Krystin Pellerin's face has become familiar to Canadians across the country of late due to her role as Constable - recently promoted to Sergeant - Leslie Bennett on the popular CBC detective series Republic of Doyle. Regular attendees of Toronto's Soulpepper Theatre Company, however, have known the Newfoundland actress since she first appeared there in 2006 opposite Albert Schultz and Megan Follows in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing.
That was Pellerin's first professional theatre gig straight out of National Theatre School, and the actress has been a regular presence since. This week, she's back on the boards in Waiting for the Parade, John Murrell's 1977 play about five Calgary women on the home front during the Second World War. The Globe and Mail spoke with the 26-year-old during a lunch break from rehearsal about her theatrical homecoming now that she's all famous.
Waiting for the Parade is one of many successful Canadian plays - Les Belles-Soeurs , Da Kink in My Hair - to have an all-female cast. Have you ever been in one before?
No, and I love it. It's nice to be surrounded by such lovely women - and to have no boys allowed is pretty sweet. They're incredibly talented and you just learn so much from watching them. We have so much fun and we laugh like nothing else.
I imagine it's a somewhat more macho on the set of Republic of Doyle . Last time I tuned in, detective Jake Doyle and his brother were wrestling and broke a coffee table.
There's definitely a more masculine feel to the show, but the girls on the show have really stuck together and we feel very strong within that. But yeah, it's a totally different dynamic.
One of the great things for me about watching Republic of Doyle is seeing all these Toronto stage actors appear. Star Allan Hawco and you, of course, but in, just the season finale, there are David Ferry, Gord Rand, Liisa Repo-Martell ….
And Jonathan Goad [of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival] too! It's a treat to work with people who know how to work in the theatre as well, because you feel a real camaraderie. You just have a common way of working - I can tell the difference and I really like it.
How did you move so quickly from National Theatre School to Soulpepper Theatre Company? You were suddenly starring next to Megan Follows and Albert Schultz.
That was my first professional play. I hadn't seen any Soulpepper productions. It's kind of amazing - all these great artists with so much integrity in one place. There's a great sense of family.
You're not actually in Follows's family, are you? You look a bit like her when she was younger.
I've got that ever since I was 18 years old. When I went to National Theatre School, they did an article in the Telegram in St. John's and said that. She was like a big sister to me on The Real Thing, but no.
Did you expect when you left Newfoundland that you'd get to play so may Newfoundlanders? In addition to Sgt. Bennett, you were Mary in David French's Salt-Water Moon a couple seasons ago at Soulpepper.
It's funny, because moving to the mainland I felt a pressure to become like everybody else, to blend in order to be cast; you learn how to adjust your dialect and stuff like that. It's pretty ironic that I get to come home for the biggest role on television I've ever had.
Bit of a cliffhanger there in the season finale. Leslie compromised an investigation for Jake, then nearly got back together with him. What's going to happen?
She's got herself in a sticky situation, professionally and personally. Her judgment's pretty clouded. I haven't been told anything by the producers. I know I'm back for 12 episodes but I don't know what's going to happen.
Twelve episodes - so it's not going to turn into The Wire and characters will start dying suddenly and unexpectedly. Though I suppose you could start appearing as a ghost.
I hope not. I'd rather not be a ghost.
Waiting for the Parade plays at Toronto's Young Centre for the Performing Arts May 1 to 22.