Brilliant Minds: Alex MacNicoll Discusses His Character’s Rare Diagnosis [Interview]

Alex MacNicoll says we can expect exciting things both “at the hospital and outside of the hospital” for his character on the new NBC drama Brilliant Minds this season. 

MacNicoll plays Dr. Van Markus, an intern who has just learned that he has a neurological condition called “Mirror-touch Synesthesia.” Of course, it’s Dr. Oliver Wolf (Zachary Quinto) who realizes Van has the rare condition, and he sees it as something that could be an asset for Van as a medical professional.

I recently had the chance to chat with MacNicoll about working on the medical drama series and how the new diagnosis will affect his character moving forward.

MacNicoll said his favorite thing about working on the show is the people and how much fun they’ve had on set.

“We really had a wonderful group,” MacNicoll said. “As an actor, it’s challenging to have subject material that you’re not familiar with just on a base level. The medical stuff is difficult, and it feels like work, but everything outside of that feels like play. We had such great groups of people, and we had wonderful guest stars, and everyone was kind.”

MacNicoll added that the show has several medical consultants on set and that one of the writers is an ER nurse.

Those resources helped, as did looking up words from scripts ahead of time. MacNicoll said he tried to “be a good student” when it came to learning the medical jargon.

It was revealed on Brilliant Minds Season 1 Episode 3 that Dr. Wolf thinks Van has Mirror-touch Synesthesia.

It’s a brief conversation at the end of the episode, but it already seems to explain a lot for Van, including why he’s had some issues with patients and, in one case, even stopped breathing. On Brilliant Minds Season 1 Episode 5, he’ll learn a little more about the condition.

“In very basic terms, it’s extreme empathy to the point of almost taking on whatever someone who is in your eyeline, or who you’re speaking with or interacting with, is going through,” MacNicoll explained.

“Since it is such a rare condition, there’s not a whole lot out there on it, but there are a couple of cases in particular that, I was very fortunate, that they’ve been very open about their condition, sharing and talking about it, and writing papers about it, and stuff like that.”

He said that researching those stories and learning about those experiences was a real benefit. Otherwise, he focused on being “present, vulnerable, and as open as possible so that those emotions could come through and be portrayed authentically.”

Van learning that he has this condition has the potential to change his life drastically moving forward. 

“It gives Van the opportunity to look back into his past and figure out reasons why maybe relationships or friendships went a certain way, and then the opportunity to either try to go back and confront those and heal those things or to move forward in life and learn from it,” MacNicoll said.

He added that Van would now have the chance to “use it as this tool, as this amazing gift in a way, whereas in the past it’s kind of been this hindrance.”

“I think it’s gonna be one of those things where it’s like, ‘Okay, what do you do with this information?’ So I think Ben has the opportunity to take it as a glass half full or a glass half empty kind of thing. Does he just kind of go away from his dream of working in the medical field, or does he embrace it and try to see how he can use this condition for good, and use this to his advantage and try to help other people?”

Brilliant Minds airs Mondays at 10/9c on NBC.

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