Exclusive, Nicole Parham Focus On Acting For A Brilliant Career

Nicole Parham (Photo: Savic Rabos, DI: Raga/VOI)

JAKARTA - The competition to survive in the entertainment industry has not ended. Every year, a line of new actors or actresses adorn Indonesian television. One of them is Nicole Parham, the soap opera artist who returned to the big screen.

Nicole Parham returns to acting through her latest film, Pesugihan: Bersekutu dengan Iblis. This film is Nicole's second film after Bisikan Iblis in 2018. She also met director Hanny R. Saputra after five years.

"I am here as Karin, Resika's sister (played by Isel Fricella), and a daughter of Hendri (Gary Iskak) and Marini (Nirina Zubir). This film was 5 years ago, so I forgot to remember, but yesterday I watched it again,” said Nicole Parham, opening the story.

The actress who was born on March 13 underwent a number of challenges through the film Pesugihan. Two of them are that she studied sinden and spoke Javanese. As a half-German woman, this is one of the new things she encountered in filming.

Nicole Parham (Photo: Savic Rabos, DI: Raga/VOI)

She was determined to learn and master her role by studying with the director. She also mentions that there are teachers who are ready to help her.

"This is the first time I've filmed, there's a scene where I'm in a trance and keep singing, in Javanese. Previously, in real life, I really couldn't speak Javanese, right?

"The training was also assisted by the director, Mr. Hanny (R. Saputra) who also helped me how to speak Javanese correctly and then enter a trance. Then there is also a coach to speak Javanese. I like searching while practicing speaking so that it goes smoothly", explained Nicole.

"During filming, I found out and researched videos of people who were possessed. So I will be able to demonstrate it too, right", she continued.

Debuting with a horror film made this woman whose full name is Nicole Adelaide Parham considers Pesugihan to be a special film. The reason is that besides the challenges, Nicole is also looking forward to this film being shown in theatres after being postponed due to the pandemic'.

Nicole Parham (Photo: Savic Rabos, DI: Raga/VOI)

"My first film was also in the horror genre, it was filmed at the same time as the filming of this Pesugihan film. But that one aired first and it just aired this year and I felt excited when I watched it, the results were also good", she said.

Nicole remembers when filming Pesugihan where she went to several places. She also witnessed someone possessed directly for the first time.

"I really remember the moment during the shooting, when one of the scenes in the forest in some kind of a hut, right in the last scene, this is the golden scene, the location felt so scary that there was a time when someone was possessed too. Standing in a trance was really long, one and a half hours, so the horror felt really well by the players too", continued Nicole.

During filming, Nicole also received a lot of help from the director. Therefore, she hopes to meet Hanny R. Saputra through another acting project. She also received lessons to continue to deepen her acting.

"I'm really happy that I haven't seen him for a long time and finally reunited. I hope that in the future I can do another project with Mr. Hanny because working with Mr. Hanny is really good. His directing style also fits me. Anyway, it's easy to understand, acting is also easier because it's directed by Mr. Hanny", she said.

Not Always Smooth

Nicole Parham (Photo: Savic Rabos, DI: Raga/VOI)

To VOI, Nicole Parham revealed that her desire to become an artist had been formed since childhood. At that time she liked watching television and imagine she could be on the tube television.

“I was, from the beginning since I was a kid, I wanted to be on TV. It's so narcissistic. I've been begging to be on TV. To the point that I used to think, 'do I have to knock on the TV to come in'", she said enthusiastically.

Nicole Parham then got the opportunity to be a commercial star at the age of 4 years. However, her encounter with acting only occurred when she was 6 years old where she was chased by someone while at the mall with her mother.

"Starting from there, suddenly, when I was walking with my mother at the mall, at that time I was still 6 years old, I got into soap operas when I was 6 to 7 years old, by the way. At that time I was walking at the mall with my mom, and suddenly someone was chasing me", Nicole explained.

"We thought it was a bad person so we ran. Finally, after we ran, we thought, OK, let's just walk normally. Then finally the person approached us and it turned out that he wanted to offer us a soap opera. For films and soap operas to be more precise", she said.

Nicole Parham (Photo: Savic Rabos, DI: Raga/VOI)

After that, Nicole Parham took part in the casting for the soap opera Dewa, which also marked her first acting project. However, Nicole had to resign several times because she was still busy with her education.

"When I was six, I wasn't really focused because I was still at school, so my father prohibited me from doing so. My mom supported it, but my dad didn't, it's like there's a collision so I was not focused. Mostly I took FTV jobs and such, more often the short ones", Nicole explained again.

"So it takes time for soap operas every day, I choose FTV first and then focus on soap operas right after junior high school. In the past, the problem was really about school because shootings took place until the morning, I went home early, the school was also early and I had to go to school. In the end, my mother and I decided to take homeschooling", explained the 18-year-old actress.

Now Nicole can focus on her career after graduating from high school. She wanted to develop herself in the world of film and began to transition from the world of soap operas that made her name.

"For films, the production period has been determined, so for example for this one film, we shoot for two months including reading, and so on. Read first to deepen the character. So we can read the dialogue and deepen the character and continue to understand the scenario", said the actress.

"It's different from shooting. In the beginning, there was indeed a deepening of the characters too, but as time went on, the scenario continued to drop every day and we chased after broadcasts. So today's shooting, tomorrow can be aired. We don't really have time to get deep into the characters and the scenarios are really limited. The difference is there", she explained casually.

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Nicole Parham (Photo: Savic Rabos, DI: Raga/VOI)

In the world of soap operas, Nicole Parham has starred in more than 10 soap operas and series. One of the things that made her even more known was Bad Boys vs Crazy Girls, a series that was successfully discussed in 2022.

"I'm really happy because it's viral and the audience has also exceeded 25 million, but there are pros and cons too, right? I had time to read and read the comments", said the cast Fiona in the series.

When asked how to deal with comments and criticism from the public, Nicole tries to see the positive side. Likewise, the series she starred in also has a moral message to the audience.

“This is also a story, there must be a moral message to be conveyed, either negative or positive. There is a moral message that can be conveyed about friendship, continuing the loyalty of friendship and others", she said again.

She admits, her acting career is still far from experienced. But she will not stop at one project. This Jakarta-born woman wants to continue to develop her career as long as she is still active in the entertainment world, including trying new genres.

“I want to play comedy, I think it's really a challenge for me because I myself can't do comedy and I'm not really into comedy. I want to learn comedy. I've never been in a comedy project", Nicole Parham said.

“In the future, I hope that the films, soap operas, and projects that I play will be accepted and liked by the public. Lastly, I took a break because I finished filming a really long two-year soap opera non-stop. Finally, now we are taking a break for a few months and want to come back again, so now we want to start another project", Nicole said ending our conversation that afternoon.