City Profile (March 2004) By Merina Crowe
This June, Carly Pope, a regular Vancouver beauty, will be collecting attention. Pope stars in the upcoming television series The Collector, which will premiere on The Space Channel. The Collector is a sci-fi series about the devils souls collector named Morgan Pym played by Chris Kramer. Pym made a deal with the devil to protect Katrina, the love of his life, who was dying from the plague. The Devil saved Katrina, but made Pym pay with his soul for the rest of eternity.
Pope plays Mya, a young prostitute, who Pym befriends. Her character continually manages to evoke emotions in Pym and awaken him from the numbness of collecting souls.
"I play a prostitute that Morgan (Pym) runs into in the first episode. In some ways, I remind of of his past love, and he wants to take care of me, and save me. The relationship is a bit of a tease really. We try to go there, want to go there, but know that we cant," says Pope about her on screen romance.
As a child, Pope, now 23, trained as a dancer. She began studying drama in an advanced program at Lord Bying High school. At
first, acting was more on a creative outlet for her and she didnt think about it as a serious career until her career as an actor
had already started to take off. An agent had seen her in a school production. This led to her screen debut in an independent
childrens film, Cowboys and Aliens, which was shot on location in Eastern Europe.
Since then, she has taken on small parts in Vancouver movies, starred in a few movies of the week and landed a starring role in the feature film A Coller Climate with Sally Field. Her big break, however, came with her role in the series Popular. She moved to L.A. and worked on the show for three years, visiting her family, (including brother and fellow actor Kris) and friends regulary in Vancouver.
"It was a great experience for being new in the acting/film industry. It was a cool opportunity for me to have at a young age. I remember it very fondly." she says.
Besides acting, Pope admits she wants to pursue some sort of academia. She dabbles with the ideas of psychology and/or law. But, its not time for the books just yet.
"I am very grateful for the opportunites that I have had, but I also equally understand that I am very lucky. Many people follow (acting) for a very long time. I was given these opportunites, without having to go there," she says. "I really enjoy that aspect of acting. I try to do things that I need to push through harder, so in the end, I feel that I have accomplished something."
Q&A
CURRENTLY READING - The Politics of Lust by (local writer) John Ince - its a critical look at sexuality, predominantly, in
North America. Le Petit Prince makes an appearance beside my bed periodically too.
BEST THING ABOUT VANCOUVER - The summers, allergy season has passed, one can typically SEE the city, and the ear to ear
grins are abundant.
IF YOU WERE NOT ACTING - Id be acting "up" somewhere else
FAVOURITE SPOT IN VANCOUVER TO MEET UP WITH FRIENDS- Theres nothing like a day at Wreck Beach and then straight to "The Eatery"
with my ladies - were practically part of the furniture there.
FAVOURITE RESTAURANT - If im in the mood for a verbal spanking "The Elbow Room" is pretty quenching...but Tojo's certainly has
a special place in my heart (and tummy).
SOMETHING MOST PEOPLE DO NOT KNOW ABOUT YOU - Im terribly cheeky...
Source: Vancouver Lifestyles Magazine // article reprinted with permission