And screen to discover another side to her self through acting
Julie Mainville: nurse turned actress
The Rockland resident has had to undertake firearms and falling training, something which has thrilled her beyond belief. “It really was neat to learn all those new skills,” she mentioned. “I never thought I’d learn how to fall off a building!”
From there, Mainville lent her voice to some animated series, before finally making it to the big screen. “I was in an episode of Paranormal Witness,” she added. “It wasn’t a small role either.”
The episode was filmed in Pickering and was aired on the Sci-Fi Network in the United States.
“When I got there I realized that they had a big budget,” Mainville explained. “They had built a whole set just for the episode. It was amazing to witness and be a part of it.”
In addition, it was the nurse’s first credited and paid role. “Everyone was so well organized and there were several cameras.”
But before she made her big network day view, the actress undertook what she considers the hardest role she has ever had to act so far.
“I did a scene in a short movie where my character is kidnapped, stuck and beaten, recalled an emotional Mainville. “I had to visit a side of me that I didn’t know existed. I had to do a lot of preparation.”
One can see instantly that the nurse possesses a flair for acting. Emotions build up in her eyes as she explained what she had to go through in order to create the best scene. “I convinced myself that I would never see my loved ones and my family ever again,” she stressed. “It was exhausting. I cried a lot, because you have to go so deep. At one point, I was even hysterical. During breaks, I would leave the set and go outside to breath fresh air and convince myself that everything was all right.”
But just like a Hollywood actress, Mainville said that her past roles don’t haunt her. “I could see how some people might have nightmares because there are so many different emotions at work during those scenes,” she declared. “But I’ve never had nightmares following the filming.”
When asked how she can channel all those different emotions into her characters, the woman ponders for a short while. Sitting at her kitchen table, she slowly eats fresh berries from a small bowl, before finally uttering what could very well be the golden rule of acting. “Jennifer Lawrence, a very well known actress, says that our best acting teachers are people,” she finally admitted. “We simply have to watch, study, and learn from them.”
Mainville has therefore learned to fuse her two worlds into one. “When I work at the hospital, I see people at their best, at their worst, and at their most vulnerable. There’s no acting there. Some are in pain, some on their deathbeds whereas others are the happiest they’ve ever been after leaving the operation room.”
In essence, every patient that walks into the Ottawa General Hospital becomes the nurse’s teacher.