Liam Woodrum on creating connections through his art

On the set of Geek Girl, Woodrum found himself learning on his feet. He hadn’t covered the experiential particulars, like hitting marks and not accidentally looking into the camera, in past acting classes. However, throughout filming, he quickly adapted to his environment — picking up the technicality of acting and the little things he hadn’t thought about before.

And speaking of Geek Girl, Woodrum’s initial attraction to the project involved the show’s immersion into the richly interesting fashion industry. “Reading the script and thinking about how they were going to pull that off and then getting to set and realizing that they completely nailed it was amazing.” 

Woodrum cites “finding out that Emily was attached” as another factor in his excitement about Geek Girl. He emphasizes what a fantastic actress and person his co-star Emily Carey was, sharing how their on and off-camera chemistry made filming easier. “Nothing is ever forced between us,” Woodrum shares. “We had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs. We had a great friendship that we could play around with on screen.” 

Another relationship Woodrum forged on-set with his co-star Emmanuel ‘Manny’ Imani proved to be incredibly helpful as he found his footing on set. “I was so incredibly nervous on my first day filming. I was stiff as a board, my lip was probably shaking, and we weren’t getting what we needed to get. Five, six takes go by, and Manny comes up to me and [asks] ‘are you having fun right now?’ I said ‘yeah, I’m having fun,’ and he looked at me and said ‘are you really having fun right now?’ I was like ‘no, I’m not having fun, I’m freaking out, I feel like I’m messing everything up.’ He [told me], ‘Relax and take a breath. Remember that we’re so lucky to be doing this, so bring the joy back into it.’ That was a great memory that I’ll take with me onto every set.”

Because of those first time nerves, Woodrum felt that Nick was the perfect character for his first major role. “You get some roles where the words immediately jump off the page — there’s no forcing [it], and they all come naturally, and that happened with this character.” Woodrum reflects on the importance of understanding Nick’s behavior and finding those moments of genuine humanity in each scene, helping the character jump off the page.

“Nick is a famous supermodel,” Woodrum says, “but when we really look at it he’s a 17-year-old kid living in a different country with none of his friends and family. The life he lives is pretty lonely.” While Woodrum didn’t grow up a famous supermodel, he combined his sympathy towards the character with the relatable aspects of his personality to deliver a grounded and realistic portrayal of someone living a less than realistic lifestyle. 

In Woodrum’s eyes, a lot of the love around Geek Girl comes from the relatability of the characters and experiences portrayed in the series. “I think anyone, no matter what age they are, can look at any character in the show and see themselves in them,” Woodrum reflects. “Just because you feel like you don’t fit in in high school does not mean you’re not going to fit in the rest of your life.” Woodrum admits that he could also relate to those themes of insecurity while growing up. “When you’re 16 or 17 years old, you instantly regret everything that comes out of your mouth — the way you walk, the way you talk to someone you have a crush on.”