Interview: Nurse Jackie’s Stephen Wallem Knows Looks Can be Deceiving

Stephen Wallem with Nurse Jackie co-star Edie Falco

If a single entrance can make a television career, then Stephen Wallem of Nurse Jackie has his mother to thank for his hilarious debut. It occurred during the first season of the hit Showtime dramedy when Jackie, threatened by a patient, calls on the burly Thor to deal with him. The patient takes one look at the physically intimidating Thor and runs for cover. Then Thor opens his mouth and it quickly becomes clear he’s just a giant gay teddy bear.

AfterElton.com recently chatted with Wallem about how that scene came to be, being a favorite of the bear community, his wish for Meryl Streep to play his mother and what happened to Nurse Jackie’s other gay nurse Mo-Mo who abruptly disappeared from the show.

AfterElton.com: Thor had one of the best gay reveals I have ever seen. I know your sister is a writer for the show. Did that come from a personal experience?
Stephen Wallem: My mom came up with that idea, Linda and my mother. I'm a big guy, and I have these deep-set eyes, and I look like I'm mean and intimidating. Complete strangers have come up to me and said, "What's wrong? Just smile. It can't all be that bad." [laughs] It's just literally my face. I've been told, "I was afraid to talk to you because you look scary," and then I open my mouth and they realize it couldn’t be further from the truth! [laughs]

And my mom said, "Wouldn't it be funny if on Thor’s first entrance that he came as a bouncer, or that Jackie calls him over to scare somebody off, and then he opens his mouth and its clear to the world that he is nowhere near the scary person that we think he is.

It was a lovely idea, and we used it and shot it, and it wasn't until my mom saw it in person that she believed me that we actually used her idea. Now, we've created a little bit of an idea monster. She has an idea for every episode. [laughs]

AE: What can you tell us about yourself?
SW: I am in my 40s, we'll put it that way. I've been working professionally in the theater since I was 18-years-old. I live in New York permanently. I was planning on moving to New York. I was in Chicago for over 20 years, and it really did feel like it was time to try a new adventure. It just so happened that the potential move coincided with getting Nurse Jackie, so the timing was fantastic.

I do have a partner. He is a theater professor. We knew each other back in Chicago, and went our separate ways. We were really just friends in Chicago. We lost touch for twelve years, and then found each other on Facebook, of all things, believe it or not. [laughs] You'll never hear me say anything negative about Facebook, ever.