What is your background and how did you become involved in the entertainment industry?
I always knew I wanted to be an actor, even when I was a kid. Luckily, there was a real boom in BC’s film industry in the 1980s, and I benefited greatly by getting to study at the Vancouver Youth Theatre. I wanted to become a professional even then, but I had to wait until I was old enough to take the train in from Mission to the city as a teenager. When I finally did it, it was so exciting, since Mom would let me skip school to head to Vancouver for auditions. I always thought it was funny since she was a high school teacher and this would be seen as a bit of a no-no. But she knew I was a good student and understood how important performing was to me, and let me take off to follow my dreams. I studied theatre at university, but my most formative training came from testing out acting classes in the city. I’d check them out and see where I felt at home enough to commit when things felt intuitively right. One of my favorites early on was Shea Hampton, who taught me how to be honest and more giving as a young actor. And I’ve always been such a fan of my friend and mentor, Iris Quinn, who I’ve known for longer than I can remember. I really owe her so much as an actor. She’s always been there for me when I’ve needed her. To this day, I see her when I have challenges to work through and need to settle my nerves so I can feel confident before taking my work into the real world. I think young actors should seek out teachers that nurture, challenge, and connect with them in a way that’s inspiring. I’ve been lucky with finding that in my life and know how valuable that can be.
You portray Mimi Hynek in the new season of the History series, Project Blue Book. How can her evolution be seen this season as opposed to the first one?
Mimi’s gone through quite the transformation since our first episode in the first season. In many ways, she was the quintessential ’50s housewife who wasn’t confident in her own skin and didn’t know the inner potential she had inside. But Mimi rose to the challenges imposed on her as Project Blue Book threatened her family, and we are now seeing her inner strength surface because of it. This year, she’s implementing that strength, and the audience will see a stronger, smarter Mimi, who has much more of a drive and a sense of purpose. She has a natural inquisitiveness and starts to do a little truth-seeking of her own. It’s nice to see her shift away from being a damsel in distress last year, constantly in a place of fear as chaos happened around her. Being in the dark with Allen’s work certainly was a huge factor in this. But this season, Mimi is now arming herself with information, and that makes her feel more confident in knowing what’s going on with her family and husband. It gives her a more secure feeling when it comes to their safety. She’s also finding out what her strengths are and is learning that she has a knack for successfully digging for information. She starts helping Allen with researching his cases and also begins working for Project Blue Book officially. So, she is getting out there and becoming more of a woman ahead of her time.
Did you feel an extra amount of pressure portraying Mimi knowing that the Hynek family actually existed and their relatives are alive today?
Of course! How could I not?! Especially considering some of what Mimi goes through with Susie in the first season… It’s not a very comforting thought to have your character’s real-life sons watching an on-screen version of their Mom making out with her Russian-spy-best buddy. All jokes aside, it’s been helpful having the Hynek sons as consulting producers on our show. I’ve been especially in contact with Paul, who has been really good talking about his mom with me and helping me get to know her a bit before we started our first season. Obviously, there have been some tweaks to Mimi’s storyline (her confusing feelings for Susie being one of them), but at the end of the day, we are not creating a documentary and the Hynek sons know that. It would be impossible either way to recreate a carbon copy of the real Mimi. Instead, I took what I could learn and tried to infuse some of that essence into what was written on the page into an authentic interpretation of the role.
To what extent do you relate to Mimi and why?
I first fell in love with the pilot episode of Project Blue Book because I understood Mimi’s struggle—with feeling stuck in her life of domesticity in the ’50s and wanting more, but not really knowing how to go about making changes to achieve that. I think a lot of us have had similar feelings and can relate. In the second season, we’ll see Mimi break out of that mold of being a ’50s housewife and actually get out there in the world. And because of that, coming into her own and finding more purpose in her life is something to root for.
What can we expect from this season of Project Blue Book?
An even more exciting season, where we will explore the UFO phenomenon on an even larger scale, diving into the global conspiracy of it all. And we start off with arguably the biggest case of all time—Roswell! We’ll also look into Area 51 and the mystery of what’s behind its gates, and the audience will love learning about the CIA’s secret mind-control program. There are so many crazy cases to explore.
What has been the biggest challenge of bringing Mimi to life this season?
There are always day-to-day challenges on set as you figure out certain scenes, and you just buckle down and challenge yourself to solve it in the moment. But those aren’t part of the fun you really want to hear about; it’s more exciting letting the magic of television shine through instead. However, one enjoyable challenge I had was learning to drive standard on the beautiful 1953 Buick that became our Hynek picture vehicle this year. I was taught on “Amy,” our car named after Amy Adams—who also learned to drive on it in Tim Burton’s Big Eyes. You’d think this would be exciting news! But I remember secretly freaking out, wondering if indeed I would crash Amy and all the beautiful memories that came along with her during my very first lesson.I was envisioning looking like a big jerk and screwing everything up. But Rick, who was my teacher for the day, thought I was pretty good and even had me driving onto the highway shortly…
