actors are always confident and ready to face any situation. Is this true of you?

No! (laughs) I definitely get nervous about things all the time. I’m human.

Is there someone you’d be nervous or even afraid to meet?

I’d probably get nervous – I know this sounds kind of funny, because people think of me as being a celebrity, I guess – but I’d probably get flustered if I were to meet someone really famous. I don’t know why. It’s weird, when I meet fans, because they get all excited and don’t know what to say, and I’m just me. I don’t think I’m anything to get that excited about.

Just to switch gears for a second, I read that you’re a fan of The OC. Which boy on The OC is your cup of tea?

Oh! Good question! This one is tough. They all have their good and bad qualities, but I think I’d have to side with Seth. I know! I hate to say it, because I don’t want to be the follower, but there’s just something about him. I’m a huge fan of laughing, and I’m totally into guys who are funny. Seth just does it every time, every episode. He just has some great lines. And [Adam Brody] is so cute.

When you auditioned for The Next Generation, had you been a fan of the original series?

I had seen the show a couple of times. I had friends who were fans of the show, so they were all really excited when they heard I had an audition for The Next Generation. But I hadn’t really been addicted to the show or anything.

What was the audition process like? Did you perform a scene that made it into the show?

Originally, I should say, I went in for the role of Kendra Mason, Spinner’s adopted sister. And I messed up. Horribly. I mean, I totally messed up my lines. But I continued with the audition, and at the end they said, ‘You know, that was great, we don’t think this is the character for you, but we’re working on another character, do you think you could read for that?’ They called me in a couple of weeks, and they had written the character of Ellie, so that’s how I eventually got to read for that role.

Are you ever surprised by the seriousness of the issues that they cover on the show?

I’m not surprised. Everything they’ve shown on the show happens in real life, people experience those things every day. I’m actually glad that the show covers more controversial issues, so that kids get a chance to learn from the show.

In the last couple of days, a news story broke about a Canadian school where students were cutting themselves after watching the Degrassi episode “Whisper To A Scream.” When those things happen, do the producers sit down and talk with you about it?

They did, yeah. This is the first time I had ever heard about anything like this happening, because usually we get such positive feedback. I’ve gotten tons of fan mail where kids are thanking me for what I’ve done. We were all really upset to hear about that. It was really unfortunate. We did sit down and discuss it, and talked about how I can’t really blame myself for anything that happened, because I was just doing my job. It’s so sad, and I was so upset to hear about it. I guess [the episode] was just taken the wrong way.

Do you have plans to stick with the character until Ellie graduates?

I’d love to go as far as the writers take it. No one really knows what’s going to happen when the characters graduate. Right now we’re filming the season where the characters are in grade 11, so there’s one more year. No one knows what will happen, but I’m willing to take it as far as they are willing to let me.

Degrassi episodes are often edited from the original before they are aired in the U.S. In fact, there are rumors that U.S. viewers won’t be able to see either of the “Accidents Will Happen” episodes. As a teenager yourself, do you feel that your peers are capable of handling that type of information, about topics like abortion?

I think my peers are capable of handling it. But I can’t speak for everyone, and I think it depends on the age group. I know the [typical age] of our viewers in Canada is a lot older than what you get in the States. Most people who watch the show in Canada are, I think, women between the ages of 18 and 34. And I know that in the States it’s a lot younger than that. I think it probably has a lot to do with the age group, and how much they want to show younger viewers. I think you have to respect that.

Archival Note: This interview was originally published on June 7, 2004, on the pop culture website PopGurls.com. It was conducted on Stacey Farber’s final day of Grade 11, providing a candid look at her audition history (including her failed reading for Kendra Mason) and her perspective on the show’s most controversial storylines of the era, such as Ellie’s self-harm and the U.S. broadcasting ban of the Manny Santos abortion episodes.