Kris Holden-Ried is an incredibly difficult man to interview. Not because he is distant or unfriendly – quite the opposite, in fact. But with his lean, boyish good looks, and stunning charm, it can make any interviewer forget what they were going to say next.

We were able to have a quick chat with Kris in between his busy schedule at the Edmonton Expo about his current project, Lost Girl, where he plays werewolf cop Dyson, and how we can use the greatest fiction to tell the greatest truths about human nature. Also, about how his kisses can break drywall.

GC: I really wanted to talk to you about Lost Girl, actually, because Lost Girl is under the radar but still very steadily successful. And as you go with it you’re breaking so many boundaries and getting certain themes on TV. It’s a show about the Fae – fairies – and it still reflects human nature.

KHR: Well that’s one of the beautiful things about genre work like this, it’s that you can put so many metaphors in – most of them are metaphors for what’s going on. Like, I think that historically it came from back during McCarthy, when he really kyboshed all the screenwriters, and they would start writing subversive, political material, in the form of movies and fictional stories.

GC: How did you get the part?

KHR: Pretty standard, you know. The script came across, I read it, I loved it, I went in and met the producers, I did an audition. But I was really passionate about it, when I read it I knew it was something I really wanted to do. I actually brought my headshot in – I went online and I got the face of a wolf and brought in myself as a wolf. And I had backstory ideas, so like it wasn’t so much as an audition, I went in and basically told them what I wanted to do with the character.

GC: You pitched the character?

KHR: I pitched them, yeah. And they went for it. And I screen tested with Anna [Silk] and we just hit it off, we had great chemistry. We actually – it’s out there a little bit – but in our audition I picked her up and threw her against the wall to make out with her, and we actually broke the drywall in the audition room. And so later on when the show became successful we went back and we signed the cracked drywall.

GC: As a Canadian actor, what do you hope to do, at least in Canadian cinema?

KHR: We’ve always been able to make fantastic product here, but it’s usually been for the Americans. They come up here and they make their A-list films. And now we’re actually making our own. And I hope we just keep going and creating great television and great films that can be sold on the international market, bringing some money back to our industry. We have so much talent in this country, and it’s time for it to get out there a little.

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Contributor Mars Tonic |

Locale Edmonton |

Person Kris Holden-Ried |

Topic Celebrity Interview | Celebrity Video Interview | Comic Expo | Edmonton Expo | Lost Girl | Most Read Articles in 2015 | Most Read Articles in 2016 | Most Read Articles in 2017 | Most Read Articles in 2018 |