6 Degrees

Early last summer, two of my coworkers auditioned for an upcoming part on The L Word. After a few weeks of intense waiting, we learned that one of them - Jon Wolfe Nelson* - had won the part and would be heading for Vancouver BC to film seven episodes! He is playing the role of Tom Mater, who is Jodi Lerner's interpreter (Jodi is played by Marlee Matlin). And yes, he is a real ASL interpreter who is also an actor.

He wouldn't tell us much about this season. He didn't appear until episode 4, so we waited almost all of January to see his debut. Sunday night, we sat in front of the tv waiting for Jon's part to appear. OMG! That shirt was too much! but it does set up that character in a way only another interpreter (or a deaf person) would really understand. You see, we professional interpreters typically wear a solid color shirt that is contrasting to our skin color. Which means, for someone like Jon, it would be a solid blue, black, brown, green, etc. Solid. Dark. Not bright orange flames. The shirt screams that his character has a unique rapport with Jodi, and that he doesn't necessarily follow "the rules". It is obvious that he and Marlee worked very well together on this show, and I am really excited about the future this opens up for him.

I talked to Jon yesterday at work. He said the best is yet to come; to make sure and watch this Sunday's episode, where he is in the first scene after the intro. I can't wait!

* Unfortunatley, this site is not up to date with his acting bio, but the picture is great!