Peter Shinkoda is currently appearing the “Mortal Kombat: Legacy” playing the character Sektor. Peter is also part of the ensemble cast of this summer’s highly anticipated “Falling Skies” on TNT. Movie Mikes had a chance to chat with Peter about his roles in both projects and also what he has planned next.
Mike Gencarelli: How did you get involved with the series “Fallen Skies”?
Peter Shinkoda: I went through the usual channels after hearing about the part fairly late in the game. A very long audition process had already been held and at the last minute I locked down the job. I guess there were a few other actors that had been considered for the job as well but casting saw my audition tape and gave me a contract.
MG: Can you tell us about your role on the show?
PS: I play Dai who is like a lot of the characters on the show. He is a civilian turned resistance fighter fighting against the invading alien forces. Dai is often seen with Noah Wyle’s character, Tom Mason, who is History professor turned resistance leader. My character is his most trusted confidant and friend he is also the most effective fighter in the unit.
MG: How was it working with Noah Wyle and the rest of the cast?
PS: It was a complete pleasure. There wasn’t one minute where I did not like being on set. Working with Noah was an incredible experience and I hope it will be on going. As a person, he is very generous and sweet and probably one of the most intelligent people I have ever met. Craft wise, I am constantly in awe of his professionalism and how easy he makes acting look. Noah is just an all around great guy on and off camera.
MG: Did you get a chance to meet Steven Spielberg during production?
PS: I did! He made it to location a few times when we were shooting in Canada. The fortunate actors got to be directed and overseen by him while he was there which was really great. Even when he wasn’t there his input was being received via Skype or telephone. I was actually able to meet him one other time at Dreamworks when we did a screening of the pilot and it was really cool because we got to watch the show with him. That was an incredible pleasure.
MG: How do you feel this show differs from other sci-fi alien shows that are on television?
PS: I think a majority of the films out now dealing with similar subject matter start from the same point. A typical all American town is attacked by aliens and decimated and a military response follows. In the case of “Fallen Skies” the attack has already happened and we see the response from a civilian’s point of view and how they are dealing with being over powered.
MG: How did you become involved with “Mortal Kombat: Legacy”?
PS: Just like any other guy who is surfing the net looking for interesting content related to sci-fi and gaming. I saw some news clips about this “Mortal Kombat” thing that was going viral. I went and checked it out for myself and was blown away! It was so brilliant I almost fell out of my chair. It was just so dark. I watched it a bunch of times and then left it alone for a bit. Every once in awhile I would hear little bits about it trying to be developed. Early February I read an article that Warner Bros had green lit the project. I immediately called my agents who still hadn’t heard anything about the project and then in just 24hrs later the info for casting came out. Fortunately I was friends with one of the 
casting director Tiffany Mack. So between Tiffany and my agents I was able to get a meeting with the Kevin Tancharoen. We met at the studio and had a conversation about the direction they wanted to take “Mortal Kombat” and a few days later I got an offer to play Sektor.
MG: Were you familiar with the character prior to being cast?
PS: Yes. I was familiar with the core characters from the game and movies. I had seen Sektor however I didn’t know much about his back story. I don’t think anybody really did other than he is a cyborg ninja. I think he is one of the more interesting characters and plus Sektor has some really cool weapons.
MG: How do you feel doing a web series differs from a television project?
PS: Production wise and shooting on location is all the same. The big difference is in the speed of which things are shot. Television works quite fast and this being my first web series I found this shoots even faster than television. The idea is to get as much production value in the can and to the screen as possible.