Stephanie Leonidas From Defiance Interview About Season Two And Transforming Into Irisa

Stephanie Leonidas stars as Irisa in the hit sci-fi series Defiance. This British actress has honed her acting skills through many stage productions and British TV works such as The Sugar Syndrome and MirrorMask. Now she’s back on the air as Defiance, Season 2 premieres Thursday, June 19 at 10pm ET/PT on Showcase. Real Style asked Stephanie about her role on the show and just how long does it take to look like Irisa. See what she had to say.

Real Style: How would you describe your character on Defiance, Irisa, in one sentence? 

Stephanie Leonidas: A feisty, feral Irathient who is fiercely loyal to her father Nolan.

How was it been working with your co-star, Shaun Benson, who plays Lenny on the show?
Stephanie: Sadly I didn’t really get to work with Shaun, Irisa is pretty isolated this season. But I heard he was lovely! Haha.

Real Style: What have been some of the biggest challenges, as an actress, of playing Irisa?

Stephanie: As if season one wasn’t hard enough for her, season 2 sees Irisa in even murkier waters. Her journey goes into a very dark and twisted place. So playing Irisa this season was no walk in the park! The stunts got more difficult, her emotions more intense, and she’s even more the feral creature we got glimpses of in season 1. It was full on every day but she’s a great character to play.

Real Style: Can we expect a third season of the show?

Stephanie: Fingers crossed! I think season 2 really takes Defiance into an edgier grittier world where nothing is quite as we left it in season 1. I’d love to see how season 3 can take everything even further.

Real Style: For anyone who is a fan of the show, what can audiences expect to happen to Irisa in the coming episodes?

Stephanie: Expect the unexpected. As much as we’d love to be back singing Johnny Cash, sadly this season we see Nolan and Irisa grow further and further apart. It’s painful for each of them, but Irisa is on a mission of her own, and she’ll do almost anything not to let anyone get in her way. It’s a lonely journey but her faith in Irzu is stronger and her knives and tongue sharper than ever!

Real Style: There was a Defiance video game which was released last year, which must have been exciting! What can you tell us about that?

Stephanie: It’s really exciting. The first time we meet Irisa and Nolan is in the game, and the crossovers from game to series really open up the world of Defiance.

Real Style: How does portraying a role in a sci-fi series differ from a different genre, like playing a part in a romantic comedy, drama, or action series?
Stephanie: What I love about sci-fi is the way that it reflects back real human drama in an alien world. And it can include elements of all genres. It allows us to push boundaries and be as creative as we want.

Real Style: Irisa has quite an intense beauty look on the show! How long does it take for you to get through wardrobe and get into character, especially with the extreme makeup and wig?

Stephanie: It takes roughly 2 and a half hours to transform into Irisa . It’s quite amazing to sit watching the process happen in front of my eyes. It never ceases to amaze me!

Photos: Shaw Media, Faye Thomas

Author: Staff writer June 18, 2014

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Jennifer Morrison from Once Upon a Time and Jaime Murray and Defiance cast at the Monte-Carlo TV Festival

Once Upon A Nude… Jennifer Morrison steps out in pale beige blouse and skirt at the Monte-Carlo TV Festival while Jaime Murray is chic in high-waisted trousers

By HANNA FLINT

PUBLISHED: 19:24, 9 June 2014 | UPDATED: 20:23, 9 June 2014

As Emma Swan in Once Upon A Time, Jennifer Morrison is known for her skinny jeans and leather jacket.

But on Monday, the actress went for a more elegant look at the 54th Monte-Carlo Television Festival.

Wearing a nude sheer blouse and camisole tucked into a matching skirt, Jennifer proved to be quite the fairytale beauty in Monaco.

Nude ambition: Jennifer Morrison looks chic in a pale beige sheer blouse, cami and matching skirt at the 54th Monte-Carlo Television Festival

A beautiful Swan: The Once Upon A Time star added a side-plait to her hair for the photo call

Chic: Jaime Murray wore black high-waisted trousers with a colourful top tucked in

Morrison added a pair of black Mary-Jane peep-toe shoes and a bow-detail clutch bag, while styling her platinum blonde hair with a side-plait.

The actress is a well-known face on the small screen thanks to her breakthrough role as Dr. Allison Cameron in House M.D. and recurring parts in How I Met Your Mother, and of course ABC’s fairy-tale fantasy series she was in Monte-Carlo to promote.

The show will be premiering its fourth season this coming September, as it takes the viewers back to the fictional town of Storybrooke where the real world meets fairy-tale.

Cute: Jaime and her co-star Tony Curran get affectionate at the Defiance photo call

Series two: The Sci-Fi show is currently in its second season and the cast - including Julie Benz and Grant Bowler - were in Monte-Carlo to promote the show

Hey D.B.: Ted Danson in Monaco to promote CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

Also looking ever so stylish at the festival was British actress Jaime Murray, who looked chic in a pair of high-waisted black trousers with a colourful cami top tucked in.

The British actress wore black and white strappy sandals on her feet and carried a large envelope clutch as she joined her Defiance co-stars Scottish actor Tony Curran, US actress Julie Benz and US actor Grant Bowler at a photo call.

Currently in its second series, Defiance is a sci-fi drama set in the year 2046, on Earth, over thirty years after various alien races arrived on the planet; causing the landscape to completely alter and terraform to beyond recognition. 

Defiance is the town formerly known as St. Louis and events begin to unfold that threaten the fragile peace in the community.

Ted Danson, Eric Szmanda and Wallace Langham from CSI: Crime Scene Investigation were also at the festival to promote their long-running TV show in the official programme.

Team effort: Danson was joined by co-stars Eric Szmanda and Wallace Langham

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2653186/Jennifer-Morrison-steps-pale-beige-blouse-skirt-Monte-Carlo-TV-Festival-Jaime-Murray-chic-high-waisted-trousers.html#ixzz34AyjdiIq
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Video: Defiance Season 2 Promo

Stephanie LeonidasVerified account‏@StephLeonidas

Coming soon... @DefianceWorld #DefianceSeason2

Wouldn't hurt a fly @DefianceWorld #DefianceSeason2

Defiance Season 2 Promo 

Published on 18 May 2014

Defiance Season 2 Promo. Set on a future Earth, Defiance introduces players and viewers to a world where humans and aliens live together on a planet ravaged by decades of war and transformed by alien terra-forming machines. It centers on Jeb Nolan, the law-keeper in a bustling frontier boomtown that is one of the new world's few oasis of civility and inclusion. Nolan is a former Marine who fought in the alien conflict and suffered the loss of his wife and child in the war. The trauma transformed him into a lone wanderer in the wilds of this new and dangerous world. Defiance season 2 premieres June 19, 2014 at 9:00 pm on SYFY.

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On BixTvPromos you can watch all the latest television promos, sneak peeks and teasers from the most popular Tv shows. Some of the channels of the Defiance we publish are NBC, FOX, FX, CW, ABC, ABC Family, A&E, HBO, AMC, SYFY, USA Network, TNT, SHOWCASE, Lifetime, BBC & much more. Subscribe to BixTvPromos and stay updated.

VIDEO: An Exclusive Interview with ‘Defiance’ Star Stephanie Leonidas

October 18, 2013 | TDQ Multimedia Team

VIDEO: An Exclusive Interview with ‘Defiance’ Star Stephanie Leonidas - thedailyquirk.com

Stephanie Leonidas (Image Credit: Sean Torenli / The Daily Quirk)

The lovely Stephanie Leonidas (who you may or may not recognize without her Irathient makeover) stars as the feisty, vision having and butt-kicking Irisa in Syfy’s Defiance. Irisa’s life gets turned upside down when she and her adoptive father, Joshua Nolan (Grant Bowler), roll into a town called Defiance and he’s quickly appointed the Chief Lawkeeper. Irisa forgoes her instinct to wander and sticks around to help Nolan, and without spoiling too much for those of you still catching up on this amazing sci-fi drama, it’s a really, really good thing she did!

We caught up with Stephanie at New York Comic Con to talk Irisa’s Season One journey, that cliffhanger finale and what to expect in Season Two! Watch the exclusive interview below…

Exclusive Interview with Stephanie Leonidas

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The Secretly Beautiful Stephanie Leonidas of Defiance on Comic-Con Fans

We like her even more in real life

By Matthew Kitchen

(Left) Getty Images

Stephanie Leonidas out of character... and in character.

We definitely don't suggest spontaneous proposals to actresses you don't actually know, especially after a moderator's casual warning in the very public setting of New York City's Comic-Con, but you can almost understand one fan's instinct last week after seeing Stephanie Leonidas up close and out of her alien makeup for the first time. Luckily the star of Syfy's Defiance (out now on DVD), in which Leonidas plays the badass Irathient warrior Irisia, only had to duck one such proposition during the panel for her exciting epic set in the ruins of St. Louis. We, however, kept ourselves in check as we chatted with the beautiful Brit about her show's growing following, meeting her fans in costume, and what movies make her "geek out."

ESQUIRE.COM: You look quite lovely out of your Irisia makeup, miss. And in general.

STEPHANIE LEONIDAS: [Laughs.] Thank you.

ESQ: Have you met anyone yet today who's dressed up as Irisa?

SL: I have. I've been very lucky to come across a few Irisas and I feel like I'm going to be out of a job soon if they keep doing it so well.

ESQ: What is that experience like?

SL: It's surreal. And they always tell me, "It's so surreal meeting you," but it's the same the other way. Seeing them dressed as Irisa, especially with the detail they put into their costumes, is incredible. That's what I love about these conventions. People really put a lot of work and time into their passions. I don't even know where they find the stuff. It's exactly like what I wear on the show: the chaps, the knives. I've been really impressed.

ESQ: Do they say what they love so much about your character?

SL: There's been a few different things people have said that have really stuck with me. One is that they relate with her as a young girl growing up with her father, and they related to the troubles that she's gone through with her father, and also related to the feeling of being an outsider and trying to find your place. Which we all go through, I guess. And on the other hand, they just love that she's pretty badass. Unlike me. I can barely say badass.

ESQ: If badass isn't your style, how do you get into that mode?

SL: It's funny, but as soon as I'm in costume I feel like a different person. If you were to ask me to speak as Irisa right now and do a few stunts I think I'd freak out. But as soon as I'm in costume, I feel invincible.

ESQ: What was your reaction when you got the role, but producers told you, "We think you're very talented, but we'd like to make you much less attractive. Basically if a Klingon and Thundercat mated"?

SL: [Laughs.] You know what, it's really freeing. To be able to be someone completely different, and to look in the mirror and not recognize myself underneath all that has really helped me build the character. I don't think I could think of Irisa as any other way now. I feel like we're two separate people. I can relate to what she goes through in parts, but she's completely different from me and I love the challenge of playing someone like that.

ESQ: Does hiding under the make-up keep you relatively anonymous to fans?

SL: Definitely. I arrive at the conventions and I could be anyone. People see me on the panel and think "Who is she? Who's that?" It's a nice feeling being able to do that; to completely transform. That's something that attracts me to any part, really. It's kind of my ideal role in that way.

ESQ: What would you do if someone came up to you dressed as you are now, as Stephanie, same outfit and everything, and politely said, "Hey, I'm a big fan"?

SL: That would be be cool. Wait no, strange. Not cool. Strange. I'm trying to picture that now.

ESQ: How do you like being embraced by sci-fi culture?

SL: I really love it. I feel right at home. It's very freeing to see the costumes and see people who are able to walk down the street and express themselves like that. I love it, and I love the party atmosphere that comes along with each Comic Con, just dressing up and really being able to geek out and talk to other people that love each of the shows. And it's great to meet loads of Defiance fans who want to talk about the show.

ESQ: If you were going to geek out yourself, what would be your show or movie?

SL: There'd be so many. Maybe something from The Dark Crystal. Or I always loved Back to the Future when I was younger.

ESQ: I actually went as Marty McFly for Halloween in high school.

SL: Oh, you'd be a good Marty! That must've been cool.

ESQ: Would you have gone as Jennifer, or would you aim off the map and go as someone like Doc or Biff?

SL: No, no. I'd want to be Einstein the dog. I'd go all out.

ESQ: I'd actually like to see that. So what attracted you to Irisa?

SL: Well even though I'm playing an alien, she goes through very human emotions. There's someone underneath all that who people can relate to, and that I could relate to in reading the script. It wasn't just this alien drama with people running around shooting guns and never exploring anything inside themselves. That's what really made it for me.

ESQ: And it sounds like you were a fan of sci-fi and fantasy.

SL: Definitely, and almost without even realizing it, you know. It was something I'd grown up with and loved, but it wasn't anything I ever envisioned doing. It's just something that happened and I feel really lucky to be doing it. A lot of the stuff I've done previously has been very drama based. Heavy, dark drama where I wore corsets. And this has some of those elements, but it's completely different. And action has been great.

ESQ: We're you surprised by how quickly Defiance caught on?

SL: Not at all. Even before the show aired we went out to last year's Comic Con in San Diego. Nobody had seen anything, but there were already people there ready to support it. And it's great to see those people come back this year and still be just as excited about next season. The support from fans has been incredible and I hope more people hop on this season, because it gets darker and it goes down a completely different route. I feel like it's evolved to what Defiance should really be and we're really excited about it.

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Read more: The Secretly Beautiful Stephanie Leonidas of Defiance - Esquire 
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Defiance - Gag Reel - Season 1

Jaime Murray looks flawless in a chic red dress appearing on This Morning

What jet lag? Jaime Murray looks flawless in a chic red dress as she jets in to the UK for early morning television appearance

By JASON CHESTER

PUBLISHED: 16:13, 25 June 2013 | UPDATED: 16:13, 25 June 2013

Judging by her bright smile and sparkling appearance, one would never have guessed Jaime Murray was suffering from jet lag on Tuesday morning. 

The 35-year-old actress had flown in from Los Angeles the night before to make an early morning television appearance on This Morning. 

But with a flawless face of make-up and looking stunning in a red dress, there was no sign of Jaime's tiredness as she settled down for a chat with Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby about her new TV show Defiance.

Scroll down for video

Stylish: Jaime opted for a smart red halterneck during her appearance on the show, where she talked about her role in sci-fi show Defiance

However, it may have been the thought of catching up with Schofield that kept Jaime going through her tiredness, as she admitted to being a huge fan of the silver-haired fox. 

She tweeted on Tuesday morning: 'Horribly jet lagged but woke up after night of 1 hours sleep remarkably perky and excited as off 2 @itvthismorning with @hollywills and @schofe.'

She later tweeted in response to a fan's comment: 'I've been an avid fan of @Schofe since Gordon The Gopher days.'

Brit of alright: Jaime Murray talks to schoolgirl crush Philip Schofield and co-host Holly Willoughby on ITV1 show This Morning

Meeting her crush: Schofield and Holly Willoughby interviewed Jaime on the TV show

Jaime's tweets come after she previously admitted to having something of a schoolgirl crush on the 51-year-old presenter. 

‘When I came back to the UK, I did This Morning with Philip Schofield, and when I was coming back on the aeroplane I was quite excited and nervous about meeting him because growing up, I had a bit of a crush on Philip and I had a bit of a crush on Gordon the Gopher,’ she recently told What’s on TV. 

But Jaime managed to control any nerves she was feeling to chat to Schofield and Holly about her role on Defiance. 

Following her chat a cheerful Jaime posed for photos and greeted fans outside ITV studios, where she opted to wear a stylish cream mac over her dress despite the heat.

Looking good: Jaime poses for photos outside the ITV studios in London

Essex-born Jaime moved to the US after landing a part in cult TV series Dexter in 2007, but she admits it took her longer than expected to settle in Southern California.

'Everyone thinks England and America are the same as we have the same language, but I felt like an alien as an English person living in America,' she told The Sun earlier this year.

'Sometimes I would say things and people would look at me as though I was mad. Now I have close friends, they tell me they have no idea what I’m talking about, so I do have some insight into what it is like being an alien!'

Transformation: Jaime is unrecognisable in her role as a pale-skinned alien in sci fi show Defiance

The actress also opened up about her new role as pale skinned alien Stahma Tarr - a part that frequently requires her to strip off.

'My species also seem to hang out in the bath quite a lot,' she said. 'There is a little bit of hot tub action which obviously requires stripping off. 

'So I had to be bikini ready. But out of all the scenes I have done throughout my career I felt more fully clothed than ever because I'm painted from head to toe in make-up.'

 

EXC: Jaime Murray unrecognisable as she strips off for sexy bath...

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2348114/Jaime-Murray-looks-flawless-chic-red-dress-jets-UK-early-morning-television-appearance.html#ixzz2XGiDez3Q
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