By Natalie Lerer

After bursting onto our screens as Ashton Kutcher’s best friend in ‘No Strings Attached,’ Jake Johnson can now be seen on Channel 4 every Friday night in US comedy ‘New Girl’ as the loveable and trustworthy Nick Miller, who shares a flat with Jess (Zooey Deschanel), Schmidt (Max Greenfield) and Winston (Lamorne Morris). Despite cameos in various projects such as ‘Get Him To The Greek’ and ‘Paper Heart,’ he is currently part of an extremely successful sitcom, whose pilot episode was the highest-rated autumn Fox debut in 10 years. This year, he stars in a movie remake of ‘21 Jump Street’ alongside Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as well as cast original Johnny Depp. I chatted to Jake and discovered which British comedian is his inspiration and how he ended up in a fight with Tim Allen!

First of all, congratulations on the success of ‘New Girl’ and the Golden Globes nomination. How are you finding all of these ceremonies and red carpets?

The ceremonies and red carpets are interesting and all, but nothing beats being on set. I love working, so I am happy to do whatever it takes to continue to work.

I really enjoyed watching ‘Paper Heart’ and thought it was a very interesting take on a “documentary”. Did it make you think about love and change some of your opinions on it?

Working on ‘Paper Heart’ was a great experience. It was the biggest job I had up to that point. It taught me a lot of improvising on camera, as there was no script. It didn’t really change how I felt about love, though.

You started off doing two-man shows and improvised comedy such as ‘This is My Friend’ with Eric Edelstein, is this something that you’d like to return to one day?

I did shows with the actor Eric Edelstein and the musician/actor Oliver Ralli (Pass Kontrol). I loved the work we did together and it’d be fun to one day return to doing live shows.

You’ve said that you would love to direct in the future, what genre of film do you think you would make and is there any actors in particular that you’d like to work alongside?

I’d love to direct at some point. My dream would be to work with Gene Hackman. I think he is as good as they come.

What’s been the most surreal moment of your career so far?

One of the most surreal things of my career happened in one of my first jobs. I fought the actor Tim Allen in a movie called Redbelt. It was a surreal experience.

Who or what is your inspiration?

Other actors giving great performances in past work give me great inspiration. John Goodman’s performance in Roseanne. Ricky Gervais in The Office. Ted Danson in Cheers. These guys inspire me.

And finally, what would you like to have achieved in 10 years time and what’s your life motto?

I’m not sure what I’d like to have achieved in ten years and my life’s motto is “keeping running against the wind.”

As well as being a lovely person, he is an extremely funny and talented actor who deserves all the success that is heading his way. Thank you Jake for taking time to chat with me and I wish you the best of luck for the future!

You can catch ‘New Girl’ on Fridays at 8:30pm, Channel 4.