HOLLYWOOD NORTH: HANNIBAL ACTRESS ON A ROHL
Kacey Rohl feels lucky her career is taking off
AVancouver actress has a tasty role in NBC and City TV’s Hannibal — the new series about the early adventures of ghoulish Silence of the Lambs gourmet Hannibal Lecter.
Kacey Rohl, who is in Chicago shooting a pilot for Doubt, an ABC/ Sony drama, told The Sun there isn’t too much she can reveal about her role in Hannibal except that it’s “super fun.” Says Rohl: “Hannibal follows Will Graham, a special investigator for the FBI, and Hannibal Lecter as they follow various serial killers and solve their crimes together. I play the daughter of one of these killers in a recurring role.”
The show, which premiered April 4, was created by Bryan Fuller, the wonderfully warped mind behind Pushing Daisies and Dead Like Me.
“Hannibal came about from a connection with ( director) David Slade. I had shot a pilot with him that didn’t go last year and when this role came up in Hannibal he suggested me for it. It was crazy. I found out that I got the role when I was in a theatre course in London ( at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts). My agent texted me and I started jumping up and breathing so heavily I thought I was going to pass out in this little neighbourhood pub. I ran outside and called my mom and was screaming and people were laughing at me and running away from me. I’m pretty sure that I’m still paying off that cellphone bill. Worth it.”
The new role she’s shooting in Chicago might pay down that phone bill.
Doubt is a pilot for ABC that centres around a low- rent lawyer negotiating his various trials and tribulations. “I play Monica Boucher, a paralegal. She’s smart as a whip and a real go- getter. I feel very fortunate to be trusted with such a fabulous role. The show is from David Shore, creator of House and directed by Thomas Schlamme of West Wing fame. Seriously, I’m dying. Those shows were my jam. I really hope it gets picked up. I think it’s a great show, the script is
My agent texted me and I started jumping up and breathing so heavily I thought I was going to pass out in this little neighbourhood pub.
KACEY ROHL ACTRESS ON HOW SHE LEARNED SHE HAD EARNED A RECURRING ROLE IN THE TV SERIES HANNIBAL
sensational and The West Wing helped shape the lady I am today. You go C. J. Cregg!”
Rohl, 21, says she didn’t think she had a shot at Doubt. She asked her agent to lie and say she was “a young- looking 25” because she was worried the producers would think she wasn’t old enough for the part.
“It was the one I didn’t think I had a snowball’s chance in hell of getting. I still think I either killed someone or paid someone off to get me here. Again, totally worth it. The role is amazing. My fellow castmates are not only freakishly talented actors, but also super great people.”
The cast includes Greg Grunberg ( Heroes, Alias, Felicity) and Rockmond Dunbar ( Sons of Anarchy).
Rohl started acting early. Her mother, Vancouver ( via Alberta) playwright- performer-filmmaker and former standup comic Jan Derbyshire, recalls her daughter quoting from Hamlet at age three. Rohl’s dad Mike Rohl is one of Vancouver’s most in- demand TV directors.
Kacey Rohl says what she loves about acting is “getting paid for having emotional reactions that would otherwise land me in jail or the nuthouse.”
“My life lets me have internal surprises — things can happen inside my head or my heart that take me by surprise. I love how much jet- setting I’ve been up to because of my job. I feel lucky that my life is filled with such wild and amazing things that I’m so grateful for all of the time.”
Asked if there was a particular thing her parents did or she saw that sparked her interest in becoming an actor, Rohl says, “I can’t remember a specific moment, but I suppose quoting Hamlet’s ‘ To be or not to be’ soliloquy at age three should have been a clue.”
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