I’ve always loved acting ever since I was a kid. I wrote a lot of plays and stories when I was younger, I remember in high school I did all the musicals, I sang as well and so that’s when I got my first taste of being able to perform and have that feedback and connection with an audience.

Later in high school, I started to get really intrigued with film and all the possibilities that it offered, how it could capture the nuances of performance in a way theatre couldn't. So I started getting really into movies and watching Director Cuts and getting an idea of that process. Then I moved to Toronto when I was 18. I went there for university to get my drama and psychology degree and took some on screen acting classes on the side. I always loved performing and I think it’s something I always knew that I needed to do.

What do you sing?

Anything! I sang in a Jazz band in high school, I played the piano and the flute. Music was my big thing at school, I was kinda a dorky kid in school who was always going off on her lunch break for her flute lessons or going to choir before class started. Nowadays I sing at open mics or at home with my keyboard, I’m hoping that I get to play a role one day that merges the two together, that would be awesome.

I had to turn on a switch when I was on set, I had to go to this place where I moved completely differently. I would walk around my apartment in Toronto with a book on top of my head. I would play classical music and dance around as Grace, it was really to find the way she moved and find her body. It was a huge part of the puzzle of building that character. It was also a different way of processing information, as humans we are so emotional. But as an A.I. the information is processed differently with the programming. Beyond that, there’s also layers where I believe she developed her own sense of consciousness that was sort of fighting against the programming. The writers really helped me bring Grace to life with how her story unfolded and became more complex as the season went on.

What other characters do you wish you had played in Umbrella academy if not Grace?

That's such a tough question because I really love playing Grace and feel like everyone was so perfectly cast. But who wouldn’t want to play Klaus right? Robert was so good, he would improvise and play with his character and it was amazing to watch!

It seems that UA was directed by many directors? How was it working with so many different people directing the show? What were your learnings?

It was amazing to get to work with so many different directors. They understood the through line of the show and really respected the characters that we had built up already but each brought their own special energy and perspective to their episodes. This season was really cool because we had a few directors return from Season one and some new directors such as Amanda Marsalis and Tom Verica who were both incredibly open and supportive, just totally actor's directors through and through. You learn something new with every new person that you work with and that’s a huge benefit of working on a show like this, where you have a new director come in every fewepisodes! They all breath their new life into it.

‍‍I have to say Jordan Peele. What an intelligent and original filmmaker. Everything he creates he comes at with such a unique angle. He tackles social issues in such a creative way that we haven’t seen before. Another director would be Olivia Wilde, I recently watched Booksmart and she knocked it out of the park. She’s so passionate and it's always exciting when a director has come from both sides of the camera. I can’t wait to see the things she’ll create.

Some actors/actresses in your wishlist?

I am obsessed with Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Fleabag was brilliant. It was one of the most original, irreverent, brave things I’ve ever seen. I think she’s so talented and an amazing writer. Her acting is so raw and unpredictable. And Mahershala Ali, what a force! I recently watched True Detective season 3 and man I'm just blown away by him.

‍How would you gauge the success of the show? Did it meet or exceed the expectations?

‍It has been like nothing else. I think we all knew that it was something special while we were filming, the script was brilliant! We had such amazing directors, our showrunner Steve Blackman is incredible and created such an amazing set for us all to work cohesively as a family. You never really know how it’s going to land until it's released though so when it came out and it had the impact it has had it was just the best feeling. I was happy that many people resonated with it and fans loved it as much as we loved making it. I think season 2 is gonna blow people away. For me a huge measure of success is how much it resonates with the fans of the comics, because they are the original fans of the world that Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba built, you know? You want to honor the expectations for everyone who already loves the world and the bar was set really high 'cause the comics were brilliant. It’s a true testament to Steve and the team that we surpassed those expectations I think.

It’s actually really funny because I wasn’t initially auditioning for Grace. I had moved to Vancouver from Toronto at that point and a friend of mine there was self taping for the role and thought it would be a good fit for me. I was obviously intrigued by what I knew about the project and had heard a lot of buzz around it too, so I called my agent at the time and asked if casting would be open to having me self-tape and they said yes. But they didn’t really ask for it, I just thought what do I have to lose? Right away the role kinda just resonated with me and I really understood her, I really loved the scenes I was sent. Within a week, my availability was being checked and a week after that I found out I got the role! It was pretty crazy, I thought there would be a more drawn out casting process so it was the best feeling to get that news.

Is this SciFi/AI genre something you’re now into?

Yes, I think there’s a lot of really cool sci-fi projects happening right now. Especially since technology is growing at the speed of light now. Everyone is so hungry for a good escape, and sci-fi films are amazing for that. I loved playing an A.I, what an actor's dream role to play with. And I loved how the show is a bunch of genres in one - it's darkly hilarious, a family drama, tons of action with the element of time travel and super powers but also very grounded. Just really clever, unique storytelling. 

‍There's a couple of things in the works I can’t talk about. I will say, during the down time over the past few months I’ve reconnected with my writing. I’m hoping to come out of this creating more work on the other side of the camera too.

Is there anything you wanna say to your fans at BBTV?

I hope that you all love season 2! It means so much to me to be able to do what I love and connect with people around the world and it's the hugest compliment when my work and my character resonates, so thanks for the support!