Acting up

British-born German star Nikeata Thompson tells DQ about navigating her shift from presenting to actor and landing a role in Where’s Wanda?, the first German original series for Apple TV+.

To German audiences, Nikeata Thompson is a familiar face from her stints as a judge on competition reality shows such as Got to Dance and Germany’s Next Top Model.

But the British-born author and choreographer is adding another string to her bow with an increasing number of acting appearances, most recently appearing in Where’s Wanda?, the first German original series from Apple TV+.

“My first film was actually in 2011 [Lollipop Monster], so time goes really fast,” she tells DQ. “But it was a really nice thing to do because I had great people I worked with. It was with [director] Ziska Riemann and she’s really great. I was allowed to just play and be myself in a way.

“It’s really fun creating a new persona. A lot of times people would not think I have what it takes, but this time [on Where’s Wanda?] was totally different. I can just show who I am and I have a lot of talent in me, and when you get a chance like that, you just go for it, no matter if you’re scared or nervous.”

Where’s Wanda? is a dark comedy that tells the story of Dedo and Carlotta Klatt (Axel Stein and Heike Makatsch), who are desperate to locate their missing 17-year-old daughter Wanda (Lea Drinda), who disappeared months earlier without a trace. When the police fail to find her, the family take matters into their own hands, obtaining surveillance devices with the help of their tech-savvy son Ole (Leo Simon) and bugging their neighbourhood, leading them to discover that behind closed doors, none of their neighbours are who they pretend to be.

In the eight-part series, which debuted last month, Thompson plays Detective Michelle Rauch, who leads the search for Wanda – but Dedo and Carlotta’s increasingly suspicious behaviour leads her to suspect they know more than they are telling her as they undertake an investigation of their own.

“I liked that she was a tough cookie and that she had a vision and she gets everything done. Nobody stands in her way,” Thompson says of her character. “She’s the boss, I love that. And what I also liked was the storytelling because I was like, ‘My God, this reminds me of American series. How the hell am I going to do that?’

“I could see it already because if you look in all the houses, everybody has their story. But we don’t show it when we go out. Everybody has their own secrets, and I liked that because I’m very nosey and I do love detective stuff. I always watch it myself and that was something I always wanted to play. I felt like her already.”

For Rauch, Dedo and Carlotta are “always in the way and not respecting the real work of a detective,” Thompson notes. “I do feel for the mother, because I imagine how she feels. But Michelle wants to do some real work and the family can mess everything up and then never find the daughter. She couldn’t live with that. That’s why she’s trying to be as tough as possible.

“She can tell they don’t want to tell her anything. She knows something is going on under the surface. She’s not going to give it up.”

Thompson wanted to dive into her character’s backstory to better inform her performance. “That was really important for me because when you have traumatic events happening in your life and you’re an outsider in a way, because you’re a black woman doing something in the white man’s world, a very strong world, and getting so far, something must have happened in your life that means you can just pull through and not be too emotional,” she says. “That was the storyline I gave her.”

But the actor – who moved to Germany as a young girl and is now a German citizen based in Berlin – very nearly didn’t get the chance to play Rauch at all. Returning to the family home in Birmingham for a wedding, she was about to set off to the airport when she was told about a “big opportunity” – the chance to audition for Where’s Wanda?.

With no time to learn the words by heart, she self-taped an audition piece cold, reading from the script, before racing to catch her flight. Then back in England, she was offered another audition, this time off-book, and was able to secure the role.

In doing so, she became one of the few black police detectives on German television, following in the footsteps of Tatort (and Black Panther) star Florence Kasumba. Shows such as Sam – A Saxon and Four Blocks have also helped to increase diversity on screen.

“Everybody wants to be seen,” says Thompson, who describes herself as having “Jamaican heart, British style, German education.” “I believe in talent. I don’t believe in colours or religion. I believe in talent and opportunities, and that should be the door opener, not how I actually look. I know that’s a big thing and maybe that will never change, but as we get to know people, all of a sudden we can see we have the same thing going on. All of a sudden you don’t see the colour, you just see the history of somebody. Breaking barriers is my task. That’s why I’m on Earth.”

Being on set for Where’s Wanda?, Thompson had to quickly adjust to the rigours of making scripted television after previously working on competition shows. “The difference is quite clear because when I’m [usually] on TV sets, it’s like one day, two days,” she says. “The most I ever had was on a show with Howard [Donald] from Take That that was called Got to Dance. We were there for two weeks.”

But on the eight-part series, she found herself more at home among the cast and crew. “It’s very family oriented, even when we eat – we sit together, we talk about the script. It’s nice,” she says. “I felt more at home, and also [it was great] working so close to the directors, Christian [Ditter] and Tobi [Baumann]. I was kind of shy. I had a shyness to me. That was new to me.

“Being in the room and seeing the camera is totally different [from her other TV work]. I do not see the camera as often [presenting], but when I’m acting, there’s like 30 people in the room. How many people working on one little scene – it was unbelievable how much work went into it.”

Thompson’s other acting parts have come in TV series How to Dad and Pauline, while she will also have a guest role in upcoming ZDFneo sitcom Späti, a series set in a small convenience store in the centre of Berlin.

Such is her focus on acting now that she says she will reduce her other work by 60% in order to take up scripted projects. “I need the time,” she notes. “It’s hard but it’s worth it. You have to let go to have another chance to rise in something else.”

But despite landing a leading role in Where’s Wanda?, Thompson is willing to bide her time as she plots her next moves. “If we go way back, I’ve always changed my route. As soon as I can see my heart is not in it anymore, I have to let go because I won’t be getting the results [I want] and people won’t be getting the good results they want. It’s just a natural thing for me to do,” she adds.

“If it means not getting all the jobs at the beginning, that’s just how it is. You have to take your time. I’m very lucky. I know I’m very blessed to be able to star as a main character in Where’s Wanda?. It’s crazy and surreal, to be honest.”

tagged in: Apple TV+, Nikeata Thompson, Where’s Wanda?