Woodside Character Bios

The Secrets of Woodside is a pic-fic that features music videos as well as photostories that tell a continuing story set in Woodside.  Most of the story centres around Suri and her three friends Nikki, Suzette, and Ally, and their current-day lives, but flash-backs to Suri's past are occasionally also featured. 

Suri

Suri is a woman with a mysterious past.  She is kind hearted and empathic towards others.  We sometimes see that she has a very sad side to her personality, but is that sadness entirely due to her loss of Jax, or is there something more to it?  Suri is idealistic in her beliefs and sometimes has trouble seeing the perspectives of others through her own passionate views.  She struggles to understand the paradoxes of life.

Suri is extremely intelligent, and excelled in her studies.  She is a chemical engineer, although since Jax's death she has taken an extended leave of absence to focus on herself.  She wants to take up an art form but her analytic mind prevents her from fully embracing her own creativity.  This barrier causes her much grief, because a part of her feels that art is the key to staying connected to Jax.

She lives alone in her grandmother's cottage in the woods.

Jax

Jax was the strong, silent type.  He was always very private about his work and personal life, but could talk for hours about art.  He was a painter and musician in his heart, and worked only to pay the bills, and out of a sense of loyalty to his employer.  He was well-read and university educated, although he did not end up employed in his field (anthropology).  Unless he was talking about art, Jax could come across as cold and emotionally guarded, and perhaps he was cold and guarded with most people.  His beloved Suri was the exception.  She seemed to unlock a warm and loving soul within Jax.

Suzette

Suzette is a wild and free spirit!  She is a loving and generous friend, but quite distractible and impulsive, so she sometimes says things she regrets, and spends a fair amount of time apologizing and explaining.  Suzette reads a lot of self-help books and is constantly striving to better herself.  She has moved around a lot and lived in a variety of different cities and towns.  She has many different interests and several incomplete diplomas and degrees from various post-secondary institutions.  She has been a waitress, a tree-planter, hairdresser-in-training, call centre operator, daycare worker, organic farmer, clothing store retail clerk, motorcycle mechanic, landscaper, and ski instructor.  

Suzette has been passionate about many many things over the years, but the passions that have consistently held up over time include environmental issues, animal rights, and women's issues.  A psychic once warned Suzette that something tragic will happen to her first true love, so she avoids anything serious in the romance department.

She shares a flat with her pal, Ally, in the new development beside the woods, called Woodside.  Nikki and Rae live right next door.

Ally

Ally is an introverted bookworm.  She loves yoga, tea, and classical music. She is kind, generous, and conscientious.  She is rather prone to anxiety, and always cautious and discouraging of her roommate, Suzette's crazy plans.  She is a people-pleaser and can be quite sensitive to others, sometimes questioning whether she has done the right thing, despite the fact that she is in fact quite thoughtful.  Ally is not obsessive-compulsive, but she does like things neat and tidy, and can at times become quite frustrated with Suzette's constant state of chaos.

Despite her serious nature, Ally can be quite playful with her friends and plays practical jokes and pranks on them.  She works in human resources at the Woodside branch of a large multinational company.

Nikki

 

Nikki is a sexy and determined young woman.  She aspires to climb the corporate ladder and make loads of money.  Nikki has not had an easy life, but has learned out of necessity to take care of herself.  She prides herself on her independence and self-sufficiency.  She has a difficult time accepting help from others and is rather closed, emotionally.  She would rather listen to her friends, than bother them with her own problems.  Because she is so closed, her friends don't really know much about her.  She works remotely for a large company, in their communications department.

Nikki is a single mother to Rae, a moody teenaged girl, and the apple of Nikki's eye.  Rae is the one person Nikki would give up anything for.  They share a very strong bond, that sometimes frightens Nikki.  She worries about losing Rae to the pull of the world during these adolescent years.  She believes in Rae and knows she will be ok, but her deepest fear is that she herself will be left alone when Rae goes off to take on the world.

Nikki can be selfish and a little rude at times, but the women in her group accept her for who she is.  She does care about them in return, but only occasionally shows it.  She and Rae live next door to Ally and Suzette.

Rae

In true soap opera fashion, Rae is older than she should be for her mother's age.  She probably magically skipped her childhood years and went straight to being an angsty teen.  Rae knows her mother loves her, but lately, she does't feel as connected to her.  She's not sure where she fits in at school or in her family, and she spends much of her time listening to music, and feeling angry and irritable.  Rae is a socially conscious non-conformist and has caused Nikki quite a lot of parenting stress over the past few years.  She enjoys creative pursuits, is musically gifted (can pick up and play any instrument) but in recent years has become jaded and disillusioned with the music industry.  She is at times defiant, but never disrespectful to her mother.

Cedar

Cedar is introduced in Episode 4 as Nikki's date.  The two have presumably been dating for awhile, as Rae has already met him before Epsiode 4.  It appears that Rae is not too fond of Cedar, but Nikki loves a man who can wine and dine her, so it looks like Cedar will be sticking around for awhile.