The Province - October 3, 1989

"Follows' the leader"
Damian Inwood

Hell's Kitchen is a far cry from the green rolling fields of Prince Edward Island.

But the seamy side of New York City is now home to Megan Follows, better known as Anne of Green Gables.

"I live in a one-room apartment in a five-storey walk-up," Follows told me.

"It's in a block that sells crack and hot dogs.

"For an actor or actress, it's a fascinating learning experience. You go out of your door and you are confronted with people that are just surviving."

And these character studies can only help a 21-year-old actress who has now left Anne behind for meatier roles.

Roles such as Micheline Dushane in the movie Termini Station, which is playing at the Vancouver International Film Festival.

"She is a very hard-edged yet vulnerable character," said Follows, relaxing in her Vancouver hotel room. "She covers her feelings with a very tough veneer."

The movie is set in Kirkland Lake, Ont., and Follows plays the daughter of an alcoholic mother who hustles at the local bus station.

"I like her a lot, although she's not likable, but she couldn't care less."

The diminutive actress - she stands 160 centimetres (5 feet 2 3/ 4 inches) tall in stockinged feet - says she's been having a ball living in New York.

She also enjoyed living in Los Angeles for five years while she completed school and pursued her acting career.

But once her family moved back to Toronto, she decided to move closer and New York was the perfect solution.

The fact that she says that being just a 70-minute flight away from home makes life on the East Coast more comforting.

And Follows is currently widening her experience with an experimental theatre group and writing scripts.

She spends a lot of time at repertory cinemas watching festivals of Hollywood classics and European films.

She also shoots pool in a sprawling billiard hall above the Paladium concert hall on 14th Street.

Is she a pool shark?

"It totally depends on my frame of mind. If I don't think about it, I can play a pretty mean game."

She loves listening to Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, as well as country and western singers George Jones, Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton.

She's also a Motown fan of the 1950s and '60s, particularly Sam Cooke.

And she takes dance classes.

Follows' pet bouvier, the "big bear" Zoey, lives with her mother in Toronto.

"Cockroaches are about the only pets I can afford," she says with a chuckle.

"Maybe I should get an anteater or something."

Favorite eateries are an Afghan and a Thai restaurant and Follows describes herself as a "good, but not great," cook.

"I sort of fake it. I present it nicely and throw some spices on. And I make a good shepherd' pie."

She hates shopping and would pay someone to do it for her.

As far as someone special in the romantic department, yes, there is someone.

And, no, she won't talk about him except to say there are no plans.

"I'm too young for anything serious," she said.

She hopes to move into theatre and comedy, but for now she'll be seeing more of Vancouver than she had expected to on this trip.

At lunch, she's just been confirmed to star in the movie Deep Sleep, to be shot in town for the next month.

Source: The Province