Name: Tatiana Gabrielle Maslany
Birthdate: September 22, 1985
Birthplace: Regina, Saskatchewan
Claim to fame: Playing the series lead of the hit Canadian science-fiction thriller series, Orphan Black, for which she plays a total of 12 different characters (all clones of the main character).
What we can see her in next: Season 3 of Orphan Black will air in the spring of 2015, and she will also play the younger version of Helen Mirren’s character in a movie titled The Woman in Gold, which is set to release in 2015.
Interesting fact: She went through a rigorous auditioning process for Orphan Black because the part was asking the actress to play several different people. She said she was in a room with 15 different executives all yelping “Do your Sarah!’ ‘Do your Alison’ ‘ Do your Cosima’ ‘ Do Sarah being Beth!’”
Best quote: “You’re working with adults and you’re paid to do a job. And you’re a kid. Then you go back to high school, and everybody’s partying, and they’re doing math. I always felt a little bit outside of it. Outside of both experiences, really.” — on being a professional actress and in high school at the same time.
Why we love her: Our WCW this week is the ferociously talented Canadian actress, Tatiana Maslany. For those of you who don’t know who she is, which is definitely going to be a lot of people, she plays the lead role on the hit Canadian science-fiction thriller series, Orphan Black. She’s also hometown talent, as she was born in Saskatchewan, but has been living in Toronto for the past 10 years (Orphan Black is also filmed in Toronto).
Maslaney got her start in film and TV in high school, where like a lot of young actresses, she would leave school for month’s at a time to be on sets. Then at the age of 20, she moved to Toronto to further pursue her career. From there, she appeared in a long-list of Canadian TV shows, as well as smaller budget made for TV movies. But her big break came in 2013 when she booked the lead role on Orphan Black, which pushed her onto the radar of American audiences as well. In 2013 she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her work on the show, but lost out to Robin Wright for House of Cards. She also starred in the Canadian indie-film Cas and Dylan, which was directed by fellow Canuck Jason Priestly. She won a Phillip Borsos Award for Best Performance for her work on the film at the 2013 Whistler Film Festival.
Currently she’s filming the third season of Orphan Black here in Toronto, which is set to air this spring, and she’ll also appear as the younger version of Helen Mirren’s character in The Woman in Gold, which is also set to release in 2015.
Tatiana Maslaney is a gorgeous Canadian actress who has had a hugely successful film and television career up to date in the Canadian industry, but undeniably, she’s world-class talent who is definitely going to make her mark on Hollywood soon enough.
