By Larina Ling
In the words of Nikolai Osborn, “Being a human being is a pretty rare thing; and if you’re in this world, even if you don’t understand everything, you may as well experience everything.”
Nikolai Osborn, a Collingwood grad this 2018-19 school year, has been performing since his first role in the school play The Crucible in 2014. In addition to being a talented actor, he’s also an aspiring movie director. Below is the link to a short film Nikolai directed, starring Charlotte Anderson and Farryn Van Humbeck.
George Lucas, director of the Star Wars movies, is someone Nikolai looks up to. He describes the concept behind the Star Wars universe as an innovation in technology, and greatly admires the way George Lucas combines so many aspects to create it. However, in his opinion, the new episodes are “not made by artists”. On why Nikolai would rather be a movie director than an actor, he answers: because directing brings together all different aspects of art in general, and fuses them together to make a whole new art piece. Nikolai has had a passion for movie directing for a long time. One of the reasons why Nikolai invested an interest in acting in the first place was because he wanted the experience of being on stage to better allow him to understand how to work with actors when directing. When writing his own scripts, he draws inspiration for his characters from real life experiences. Applying his own experiences to his characters in new ways, and having them react differently to different situations is part of how he achieves a realistic performance.
In the words of Nikolai Osborn, “Being a human being is a pretty rare thing; and if you’re in this world, even if you don’t understand everything, you may as well experience everything.”
Nikolai Osborn, a Collingwood grad this 2018-19 school year, has been performing since his first role in the school play The Crucible in 2014. In addition to being a talented actor, he’s also an aspiring movie director. Below is the link to a short film Nikolai directed, starring Charlotte Anderson and Farryn Van Humbeck.
George Lucas, director of the Star Wars movies, is someone Nikolai looks up to. He describes the concept behind the Star Wars universe as an innovation in technology, and greatly admires the way George Lucas combines so many aspects to create it. However, in his opinion, the new episodes are “not made by artists”. On why Nikolai would rather be a movie director than an actor, he answers: because directing brings together all different aspects of art in general, and fuses them together to make a whole new art piece. Nikolai has had a passion for movie directing for a long time. One of the reasons why Nikolai invested an interest in acting in the first place was because he wanted the experience of being on stage to better allow him to understand how to work with actors when directing. When writing his own scripts, he draws inspiration for his characters from real life experiences. Applying his own experiences to his characters in new ways, and having them react differently to different situations is part of how he achieves a realistic performance.
When it comes to acting, Nikolai finds it to be a really rewarding challenge to play characters that are very different from who he is. However, he doesn’t have a preference to what type of character he plays, and enjoys portraying a wide variety of personalities. His favourite role was in the play Amadeus, his second ever leading role, where his character was complex and layered. Nikolai is a fan of classical music, which is why playing Amadeus was such a perfect fit for him.
For the rest of his last year at high school, Nikolai plans to do his best to experience as much as he can. Living life to the fullest is important to him, and he wants to get the full experience by taking risks and trying new things. If he chooses not to pursue a career in the world of movie directing, his next choice would be anything that involves being a leader to people - with the VERY clear exception of politics - because he finds it rewarding to work with people, and he loves having the chance to make something great in the world.