Leni Parker - Creating another reality

Leni Parker grew up in the country in New Brunswick. As a young child she wanted to escape her surroundings and create another reality for herself. As she says, "Any world other than my own world was a better world."

At home she played make-believe with her sister. Her first public performance was in a Christmas pageant in Grade 2. She played a dancing girl with a flowing skirt and bells that jingled. She was thrilled to be in a play.

In high school, Leni took roles as a character actor and she became president of the drama club. She moved to Montreal to study acting at Concordia University and she's been a professional actor here ever since.

Leni often acts in new English-Canadian plays and she frequently premiers Québécois plays in English translation. Theater is fulfilling for her because it's a live experience that's shared by a group of people. She's comfortable on stage and her principal challenge is learning her lines. She enjoys ensemble work and collaboration with other actors.

At the beginning of her career Leni took on experimental roles. Now her roles are more conventional and she plays older characters. One of her greatest pleasures has been playing in a large theater before 900 people. She considers she's given a successful performance if she's able to portray a character to the fullest. At the moment she's trying out David Mamet's method of acting, which is actually a non-method - letting the words speak for themselves.

Leni admires several stage actors including Maggie Smith, Seana McKenna, Diane D'Aquila, Lucy Peacock, Nathalie Claude and Marcel Pomerlo. On the screen she particularly respects the work of Gena Rowlands, Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet, Robin Wright Penn and Sean Penn.

After waiting 25 years Leni finally had the chance to perform Shakespeare last spring. She played Luciana in Peter Hinton's production of The Comedy of Errors at the Centaur Theatre in Montreal and the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.

From November 18 to December 4, 2010 Leni will perform the role of Rachel in the Imago Theatre production of Pierre-Michel Tremblay's play Champs de Mars: A Story of War at the Monument National in Montreal.