When North Vancouver actress April Telek heard she'd been nominated for the Women in Film and Television Vancouver Artistic Merit Award, she had somewhat of an atypical reaction.

"I was floored," she says.

"To be truly honest, I think I'm a better business person than I am a true thespian. I really appreciate the art and I really admire the skill that is required but I also get a thrill out of the fact that it is a business and you have to kind of handle your career like a business and I love that."

However, the camera doesn't lie and Telek was ultimately honoured with the coveted award for her talented portrayal of Jana, a struggling B-movie actress, in Amazon Falls. The feature film had its world premiere at September's Toronto International Film Festival before screening at last month's Vancouver International Film Festival. Its director, Katrin Bowen, was also nominated for the award, bestowed upon her film's leading lady at the close of the Vancouver festival.

For the ever-humble Telek, the honour still hasn't fully sunk in. Following the nod, she says her husband turned to her and said, "'Well, will you finally believe that you're good?' My whole career I've always said that, 'I work because people like me and because I'm smart.' I know how to do my job well. But I've never really in my heart of hearts believed that I was the most talented."

Born and raised on the North Shore, Telek still calls it home, living in the same North Vancouver neighbourhood she grew up in.

She got her start in the entertainment industry at a young age, beginning to model at age 10.

"I had always been exposed to the film and modelling industry because my mom taught modelling and personal development for 27 years," she says.

Telek's mother, Jacklynne Nelson, and her aunt ran and owned Elizabeth Leslie Fashion Merchandising College, a popular Lower Mainland school for more than 40 years.

Interested in acting, her modelling career, which took her overseas at age 13, paved the way, opening the door to commercial work and later film and television. Telek also credits her high school drama teacher, Michael Reid, at Carson Graham secondary, with being a major influence in her pursuit of the craft.

"He was a big part of what kept me going and what drove me -- his incredible skills as an amazing coach in a high school program," she says.

In 1994, Telek was crowned Miss Canada, and went on to compete in 17 international competitions. She considers her first big break to have come in film and TV in 1996, following her work in the pilot for Millennium.

"From that I got a lot of press and I got a lot of exposure and I've really never stopped working since," she says. "But I kind of feel like I have the perfect career because nobody really knows me. Local people do because I went to high school with half the North Shore but nobody really knows me and yet I have this really lovely career. I'm working all the time doing what I love, but my privacy has never been really infringed upon."

Telek has appeared in a number of feature films, including Gray Matters with Heather Graham, Two For The Money with Al Pacino and Matthew McConaughey, and White Noise with Michael Keaton. Television credits include Robson Arms, Aliens in America, Men in Trees and Flight 93.

Strangely enough, while at one time Telek kept an apartment in Los Angeles (she laughs when she recalls the multitude of colourful roommates she had over the years), and went back and forth, she's never done a job there.

"Every job brought me home or to Toronto or to the Prairies, but not a single job in the United States did I shoot," she says.

As was the case with Amazon Falls, which she heard about through her agent who sent her the script, telling her it was a very low-budget project.

"I read it and I thought, 'Oh my goodness,'" she says. "This project, if I get it, it will either make my career or I will have to quit.' Honest to God. Because it was that kind of a project. I am in every frame of the movie, every scene of the film, with the exception of two. I've never had to carry anything like that in my life. I've never had that kind of responsibility and I've never had to go to the deep dark places that I had to go to with the character of Jana. It scared the life out of me and I needed that badly."

Telek jumped on board with the project, excited at the prospect of a role allowing her to both challenge herself as well as give her an opportunity to show her chops.

Amazon Falls was Bowen's first feature as a director and she based it loosely on her own experience as a B-movie actress. The film chronicles the experiences of Jana, an actress nearing her 40th birthday, who finds herself questioning whether it's time to give up or continue on in her dream of making it big, despite the hardship she faces in her quest to do so.

Its screenwriter, Curry Hitchborn, a fellow North Shore resident, was given a mere two weeks to pen the project. The shooting time was similarly tight, seeing it accomplished in 12 days, primarily locally with one day by the crew in Los Angeles for some location shots.

Amazon Falls' Toronto film festival premiere saw every show sell out, including the opening, which did so in three hours, says Telek. At the Vancouver film festival, in addition to her Women in Film and Television Vancouver Artistic Merit Award win, Amazon Falls was also named the second most popular Canadian film. Plans for it include screening at other international film festivals in the coming months, as well as a theatrical release in the New Year. The Movie Network plans to air it in 2012.

In the meantime, Telek is continuing to shoot films and television shows as well, remains on the lookout for new projects. She was recently featured on Leftcoast TV Get With the Stars, which is hosted by Laurie Belle and airs on the Novus Network, as well as online (leftcoasttv.com). Telek's episode was filmed at North Vancouver's Thai House Restaurant.

Apart from acting, she also does a lot of non-profit work, including serving as a North Shore Hospice board member for three years in addition to working with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind and Operation Smile.

When asked how she manages such a busy schedule, Telek says her young daughter gives her all the motivation she needs, encouraging her to set a good example.

"She's pretty inspirational so it makes me want her life to be full and wonderful," she says.

emcphee@nsnews.com