There's a funny thing that can happen to Vancouver actors, particularly those cast in horror or thriller projects, often finding themselves playing characters meeting untimely ends.
"You end up in the same set. .. and you're like, 'Wait! I think I've died here, in this exact room!'" laughs actor Aleita Northey.
The thespian got her start in the profession early, honing her craft at a variety of local acting schools and beginning to work professionally at age 16.
From being stalked by Cheers alumnus George Wendt in an episode of television's Masters of Horror (directed by John Landis of The Blues Brothers and National Lampoon's Animal House fame), to taking the stage with her classmates at Handsworth secondary for their annual stage productions, the North Vancouver native's varied experiences eventually earned her a spot at the prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. Graduating in 2014, Northey joins the ranks of fellow alumni, including Diane Keaton, Gregory Peck, Mary Steenburgen, Steve McQueen and Allison Janney.
Now 24, Northey has been based in New York City for the last three years where she's continuing to pursue her passion, take on projects offering new challenges and push her career to new heights.
"For me it happened at a young age where you get, as they say, bit by the bug, and you love the feeling of performing and being in front of people," she says, reached Tuesday from her Astoria homebase, a neighbourhood referred to as "Actoria" due to the influx of young people and artists.
"I stick around to be able to tell stories and get that rush as much as I can. They always talk about acting being something that is harder to do, just because of the industry, but you really do live for those moments where you're connecting with another person in front of a lot of people. It really is an art about human connection and I think that that's not something we get a lot of, and that I cherish, and I want to do every day if I can," she says. Northey credits her family with setting a positive example for her career path. "I have a family of people that have shown me really great examples of how you can raise a family making art, which is something some people say is impossible, but clearly isn't," she says.
Northey is the daughter of musician, and film and television composer Craig Northey, a founding member of Odds. Her mother, a nurse practitioner, is also creative in her own right and a strong supporter of the arts.
"My parents always made art a rule in the house - if you're doing a sport, you're doing an instrument - and showed me that it was something I could do to make a living," says Aleita. Her brother Cole is also pursuing a creative path, set to graduate this year from Simon Fraser University's film school.
Locally, Aleita studied acting at a variety of institutions, including Vancouver Youth Theatre, Lyric School of Acting (where she met Lori Triolo, who she continues to study with to this day), and Michèle Lonsdale-Smith Studios. In addition, she was active in her high school's drama program. "I did two plays for them, one in Grade 10 (Women of Mass Destruction) and one in my graduating year (Via: Still in Motion) and was given some pretty big roles, which was inspiring and stretched me a lot and really fun," she says. Handsworth secondary's current production,
Dread, is being presented next week at Centennial Theatre, April 16-18. Aleita's other brother Wilson, a Grade 12 student, is among those featured in the production, a tragicallycomedic murder mystery inspired by Shakespeare's Macbeth.
Throughout her late-teens Aleita juggled professional work with her studies, and her credits include Killer Instinct, Ogre and Embrace of theVampire. In addition to Landis, other acclaimed directors she's worked with are Bruce McCulloch and Carl Bessai.
She went on to complete a bachelor of arts in communications at Simon Fraser University before heading east to New York City to attend the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre.
"It was exciting. I think I was ready to be immersed in my craft for a while. Everyone at home was telling me that was something that I needed to do and I was lucky that I auditioned and the people at the playhouse saw something special in me and I'm really happy that they did. I guess I didn't really know what to expect.
"We all see the movies and think of New York as this mecca and I had heard of course of the prestige of the playhouse. I think I just went in trying not to expect too much and was very, very pleasantly surprised. It's a great program and you really are immersed in it every day for two years and you come out with a lot of friends and a lot of new skills and then all of a sudden you're in a casting room at CBS," she says.
Aleita still does outreach at the playhouse, and works at House Casting, assisting as an intern and reader in commercial castings.
"You're always trying to make work for yourself, and so I'm going on auditions obviously and doing plays as much as I can, readings with my friends and colleagues, and. .. we're putting on stuff ourselves," she says.
Living in New York has proven to be a great motivator because there's "so much life at all hours, all the time and. .. so much opportunity to go see live theatre and films and everybody's hustling and trying to make it work," she says.
Aleita recently shot a feature film directed by Richard LeMay in upstate New York, entitled Bloodline. She was cast alongside playhouse alumna and friend Eden Brolin in. Aleita plays former cheerleader Ginny, best friend to Eden's character, the lead.
"They're on the outs, let's say," says Aleita of their onscreen relationship in the thriller/horror film.
Asked whether she's been intentionally pursuing work in those genres, she says no. It's just happened that way, which she's totally OK with, as she loves doing it.
"It puts you in very heightened circumstances that often are based in more imagination," she says.
"Lots of screaming and perfecting your pitch," she laughs, adding, however, in the end, acting comes down to the same things, technically speaking.
Bloodline's release date is pending, as is that of a short film by director Taylor Gonzalez at New York University she was cast in as the lead, entitled For Eileen, WhereverYou May Be.
Aleita is also continuing to work in theatre.
"I'm very happy going back and forth and I think that that's something that New York is super great for," she says.
She was most recently cast in Curling! The Musical, performed last fall at New York's Treehouse Theater as part of the Bad Theater Fest.
"It was a rather hilarious romp into the dramatics of a curling tournament. Something very Canadian planted in New York City. I got to wear all my best flannel," she says.
The show's attire was a "breather," after the two corsets she had to wear in her previous production, Compleat Female Stage Beauty.
She also recently had a lead in the one-act play Carolina In The Middle, mounted at Manhattan Repertory Theatre.
When asked what words of wisdom she'd pass on to young, aspiring actors, Aleita offers a pearl she's grateful to have received from a mentor early on.
"You have to be interested to be interesting so I would say keep loving it and learn discipline and just have fun and people will want to keep watching and hearing what you have to say because you have something to say," she says.
