Noel Johansen Talks ‘Somewhere Between’ and the Importance of Characters with Disabilities on TV [Exclusive Interview]

ABC’s new summer thriller, Somewhere Between, follows Laura Price (Paula Patton) a news reporter in San Francisco as she tries to change the fate of her young daughter.

Working alongside Price is Nico Jackson (Devon Sawa), a cop-turned private investigator. Somewhere Between also stars Noel Johansen, who plays Nico’s mentally challenged brother, Danny.

I recently spoke with Johansen about Somewhere Between and what it’s like playing a character with deletion syndrome.

Stepping into this role was something Johansen was more than ready to be able to do.

“I think what really interested me was his vulnerability,” Johansen began. “Even though he’s challenged, he’s extremely vulnerable and a very generous person. And something about that spoke to me very deeply, and I knew I had to play the part.”

“I couldn’t be happier to bring to light that a character like this,” he said. “Characters like this don’t get a chance to be on screen very much. Deletion syndrome is a challenging condition, because there are lots of degrees to it. The degree that we all agreed on in terms of the production and myself, was a milder form.”

Johansen hopes that showing this kind of character on television will make an impact. “I think this will capture folks with and without disabilities,” he said, noting that he hopes the character can reassure people with disabilities that they have “a really important part to play in family and a really important in the greater world.”

“Danny will show that,” Johansen continued.  “There are some super interesting twists and turns — things that people won’t expect happen, and I think it will reveal that people with disabilities are emotionally heroic as well as anything. I’m very excited and honored to be able to portray somebody like this.”

Johansen spent time researching deletion syndrome as part of preparing for the role, and realized how it can affect people in very different ways.

“I saw the various degrees to which deletion syndrome can affect people. You know, in severe cases you have a cleft lip and there’s asymmetry physically — possibly in the face, sometimes the body. There [are] cardiovascular issues that can be problematic. People can be schizophrenic or bi-polar,” he explained.

Additionally, Johansen described an emotional vulnerability with deletion syndrome that makes it different from other conditions, such as Autism. As an actor, he had to tap into his own experiences to help convey that vulnerability.

“I lived in the vulnerability of what I experienced as a child. Not that I had a terrible childhood at all, but there were times — I was the oldest child in the family, and my mom was a single mom. So I didn’t always get the kind of attention that I wanted. Not because of active neglect, but more because there were three of us and one of her. So there were times I just remember having to do things on my own,” Johansen said.

“I just remember that mild loneliness a kid and the vulnerability that I felt. Danny really tapped into that.”

Johansen said Somewhere Between is a particularly unique show, and that everyone involved was challenging themselves in new ways.

“We were pushing the boundaries of the genre and also the content. I think it really challenged everybody to step up to the plate in a way that I hadn’t had the opportunity to do,” he noted.

In describing the series as a whole, Johansen explained that it was not only visually striking, but that the storytelling would keep the audience on their toes.

“It grabs you, and its story twists are remarkable. So much so that we would get story twists the day before shooting, for example, and it would be shocking.”

In addition to Somewhere Between, Johansen will appear on the upcoming DirecTV comedy, Loudermilk. “My scene is with Ron Livingston, and he plays an alcoholic anonymous group leader, and I was one too, and he came to my meeting and discovered much to his chagrin that I had a drink in my hand,” Johansen laughed.

He also described what it was like to work with Livingston. “We would have dialogue experiments while we were shooting the scene. And what I mean by that is yes, we would try to stick to the script, but if it went off the rails, he really wanted to play with that,” he explained. “That was exciting as an actor. And Ron was wonderful to work with.”

Johansen can also be seen on the upcoming Hallmark film, Love Finds Its Way. “Working on that was great,” he said. “I love doing Hallmark projects.”

Be sure to catch Noel Johansen on Somewhere Between, airing Monday, July 24th at 10/9c on ABC.

*Featured image credit: Brandon Hart

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