Shane Kippel
Shane Kippel of Degrassi: The Next Generation, has had arguably one of the most emotional story lines on the popular show recently, with his character, Spinner Mason. Even though many Degrassi characters have turned their backs on him, fans have remained loyal to the lovely Shane, who assures us that Spinner's future is looking brighter.
Photo Credit: The N
The Star Scoop:
Tell us about your personal Degrassi journey.
Shane Kippel:
My personal journey through Degrassi. Well, I mean, Degrassi is six years in right now. It's just been, I don't know. It's changed everything, the course of everything. I wouldn't trade it in for the world. I've been given an opportunity that so few kids anywhere in the world ever see, and so many of them want. I feel truly blessed by it. I'm not very religious, so it's very rare for me to be saying something about being blessed, but I just feel so lucky and fortunate to be able to experience this, and I hope that it is just the beginning of a lifetime career for myself. I've made some friends on set here that, even if we don't end up in the same place, I know I'm never going to lose contact with many of these people. So, it's just, all in all, been a life changing experience.
The Star Scoop:
Recently, Spinner's had a difficult story line. How have you prepared for this?
Kippel:
Preparing for it? There wasn't really all that much I did to prepare for it. I mean, Spinner, it was just the story line he was faced with, and I tackled it as it came along. There was some minor stuff I did researching, while I was still in school, what really goes on in a Christian club, like lunch kind of clubs at schools, things like that. But besides that, it was just kind of working with coaches and just kind of tapping into places, places of deep depression, anger. That was pretty much the only preparation I went through?
The Star Scoop:
Where do you see Spinner heading this season? Is it going to get any easier for him?
Kippel:
I hope so, it seems to have been. I've been talking to the writers, and they want to leave Spinner in a calm, pleasant place for a little while. Everything's kind of tranquil for him right now, so I think this season is more about just Spinner getting back to the basics. He has all his friends back, his school life is back on track, and now he just wants to kind of make up for lost time, and get out of school, and reconnect with his all his friends, and get back to a place that was either equal to or even better than it was before with Jimmy, with Marco, and with everybody else. So, this year is just more about rediscovering, and, like I said, getting back to the basics. It's a calmer season for Spinner. I don't know how many curve balls are going to thrown at him this year.
The Star Scoop:
Do you hold out any secret hopes for Paige and Spinner to reunite?
Kippel:
(laughs) Secret hope. I don't know. Honestly, not really, because Spinner, they had their thing. Paige and Spinner, they'll always have that connection, but the timing was wrong, the people were wrong, and it came to its end. Maybe, maybe, who knows, the people were wrong, the Ross and Rachel of Degrassi, where there's always this kind of ongoing relationship that it has its ups, it has its downs, it has its moments of heated passion, and then its moments of just kind of hating on each other. So, who knows? As for hopes, can't really say I've been thinking much about it. I'm just hoping for great story lines for myself and all the cast members, and that's as far as it goes right there.
The Star Scoop:
What is your personal relationship with the Degrassi cast like?
Kippel:
We've grown up with each other, we've gone through high school in our personal lives, we're all going through pseudo high school on TV, and we've experienced fame together. We have a connection that I don't think any of our other friends in our personal lives can touch. We have that connection. Yes, I'm closer with some of the cast members than other, we have our own little groups, and we go and we hang out off set, we'll meet up for dinner, things like that. We're all very close with each other here on set, we're all very professional, but having a lot of fun at the same time. For many of us it goes deeper than that, and our friendships carry into our personal lives.
The Star Scoop:
Why do fans relate to Spinner?
Kippel:
I think fans see the honesty in Spinner, the fact that he's not the smartest guy, he keeps getting himself into these tight situations; he doesn't think things through, and these consequences that come at him are just life changing. They take him all the way down to the bottom. He's been ostracized by his friends, he loses everything. He has to rebuild his entire life, and he gets kicked out of school. I think that people are on his side because they see that it's not coming from a bad place, it's not coming from wanting to do bad things, just to see how much he can get away with. It's just a guy who can't get it together. And I think everybody knows about that unfortunate person who strives to do the best but just kind of gets influenced by the wrong people, or just or makes split second, spontaneous decisions that he hasn't thought through, and it comes to a very bad outcome at the end. I think everyone feels for him in a way, and they see he's trying to hard to get his life back together. Sometimes it happens, and then he gets shut right back down. I have, Spinner has a whole crowd in his corner, just kind of like in a boxing match, every time he goes down in between rounds, you have all these people cheering him on, and trying to push him through, and give him support. That's how I would relate it; Spinner has a lot of people in his corner, who want him to just knock the guy down and succeed.
The Star Scoop:
How much of Shane goes into Spinner?
Kippel:
Every actor has a different outlook on what a character should be. Many people feel that a character is someone completely different from the actor and that nothing should carry over, and that everything should be built on a completely different level. Other people, myself included, think that much of what goes into the character, almost everything that goes into the role, does come from the actor himself. It's about relating things that you've experienced personally. Everything that comes out in Spinner has happened to me in some way. It might not be related in the same situation. It might not be this anger towards his girlfriend is anything directly related from anger I ever had towards my girlfriend, it could be frustration that I had before an exam that I could relate to this anger that he's feeling toward his girlfriend. It all comes from me. At the end of the day, Spinner is just different parts of my past that I'm tapped into for different purposes.
The Star Scoop:
What are you most looking forward to for yourself in the next few years? What would you like to do next?
Kippel:
Degrassi will go on for as long as it goes on. I really don't have a say in that, but I'd like to be involved right through 'til the end. I mean, I was one of the originals, so I'd like to see it through until it's finished. Besides that, after experiencing what this type of career has to offer, it's not only the perks, just what you get to do. You get in, and you get to just be free on camera, and you get to act a whole bunch of different ways. You get to be a goof sometimes, you get to break things, you get to get into all these fights. There are just so many great aspects of this job that I can't see myself ever wanting to get past. So I'd love to make it to Hollywood, and to get big, and make a full time acting career for myself that I hope to go on for the rest of my life. Whether that be TV, movies, both, doesn't matter. I'd just love to be involved in the industry, in front of the camera for as long as I possibly can.
The Star Scoop:
Is there anything else we should know?
Kippel:
I know that I'm very fortunate in where I've come to, and I know that if I find further success in the future, I will always give back because I can. I'm a strong believer that what goes around comes around. I can't be selfish with anything that I have. I'm very lucky right now, so I can't forget about all the less fortunate people out there. Besides that, I'm coming up with a comedy routine, I'm in a band with my friends, and I'm going on to university next year. The acting has changed the course of my life, but never to the point where I've forgotten about school. I would encourage anybody who has found success in acting and music and anything to not disregard education. Even if you'll never have to fall back on it, it never hurts. You should always be learning something new. Once you're out of high school, once you're not guided anymore year to year by going up a grade, everything is on your shoulders. If you don't want to learn anything new, if you don't want to get anywhere, you will never get anywhere, because no one is behind you pushing you anymore. I would really encourage everyone along with myself that yes, education is very important, and I am going to university next year. And, whether I come out with a degree or not, that's not the point. I just want to continue educating myself. I've been told by people that you should learn something new every day, and I take that to heart.
The Star Scoop:
One of the big story lines Emma had was a battle with an eating disorder. Why is this an important issue for the show to cover?
Johnston:
Degrassi is like real life, and [in] real life, people get diseases like that. There are so many shows out there that don't really go through as much stuff as that. That's the show.