| Caroline Dhavernas Bio |
Well, it seems that Caroline is now New York based...see the video for more...or just read the article reproduced below, to learn that Caroline:
- has an apartment in the East Village of NY, and has lived (at least part time) in NY for 8 years
- likes Alice's Tea Cup on the Upper West Side
- has just purchased a home close to Montreal
- has turned down "lots" of offers from American TV series, preferring movies
- in her off-time draws, does renovations and makes jewelry
From one of many on-line bios:
A Canadian/French actress, Caroline Dhavernas (generally pronounced “Daverna” for English speaking audience but originally pronounced “Davernaus” (aus like house)) is probably most known by American audiences as Jaye Tyler in the short-lived television series “Wonderfalls “ (2004, Fox).
Before, Dhavernas jazzed up the screen with her presence in such remarkable features as Lost and Delirious (2001), Out Cold (2001) and Edge Of Madness (2002). She also has appeared in many Canadian television programs, including the award-winning television film Heart: The Marilyn Bell Story (2001). Her more recent projects include Canadian-made movies Niagara Motel (2005), These Girls (2005) and La Belle bête (2006), the international film Comme tout le monde/ Mr. Average (2006) and Hollywood-produced pictures Hollywoodland (2006, with Ben Affleck) and Breach (2007, opposite Ryan Phillippes).
Of course, now we can also add Surviving My Mother (2007) and Passchendaele (2008).
Caroline has had been interviewed many, many times. Our two favorites are oldies but goodies, appearing around the Wonderfalls time:
From Science Fiction Weekly and from Pop Up Girls.
Caroline's wikipedia page is also quite good.
Here is a fun piece with Caroline outside of the premier of Passchendaele.
Here's a March, 2009 news article about Caroline:
Caroline Dhavernas has seen the best and worst of this city in her eight years of dropping by. From 9/11 to the Times Square celebration of Obama's inauguration.
The Canadian actor of Passchendaele fame took some time between auditions to show us around.
"When I come to New York, it's as if I've arrived in another neighbourhood in Montreal," Dhavernas said seated in one of her favourite spots, Alice's Tea Cup on the Upper West Side.
The 30-year-old is in town this time for auditions. The day before our interview it was for a role in a romantic comedy.
She comes to Manhattan several times a year, which is why she keeps an apartment in the East Village. That area is a mix of punks, students from New York University, Indian and Japanese restaurants. In short, it's a living, breathing, vibrant melting pot that Dhavernas wouldn't dream of trading for the bourgeois streets around Central Park.
Only 20 years ago, before Rudy Giuliani cleaned things up, the area was considered fairly dangerous.
So why did the blue-eyed Montreal native choose New York over Los Angeles?
"It was the actress Patricia Clarkson who introduced me to my agent, and he's based in New York. I also really like the city and it's close to Montreal (where she just purchased a home). I couldn't live in L.A."
Natural, calm and level-headed, it is obvious Dhavernas doesn't really fit the typical image of a Tinseltown girl.
An actress's life here in New York is far from easy.
The competition is stiff and the work harder to find right now, a result of the labour problems between the Screen Actors Guild and producers.
"But after eight years here, they're starting to recognize me and I have access to some super auditions," she said.
"It's different from Montreal, where there's a greater respect for actors. Here you have to give a good impression immediately."
Dhavernas has been working since she was 8, so she doesn't mind the downtime between shoots.
In her spare time she draws, does renovations and makes jewellery. But Dhavernas' career is planned out.
"This year I had lots of offers from American TV series and I turned them all down. I'm choosing quality of life because with TV series, the studios ask you to sign with them exclusively for the next seven years of your life. I did that with Wonderfalls (the FOX show that was cancelled after airing four episodes) and I saw what that was like. I prefer making films."
Strangely, the success of Passchendaele ($4.43 million at the box office in 2008) hasn't brought any other Canadian productions her way.
In the coming months, audiences will see her in the Quebec production De Pere en Flic and she'll shoot Martin Villeneuve's Mars et Avril.
The series The Pacific, produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg and shot in Australia, is due out in 2010.
All too soon, our time is up and the lovely Dhavernas has gone home to begin sorting through an impressive pile of scripts.
