"Degrassi: The Next Generation": Interviews with Aubrey Graham, Shane Kippel, Shenae Grimes and Cassie Steele

Part One A Night with the Degrassi The Next Generation CastShenae Grimes joined the cast of Degrassi The Next Generation in its fourth season Of the possibility of being on the show she said quotI needed it I wanted it so badquot Grimes remembers her first audition for Degrassi as the whole cast was there doing a read through At the time Grimes thought quotOh my god this is what it would be likequotShane Kippel who has been on Degrassi The Next Generation for all seven seasons remarked quotI wish I could see it from the other side and get that tinglequotThe tingle that Kippel is referring to is the feeling that most kids get while watching Degrassi It39s obvious there39s something special about this show as it tells those kids39 stories While spending the night at MTV39s TRL with four members of the Degrassi cast Aubrey Graham Shane Kippel Shenae Grimes Cassie Steele I had the chance to sit down with them and get their feelings on their charactersAubrey Graham as Jimmy BrooksAubrey Graham has also been on Degrassi since the first season In season four his character Jimmy was shot in a school shooting leaving him in a wheelchair Over time Graham says of playing a handicapped character quotI39ve become very comfortable in that settingquot To prepare for the role Graham went out to public places with a boy in a wheelchair to quotsee how it really feels to really be separatequot One of the difficult parts of Jimmy39s character is his attempts to have a solid love story In season six when Jimmy tries to advance his sexual relationship with girlfriend Ashley he learns that his physical disabilities have caused him to have some erectile issues Yes Degrassi does go there Of the storyline Graham remarked quotIt crossed my mind 39Are they gonna39 go there39 and they did go that far It39s great for me to play It comes with the territory and I accept the rolequotJimmy and Ashley fans most likely don39t have much to look forward to however quotI think Ashley wants more from life you39ll slowly start to see them driftquot Graham foreshadowed Yet he said there39s a quotpossibilityquot a new girl might drift into Jimmy39s worldAs for the friends in Jimmy39s life his relationship with Spinner Shane Kippel has been an uphill battle at times They went from best friends to enemies when Jimmy found out that Spinner played a role in his shooting and back to best friends quotHe changed my Jimmy39s life and not for the better Personally I wouldn39t be friends with that personquot Graham said Prior to the shooting Jimmy39s goal was to be the star of the school basketball team Postshooting he began to pursue art The hobby that is more true to Jimmy39s personality quotBasketball and sports hands downquot said Graham He added that the most quotintegral part of playing the characterquot is trying to wrap his mind around the fact that Jimmy can39t just get up and play sports again quotI always have it in the back of my headquot Graham explained quotI look at people standing up and think I used to be taller than themquot On a positive note Graham said for season seven quotThings are getting better Life is returning to a normal state I definitely think Jimmy can be happyquot Graham himself should be smiling quite often as his music career continues to pick up In fact he left straight from the TRL appearance to head to a meeting with Clive Davis He39s quotgearing up to release an album next yearquot and Trey Songz39s album which Graham worked on is currently in stores You can check out Graham39s music at httpthisisdrakecom And Graham hinted that his music will appear on the upcoming season of Degrassi The Next GenerationShane Kippel as Gavin quotSpinnerquot MasonThe one question everyone wanted answered by Shane Kippel was quotWhich hairstyle has he liked bestquot And quotdid he do them for the show or for himselfquotYou see Spinner39s character has had numerous hairstyles throughout Degrassi39s run quotIt39s always fun to have a specific quirkquot Kippel said Yet what is important to note is that in the upcoming season Spinner39s hair shaved will be a substantial part of his storyline Although Kippel won39t give anything away he said quotThis year he goes through his own problems that aren39t friend oriented This year is more personalquot Kippel also said this is his toughest work to date hinting that his storyline is going to be quite intenseBack to Spinner39s hair in past seasons Only two of the styles were for personal reasons quotThe first hairstyle in season one which I like to talk about very littlequot and quotIn season two the girl I was with at the time wanted me to dye it blondequot Kippel explained quotMy personal favorite was the flip it was a hell of a year for me I got made fun of by Kevin Smith my idolquotAs for Spinner39s romantic life Kippel said Spinner has had the quotright girl for every phasequot and he quotmight or might not have a new love interestquot in season seven quotHe might or might not meet the perfect girl for himquot Kippel addedSo what were Spinner and Shane39s feelings when Spinner39s ex Paige announced she was bisexual quotKnowing Spinner he probably thought it was amazingquot Kippel laughed quotIn real life if my ex turned into a lesbian I39d be very insecure for awhilequotOutside of Degrassi Kippel said he has some other projects in the works and is pressing on with his musical aspirations In addition he39s quotdoing things any 21yearold would doquotShenae Grimes as Darcy EdwardsJoining the Degrassi The Next Generation cast was quotthe scariest experience of my lifequot Shenae Grimes recalled Before her first day quotI had nightmares of the Degrassi castquot she said Grimes was so nervous that she was very quiet in the beginning quotThey probably thought I was a mute at firstquotGrimes39 character Darcy Edwards is deeply religious but often grapples with her good girl image quotShe was raised a Christian girl Her parents instilled all these values and rules in her and she didn39t necessarily agree with itquot Grimes explained quotShe39s battling the traditional values forced upon her that didn39t fit with who she was so she rebelled and went in the opposite directionquotHaving seen the premiere of season seven fans know that Darcy is put through the ringer with one tragedy occurring after another First she and Peter get into an argument over her vow of abstinence Then Darcy gets drunk and wakes up only to think she slept with Peter Peter of course tells some of his friends and the gossip spreads around school Darcy then finds out she never slept with Peter but was actually slipped a roofie and raped To deal with it Darcy attempts suicide Thankfully Manny finds her in time to save her Needless to say Grimes had to act out some pretty heavy scenesGrimes describes these experiences as quotone big time rollercoasterquot and said that the issues in the premiere aren39t the only troubles that Darcy is going to face this season Grimes added that playing Darcy this season has been quotemotionally drainingquot and that she39d quotgo home and be an emotional wreck Those are not fake tears all the timequot Beyond Degrassi Grimes is filming Picture This with High School Musical star Ashley Tisdale She described the experience as quotreally exciting really funquot and said there is absolutely no competition between the Disney kids and The N kids Grimes is also filming a Lifetime movie Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet which tells a story similar to that of Lindsay Lohan39s life Cassie Steele as Manny SantosCassie Steele likes to play the bad girl and that39s a good thing since her character Manny Santos has definitely had her share of bad girl experiences quotIt39s fun to playquot she said quotI can39t do it in real lifequot Plus she said quotNo matter how real the character is it39s not me Having sex getting an abortion That39s not mequotIn season three Manny got pregnant and later had an abortion The abortion episode however was banned in the United States Of the incident Steele said quotI thought it was greatquot because it showed that abortion really is a controversial subject quotThey can39t run away from the issuequot Steele added Furthermore she said kids were going to see the episode anyway whether it was through YouTube or a bootleg copy The abortion episode finally did air in the United States in 2006 during a Degrassi marathonAlso in response to the abortion episode ban Steele said quotYou can39t candy coat it for too longquot Degrassi is known for not sugar coating anything and always telling stories in as truetolife of a fashion as possible quotIt39s really important for girls to see thatquot Steele said of all of her character39s storylinesquotManny39s not a bad personquot Steele declared She believes quotManny has leveled outquot in terms of her rebelliousness quotAll her friends lean on her shoulders now She tells it like it isquot Steele also gets to share her true feelings as she39s launched quite a successful singing career You can visit her MySpace page to listen to her tunes Steele described her music as quotmore of indie stuff not mainstreamquot She also said that quotmusic is my heart and soulquotRecently Steele guest starred on The N39s The Best Years and appeared in MTV39s Super Sweet 16 The MovieBe sure to check out new episodes of Degrassi The Next Generation on The N Fridays at 8 pm ETAdditional Research By Sally CohenCutler and Danny Rosenberg

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"Degrassi: The Next Generation": Interviews with Aubrey Graham, Shane Kippel, Shenae Grimes and Cassie Steele

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