Katie Boland
Age: 17
Residence: Toronto
Agency: Oscars Abrams Zimel
Buzz: Featured in the much-anticipated miniseries Terminal City

Katie Boland is generating excitement around her performance in The Movie Network’s upcoming edgy miniseries Terminal City, in which she plays the daughter of a cancer patient who takes over a TV reality show. (It airs in October on The Movie Network and Movie Central.) This comes on the heels of her acclaimed lead turn in the coming-of-age feature drama Some Things That Stay, directed by her mother, Gail Harvey.

Ever busy, she recently wrapped the CTV MOW The Man Who Lost Himself and also has a role in the CBC biopic Shania: A Life in Eight Albums, in which she plays pop star Shania Twain’s older sister.

Given her lineage, Boland was exposed to acting at a very early age. ‘When I was three, I fell in love with it,’ she says. ‘But it took years before I could convince my mother to let me try professional acting.’

Her acting technique?

‘I look at the scene I’m about to play and try to bring my own truth to it,’ she says. ‘By relating to the character’s emotions through my own experience, I try to bring something real to the screen.’

At the tender age of nine, Boland got her first professional part in the CBS miniseries thriller The Third Twin. This was followed by lead roles in the BBC/PBS family series Noddy, two seasons of The Zack Files for Fox Family and YTV, plus parts in the MOWs One True Love and God’s New Plan. She has also appeared in the features The Life Before This and Guest Room and the minis Guilty Hearts and The Salem Witch Trials. The latter won her a Young Artist Award in Los Angeles.

Despite her career growing by leaps and bounds, Boland plans to stay put and finish high school. ‘But once I’ve graduated, I plan on moving to L.A.,’ she adds. James Careless

Marc-André Grondin
Age: 21
Residence: Montreal
Agency: Agence Artistique Chantal David
Buzz: Winning hearts of Quebec moviegoers in C.R.A.Z.Y.

Marc-André Grondin plays lead character Zachary in the Quebec feature C.R.A.Z.Y., which broke the million-dollar mark at the province’s box office in less than three weeks. The family drama tells the story of a boy whose relationship with his father becomes strained when it’s feared the lad may be gay. The film has won hearts in Quebec, and producer Cirrus Communications and director Jean-Marc Vallée hope for a fall release in English Canada.

While the film benefits from a smart script, much of its success is being credited to Grondin’s subtle and believable performance. It is an achievement made all the more remarkable by the fact that he never attended acting school. He explains, however, that he learned a great deal watching such Quebec acting luminaries as Marc Messier and Monique Mercure, with whom he worked on the feature La Fête des rois.

The C.R.A.Z.Y. role arrived after a long absence from acting. Grondin had started young – auditioning for the first time at age three – but after a series of gigs as a child actor, he turned his attention to school. Then Vallée told him about the C.R.A.Z.Y. project and suggested he audition.

Two months later, Grondin got a call on Christmas Eve. Vallée was on the line and said, ‘Merry Christmas, Zachary!’

‘It was a very nice Christmas present,’ Grondin recalls.

The actor says he had no qualms about playing a gay character, adding that the role was not difficult to create.

‘The script [by François Boulay and Vallée] really was very strong,’ he reports. ‘I’m not gay myself, but I certainly found many things to connect with in Zachary.’

Grondin is reading new scripts now, although he admits C.R.A.Z.Y. will be a tough act to follow. Matthew Hays

Mpho Koaho
Age: 22
Residence: Toronto
Agency: The Characters
Buzz: Possible breakout in upcoming biopic about 50 Cent

Hailing from Toronto, Mpho Koaho (pronounced ‘Um-poh Kwa-ho’) says he used to think his greatest challenge in the film and TV business was being young and black, but times have changed and that’s no longer an obstacle. He says it’s all in the name.

‘For the longest time I felt like nobody was listening,’ he says. ‘What I tell everybody is, ‘I’m here for a real reason. My name means a gift.”

It was actor David Eisner (Choice: The Henry Morgentaler Story) at Avenue Road Arts School in Toronto who first agreed with that assessment when Koaho enrolled there at age 13. Eisner got him an agent and the teen landed a role in Down in the Delta (1998), a Showtime movie directed by Maya Angelou. He has since appeared in various (mostly Toronto-shot) Canadian and U.S. productions, ranging from the kids show Goosebumps (1997) to the drama series Soul Food (2001), the ESPN poker drama Tilt (2005) and the feature crime drama Haven (2004).

He says the defining moment in his career was a monologue he delivered in the Hollywood thriller The Salton Sea (2002). ‘It got me other auditions that I probably would have never gotten otherwise,’ he explains. ‘Director Jane Campion called me up [for In the Cut] and that was big for me.’ (Koaho did not end up getting the part.)

Higher-profile films have followed, including John Singleton’s upcoming crime drama Four Brothers and a potential breakout appearance in Get Rich or Die Tryin’, in which rap artist 50 Cent plays himself. Koaho says the latter is significant for him because he’s a fan not only of 50 Cent but also of director Jim Sheridan (In America, My Left Foot), who routinely does away with scripts in favor of ad-lib realism, an approach Koaho loves.

Four Brothers is due in theaters Aug. 12, while Get Rich or Die Tryin’ recently completed a two-and-a-half-month shoot in Toronto and should wrap in New York this month. Samson Okalow

Lauren Lee Smith
Age: 25
Residence: Vancouver, Los Angeles
Agency: Kirk Talent Agencies
Buzz: Stars in the forthcoming sexually charged feature Lie with Me

Strong, confident women are at the heart of Lauren Lee Smith’s acting choices – women who scare her when she first reads them.

‘I couldn’t care less if a movie makes a huge profit. I choose my roles based on whether the script terrifies me,’ she says.

Born in Vancouver, Smith moved from modeling to the stage. Finding representation with little technical training, she quickly scored roles in the B.C.-shot feature Get Carter, and the series Dark Angel, The Twilight Zone and Mutant X. The latter brought her a 2002 Gemini Award nomination for supporting actress.

When she joined as a recurring regular on The L Word, the lesbian-themed drama series on Showtime and Showcase, Smith’s career intensified.

‘Working with a cast of such strong female characters was empowering,’ she says. ‘To be on set with women like Mia Kirshner and Jennifer Beals, who were so comfortable in their sexuality, was amazing.’

In the upcoming feature Lie with Me, Smith teams with director Clement Virgo in realizing a script written by Tamara Berger and Virgo that is sexually charged and raw. But she refutes rumors that the movie uses nudity gratuitously.

‘It’s controversial, but it’s also something everyone will understand,’ she notes. ‘It’s about a woman who is not so comfortable with the emotional side of relationships, but is so good with the physical, sexual side. Taking the role wasn’t about the ‘naked chick’ quality – it’s about showing strong, sexual women.’

Smith recently wrapped on the dramatic feature comedy The Last Kiss, directed by L Word helmer Tony Goldwyn. Working with actors Zach Braff and Rachel Bilson, Smith notes, ‘It’s the most mainstream movie I’ve done so far, and I play this young, crazy, bitchy mom. But again, I took it so I could jump into something I’ve never done, something new.’ Tracy Nita Pender