One of the guests of the Motor City Comic Con that BRBTV had the pleasure of talking to this past weekend was the stunning Rachel Skarsten, who played Dinah Lance / the Canary on the "Birds of Prey" TV series that aired in 2002, chronicling the adventures of the Huntress, Black Canary and the wheelchair-using Barbara Gordon as Oracle. The show, which only lasted a season, also starred Dina Meyer as Oracle and Ashley Scott as the Huntress. Skarsten was just a young teen when she first got the role of Dinah.
"We filmed the pilot when I was 16, and then the show got picked up, and I turned 17," she told us. She learned a lot from that role, and she got a lot of support from her two costars.
"Actually specifically both Dina and Ashley were just really really lovely to me. I had many sleepovers at Ashley's house when I missed my mom."
If "Birds of Prey" had gone into a second season, how did she see her character of Dinah as evolving?
"I think there was a real innocence to Dinah," Skarsten said. "I would've loved to have seen her come into her own more."
Has she read any of the Birds of Prey-related comics? Well, actually, she what she has read are Archies comics, believe it or not, particularly after she lost her father. Reading the tales of the teens of Riverdale were a great comfort to her at that time, she said.
How does her portrayal of Canary differ from how the character has been portrayed more recently on the CW's "Smallville" and "Arrow"?
"I never saw the Black Canary on 'Smallville,'" she said, though she has watched a few episodes of "Arrow" and loves Katie Cassidy's performance as Dinah Lance.
"I feel that we took her back. She had really just discovered her powers. And really was becoming a woman, too. Whereas most of the other portrayals, they're a little bit older than I was. They're either just more self-possessed as females, whereas for me, Dina was actually a lot like myself." Dorky, she said. Dorky, really? Yes, she said it!
Skarsten currently plays Tamsin on "Lost Girl. She does have a film project coming up that she couldn't talk about. We should see it in early 2015, she says.
Thanks to Mike for the great photos!
"We filmed the pilot when I was 16, and then the show got picked up, and I turned 17," she told us. She learned a lot from that role, and she got a lot of support from her two costars.
"Actually specifically both Dina and Ashley were just really really lovely to me. I had many sleepovers at Ashley's house when I missed my mom."
If "Birds of Prey" had gone into a second season, how did she see her character of Dinah as evolving?
"I think there was a real innocence to Dinah," Skarsten said. "I would've loved to have seen her come into her own more."
Has she read any of the Birds of Prey-related comics? Well, actually, she what she has read are Archies comics, believe it or not, particularly after she lost her father. Reading the tales of the teens of Riverdale were a great comfort to her at that time, she said.
How does her portrayal of Canary differ from how the character has been portrayed more recently on the CW's "Smallville" and "Arrow"?
"I never saw the Black Canary on 'Smallville,'" she said, though she has watched a few episodes of "Arrow" and loves Katie Cassidy's performance as Dinah Lance.
"I feel that we took her back. She had really just discovered her powers. And really was becoming a woman, too. Whereas most of the other portrayals, they're a little bit older than I was. They're either just more self-possessed as females, whereas for me, Dina was actually a lot like myself." Dorky, she said. Dorky, really? Yes, she said it!
Skarsten currently plays Tamsin on "Lost Girl. She does have a film project coming up that she couldn't talk about. We should see it in early 2015, she says.
Thanks to Mike for the great photos!
Actress Ashley Scott who played The Huntress on Birds Of Prey, the television series that aired on The WB based on the DC Comics female team up, confirmed via facebook that the cast of the series will be at The Hollywood Show for the first ever appearance the cast, which includes Rachel Skarsten Dina Meyer and Ashley Scott.
ReplyDeleteIt’ll only be for one day, on April 25th from 11am-5pm at The Westin Los Angeles Airport Hotel.