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Authors:
Randy J Klodz
Sascha knopf
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Rebecca Marshall
Oh Canada!
Photography by Sascha Knopf
You may have seen Canadian model and aspiring actress Rebecca Marshall in TV’s Shark or Threshold, and now you can see her on the pages of SOAK.
Rebecca phoned SOAK from Los Angeles just after returning from getting her ride fixed. She chatted about what it’s like to get hit on while being pulled over by the cops, the (mis?)conceptions Americans have about Canadians, and how to break into show business as a stripper named Candy Cane.
Read on, eh?
SOAK: You said you had to get your car fixed. What happened?
Rebecca Marshall: I got pulled over last night and I found out my brake light was out, and I figured I needed to take it in and get it taken care of immediately. It’s funny, because he didn’t give me a ticket. I didn’t know my brake light was out and he pulled me over—I just got my license for the first time like nine months ago, so I have never really driven—and I’m thinking, ‘Why is this guy pulling me over? I don’t think I did anything.’ And he came up and he’s like, ‘You know, do you realize your brake light is out?’ And I had no idea and he probably thought I was totally lying. Then he shows me and it was hilarious because he asked me for my phone number. [laughs] And, jokingly I was like, ‘I don’t think you’re allowed to ask me for my phone number.’
SOAK: Wow. With a badge, he’s quite brave.
Rebecca: It was quite the experience, so I was like, ‘OK, I need to get this fixed because I don’t want to get pulled over again.’ At first I was shocked he asked me for my number, and then I started laughing. And then he said, ‘Well, once in a while you have to take a shot.’ It was funny. Maybe some people would take offense to it, but I was cracking up. And he let me go.
SOAK: So he didn’t pull the, ‘Well, since I can’t have your number, I’m going to write you a ticket’ game?
Rebecca: He said he wouldn’t write me a ticket, but he said that if I didn’t get it fixed, and he pulled me over again, that I’d have to give him my phone number. So then I ran and got it fixed.
SOAK: You were in Toronto recently, what kind of cool things did you get to do there?
Rebecca: I went to visit family. I haven’t been home in a while and my sister got married. It was a blast. I got to see family and friends, but I have to say that I have been spoiled by the California weather. I’m a Canadian girl, but I was freezing there and it wasn’t even that cold. It’s funny because people here make fun of me because I wear turtlenecks in California and they’re like, ‘Aren’t you Canadian?’ [laughs] I guess you never get used to the cold no matter how long you live in it.
SOAK: What kind of misconceptions do Americans have about Canadians?
Rebecca: Wow, that’s actually a funny question. We don’t all curl. I have never seen a curling match. I have never been to one. [laughs] I don’t even know the rules of the game, but people ask me all the time, ‘Oh, do you do curling?’ and I’m like, ‘No, I don’t even know what curling is.’ Oh, and I don’t personally, but we do say, ‘eh.’ So that is true.
SOAK: Eh.
Rebecca: It is true unfortunately. When I first moved here, I said, ‘I don’t say, ‘eh,’’ but when I came back home, I realized, ‘Wow, we are Canadian. We do say ‘eh.’’ Oh, and we’re also not all alcoholics.
SOAK: What about the obsession with hockey?
Rebecca: That is true. I’m a huge Maple Leafs fan. I actually went to a game when I went back home. Hockey is a big thing. Huge.
SOAK: And you have the fun various pronunciations of the words ‘about’ and ‘out.’
Rebecca: Yep. I knocked that out the first week I moved to Los Angeles. I was up for a role in a TV series, and when I was talking with the casting director, I couldn’t get rid of the ‘oh-t’ instead of ‘out.’ I didn’t think I was saying anything wrong. ‘Oh, you’re Canadian,’ she said. She was sympathetic to my needs. I didn’t go to a voice coach, but I just knocked it out myself. When I went home for a couple weeks, it started to slip out. I started saying ‘soar-y’ instead of ‘sorry.’ But now that I’m back here in my element, I slipped out of the Canadian accent.
SOAK: So SkyDome, the home of your Toronto Blue Jays is now technically called Rogers Centre? What’s up with that?
Rebecca: Yes, that’s funny you mentioned that; I wasn’t aware until I went home. I was driving and saw it on a sign. And it’s easy to get tickets because it’s so big. They can’t fill it up.
SOAK: And despite the name change, I’m sure everybody still calls it SkyDome anyway, right?
Rebecca: Yeah. And I’m sure that bugs him, because I’m sure he paid millions to have his name being said, but it’s not happening.
SOAK: Doing a Google search on your name can result in receiving hits for many other people with your name.
Rebecca: Yep. There’s a photographer, which is not me. There’s a producer, which is also not me. I have been modeling and acting since I was 15. I did a lot of modeling in Toronto and then I had my own travel show in Toronto for a year-and-a-half. And then I transferred out to Los Angeles and I have been acting in television since I have been here.
SOAK: That sounds exciting, what was your first role?
Rebecca: My first role was “Threshold” where I played a stripper named Candy Cane. [laughs] So we all start somewhere. It was great calling home with that one.
SOAK: I can imagine the call now, ‘Hi Mom, I’m a stripper named Candy Cane.’
Rebecca: [laughs] Yeah, so it was a pretty good role. And then from there I went to “The West Wing” and I just did “Shark” with James Woods.
SOAK: What’s James Woods like? He seems like such a badass.
Rebecca: He’s amazing. He’s a pure character. Besides entertaining me while shooting, I learned a lot. He’s a fabulous actor. It was great energy being on the set of a new show and everyone was so pumped-up and ready to work and have fun. It was probably the best experience I have ever had working on a television series.
SOAK: What was your role on that show?
Rebecca: I played a character named Lisa Gable who was a witness to her friend’s murder. So I cover up for the guy who’s responsible for the murder. I was about to testify, but they throw rats in my car and...it was a fun character and it was good. Basically I cover up and I was too scared to speak up and that was it.
SOAK: You didn’t want the Canadian voice to come out if you spoke up? I’m just kidding.
Rebecca: [laughs]
SOAK: You’re a busy girl. What’s next on your plate?
Rebecca: Might take a little trip to Thailand and I plan to do some modeling here and there, and I want to get ready for January which is pilot season and that’s just it, really.
SOAK: Other than when you’re getting pulled over by cops who ask for your number, what types of things do you like to do in your free time?
Rebecca: I love to play tennis. I’m crazy running around in LA with auditioning and stuff like that, but when I get spare time, I’m the type of girl who goes to the movies. I like to hang out with my solid group of girlfriends, and I pretty much spend my evenings with them. During the day, I like to play tennis or go hiking—anything that keeps me outdoors. I’m so used to being indoors from when I lived in Toronto, and now that I’m now out here, it’s so great to do pretty much anything outdoors all year round.
SOAK: That’s good you can get out.
Rebecca: When you first get to LA, you think it’s all city. But it’s really not; it’s just a drive to Santa Barbara. Things I thought about doing when I was a little girl, like going to the ocean. We don’t have an ocean in Toronto, so I tried surfing. I wasn’t a big success, but you just try things. I try not to get caught up with running around doing all of my stuff, but sometimes I have to stop and take a minute and go and do the things I want to do. Otherwise, you don’t enjoy why you’re in California.
SOAK: And you can’t get much surfing experience in Toronto.
Rebecca: No. So when you come out here, it’s so exciting to have all of these opportunities. It’s like I’m on vacation. So to have the option to go down to the beach, it’s good. You can find these types of places in LA that aren’t so crazy and chaotic and you can just relax. And if you want the chaos, it’s here. You have to learn to separate yourself from the chaos or you’ll go crazy. You lose your mind and you lose touch with what’s going on, and meet people that lose touch with reality. That’s why they call it La-La land.
Keywords:
Rebecca,
Marshall,
television,
Threshold,
Shark,
Big Shots,
CSI,
model,
brunette
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