Cover story: a profile of Ramin Karimloo

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No, Ramin Karimloo isn’t what you might expect in a traditional musical theatre star. And make no mistake, Karimloo is a star, with a voice that can be as powerful as a freight train before it drops to a gentle and angelic wisp of the wind. Born in Iran and raised north of Toronto in Richmond Hill, Karimloo returns to his home turf this month to star as Jean Valjean in a bold new production of the classic Les Misérables, scheduled to run until at least Dec. 22.

It might be the heavily tattooed arm and the love of Harley-Davidson motorcycles and mixed martial arts cage fighting that set him apart.

“I was into ink,” says Karimloo, who explains that all the designs on his arm have to do with his family and different stories for each member.

“I’m not stereotypical. I ride a Harley, love motorbikes, and I’m a big cage fighting fan. I’m going to UFC this weekend.”

Or maybe it is his love of bluegrass that inspired him to create a new genre of music he’s dubbed “Broadgrass,” which combines Broadway show tunes and traditional bluegrass instrumentation, such as banjos.

Over the past 18 months, Karimloo and his Broadgrass Band have released an album and toured relentlessly in support of this new effort.

“It happened through a few tours; it evolved,” he says. “Now we’ve got this genre with an actual identity, which is great.

“The more we toured, the more we found we didn’t want to get away from theatre necessarily,” Karimloo explains. “But I never liked just doing theatre songs as you would hear them onstage. So [we asked] how can we make this truthful and honest. The banjo can sound really haunting and create a nice mood, so we thought, ‘OK, let’s just try it.’ ”

Fans of Ramin and the Broadgrass Band will be happy to learn that a new EP is on the way before Christmas.

Whether it’s the Broadgrass or the tats or the bikes, Karimloo is definitely unique. So it isn’t that surprising he took anything but a traditional approach to musical theatre.

As a kid, his first taste of the theatre was Phantom of the Opera in Toronto, starring Colm Wilkinson. Apparently, something clicked because he went again and again.

“It was never about musical theatre, for me,” he explains. “I always just wanted to be an actor. Phantom, Les Mis, The Godfather, they were all just great roles played by great actors. These guys, De Niro, Daniel Day Lewis, doing things that are beyond who they are.”

After high school, Karimloo got a job performing on a cruise ship that sailed out of Britain. And it was there that he learned about how much work was available in the West End theatre district of London, England.

“It was just based on instinct, you know,” says Karimloo, who describes himself as being self-taught.

“In England, there are so many tours and shows. I thought I was bound to get something. I just needed one part at back of stage to learn the ropes and work my way up.

“I had no contacts or connections or any other reason to go. There was just something in my head that said to go to England. I was 18, I had nothing to lose, so I thought, why not?”

Whatever Karimloo did, whatever internal machinations were cranked to full, he exploded onto London stages and was soon landing lead roles in Phantom of the Opera and other productions.

He has become so accomplished that, when Andrew Lloyd Webber was looking for a lead in his much-ballyhooed sequel to Phantom, Love Never Dies, he insisted the only person acceptable was Karimloo. Now that’s respect.

This new version of Les Misérables by Cameron Mackintosh is modern and exciting. The show has garnered rave reviews. The New York Times has called it “an unquestionably spectacular production from start to finish.” The London Times is just as affected by the show, dubbing it “a five-star hit, astonishingly powerful.”

“I really like this man,” says Karimloo, of his character Jean Valjean, an ex-convict in 19th-century France who spent 19 years in prison after stealing a loaf of bread to feed his starving niece.

“He is very selfless, you know. Everything he’s done has been for someone else. I can really relate to his struggle with faith and the journey within that and the decisions he makes.”

The Mirvish production, a Canadian premiere, features a number of talented local performers, and one familiar with Karimloo: fellow West End star Earl Carpenter, who will portray Jean Valjean’s nemesis, Inspector Javert.

Karimloo is diplomatic when it comes to home. For him it comes down to family (he has two boys).

“England has become my home. I always say now, ‘Home is where my kids are.’ ”

Now that he’s finally jumped the pond for a good gig, who knows what the future might bring. Karimloo still has plenty of family in the area, including his mother, father and big brother, who is a police officer with Toronto’s 53 Division.

There has been a long-standing rumour that Karimloo was slated to star alongside Louise Pitre in Theatre 20’s production of Company. But Karimloo has heard nothing for a while, and according to him, that information should never have come out as it was too early in the process. But, for the record, working with someone of Pitre’s rare talent is pretty high up on his list.

Following its successful run in Toronto, it has just been announced that the lengthy production (it runs close to three hours) is Broadway bound

As of March 1, 2014, Les Mis will be debuting at New York City’s Imperial Theatre where the original production ran for 16 years. Joining Karimloo onstage are New York musical theatre star Will Swenson, as antagonist Inspector Javert, and Caissie Levy as Fantine (the role for which Anne Hathaway nabbed an Academy Award). The Tony Award–winning performer Nikki M. James will play the lovesick Eponine in what is bound to be a blockbuster of a run.

“For me, I always want to go after the right role regardless of geography,” says Karimloo. “Broadway, West End, if it is the right role, I’ll go.”

Cover story: a profile of Sheila McCarthy

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I’ll be huffing and puffing as you ask me questions,” says Sheila McCarthy who, at 57, is bubbling with more effervescence than most teens. The much-decorated actress — she’s racked up two Genies, two Doras and a Film North Bull’s Eye Lifetime Achievement Award — is barely gasping for breaths as we leap between topics. In the span of an hour we bounce from her lifelong love of dance to her upcoming films, and we even get the veteran actress to divulge her desert island acting medium.

While we gab about the curriculum that McCarthy has developed for the two separate acting courses she’s teaching and the relationship between aging and acting, I imagine the flaxen-haired icon curled up enjoying the fall colours around Lake Rousseau (she’s escaped the city for Thanksgiving), only to remember this entire time she’s trekking along on the elliptical. The Little Mosque on the Prairie actress admits that she’s “a bit obsessive about going to the gym.” Of course the workout sounds nearly effortless. McCarthy works out for an hour and a half daily.

When asked what motivates her compulsive calisthenic regimen, McCarthy digs back to its origins. “I’ve always been a dancer,” she divulges, which isn’t exactly an explanation, but it illustrates her five decades–long affair with movement. McCarthy sounds near diffident when she says it — as though she were some mediocre talent show–quality dancer. It’s almost as if you can hear a shrug in her voice: “I’ve always,” shrug, “been a dancer.”

The Thornhill native’s modesty obscures the calibre of her dancing —she became professional at just 16 years old.

McCarthy’s extracurricular acting work earned the future star school credits in music and theatre arts. If you cocked your brow at the music credit, then you may have missed McCarthy’s 2004 performance of Guys and Dolls. Long before donning Miss Adelaide’s mink stole on the Stratford stage, McCarthy established herself as a triple threat. She could act, dance and sing — all while trying to memorize high school chemistry formulas. The made-for-Broadway star even took time away from her studies at Thornlea Secondary School to tour with the Charlottetown Festival. (It was while touring that she earned the aforementioned school credits.) She appeared in shows ranging in scope from Anne of Green Gables to Kronberg: 1582, a Hamlet-inspired rock opera.

Touring with a festival might seem like a great excuse for a surly artistic teen to avoid high school, but McCarthy was no misunderstood artistic stereotype. McCarthy was a proud Thornlea cheerleader.

“Cheering by day, hippie by night! It was the ’70s after all. I loved high school,” says McCarthy.

The Emily of New Moon actress gushes about her high school experience. She remembers the school having a collegiate atmosphere because the staff encouraged independent work and free thought. For one of McCarthy’s classes, she and her classmates “conceived of, wrote, directed, choreographed, did sets and costumes and finally performed” a murder mystery–musical entitled Checkmate. Decades have passed, but McCarthy still remembers Thornlea teachers by their full names, like her music teacher Terry McGrath, who had the students listen to and discuss and dissect the work of composers like Glenn Gould. Despite the rose-coloured glasses of nostalgia, McCarthy is quick to divulge it wasn’t all straight As for her.

I didn’t fare quite so well in Miss Jane Garden’s biology class — but god knows she tried to help me.”

McCarthy may have started as a traditional triple threat, but she has grown into a multi-pronged industry threat in the sense that you are almost just as likely to see the acting vet cast in a silver screen role, as you are likely to see her on the stage or on the small screen. Though the actress is of the opinion that acting is acting and that stage techniques can work just as well on the small screen as they can in front of a live theatre audience (she finds Breaking Bad to be very Shakespearean, in the best sense), she has a special fondness for television acting.

We posed the actress a King Solomon–inspired query and asked her to choose between television, stage or big screen as a favourite acting medium (should she only be able to do one for the rest of her life).

“If I had to choose? Hands down I would do another TV series,” responds McCarthy without needing time to reflect. “You get to stay with the character and be in her skin for a longer time than a movie. I love wallowing in that! And I love the theatrical family that is created.”

After wrapping up a six-year role as Sarah Hamoudi on CBC’s Little Mosque on the Prairie, McCarthy has taken some time to pursue personal writing projects. She has also taken the beat as an opportunity to teach courses at Humber College and the Canadian Film Centre.

McCarthy currently has two creative projects on the back burner. The first is a buddy flick she is co-writing for herself and, hopefully, her pal Liza Minnelli. The second creative project, which she is co-writing with Brendan Howley and Laurie Lynd, has been dubbed The Departure Lounge, and is a comedy set in a retirement community populated by a raucous bunch of geriatrics.

McCarthy’s daughter, Mackenzie Donaldson, was recently awarded a $150,000 grant to produce a web series, Whatever, Linda. McCarthy will play a CEO who’s being Bernie Madoffed by a clique of conniving secretaries. The ever-busy McCarthy also recently finished filming Dear Viola (with Kellie Martin). If that wasn’t enough, the actress will also appear in a triplet of films slated for 2014 release: Algonquin (with Nicholas Campbell), No Stranger Than Love (starring Colin Hanks and Alison Brie) and Canadian flick A Fighting Man (starring James Caan and Dominic Purcell).

In A Fighting Man, the veteran actress moves from the Little Mosque–era role of the middle-aged mother to a mother at the end of her life. McCarthy embraces being cast in these silver roles.

“As I’ve aged, I’ve become less ambitious, and I mean that in the best way.… It’s not the end of the world if I don’t get a part. Lately, I’m feeling more comfortable in my skin. There’s that old cliché: you finally figure out how to do it and you’re too friggin’ old. But I kind of looked old when I was 10. So, I say, ‘Bring it!’ ”

And when an ex-cheerleader says bring it on, she means business.

Local millionaire held in Cuba since 2011

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A Thornhill resident is at the centre of an international controversy. Vahe “Cy” Tokmakjian, owner of the global transportation firm Tokmakjian Group, was detained in Cuba in September of 2011 and has been held in prison there without charge ever since.

Now Thornhill MP Peter Kent, who recently visited with Tokmakjian at La Condesa Prison, the medium-security facility where he is being held, is calling for Cuban authorities to either charge Tokmakjian or release him.

“He’s a 73-year-old businessman,” said Kent. “I, [the Ministry of] Foreign Affairs [and] his family certainly feel … he should either be charged, so he can have his day in court, or he should be released.”

The Tokmakjian Group currently has operations in many countries overseas, including Cuba, where they have been providing heavy mining and maintenance equipment for more than three decades.

Kent said that Cuban officials have been very unspecific when describing to him and Tokmakjian the offences he may have committed. “[The Cubans] have made general allegations of improper business practices,” said Kent. “They’ve never formalized any charges at all.”

For his part, said Kent, Tokmakjian has maintained his absolute innocence. “They’re trying to get him to admit wrongdoing of some sort, almost wrongdoing of any sort, and he refuses.”

A statement from Adria Minsky, director of communications for the office of the Minister of State (Foreign Affairs and Consular) from the Government of Canada, said that both governments are working together to assist Tokmakjian.

“Since learning of his arrest, consular officials in both Cuba and Canada have provided ongoing assistance to Mr. Tokmakjian, as well as his family. Ministers of this government have also met with senior Cuban officials to request a timely and transparent investigation.”

Thornlea working group to expand

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This past summer, a vote by Markham City Council to approve a long-awaited plan to revitalize the Thornlea neighbourhood was delayed after local residents and businesses expressed a plethora of concerns. Instead, a new committee was formed consisting of representatives from residents, business owners and city councillors, and the vote was to be rescheduled this fall.

But now that working group is set to expand as concerns are still rampant among the parties involved.

Residents had previously advocated to ban new industrial businesses from the area and rezone the former Canac Kitchens factory site to mostly residential. This concerned businesses and so resulted in the process slowing down.

“Council decided to air on the side of being giving,” said Ward 2 councillor Howard Shore. “If it means an extra couple of meetings with additional representatives, now that people were paying that much more attention, so be it.”

The expanded working group will include residents and businesses.

But Peter Pavlovic, president of the nearby Aileen-Willowbrook Ratepayers Association, said that efforts to be more inclusive haven’t reached his organization.

“As the local ratepayers association, we should be more involved,” said Pavlovic, “But no one has made contact with us.”

Fashion Week round-up: our top spring collections

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Toronto’s World MasterCard Fashion Week is officially over but the ideas still linger on. Herewith, our top Spring/Summer 2014 collections from last week’s parade of fashion.

Maison Matthew Gallagher

Without a doubt, the star of Fashion Week was Matthew Gallagher. Hailing from Nova Scotia, this relative newcomer (he showed his Maison Matthew Gallagher line for the first time last season) put forth a dreamily beautiful ode to summers in Italy’s small-town south.

The garments all possessed a quiet luxury, achieved through the soft palette, sumptuous fabrics and precise cuts. Against a romantic soundtrack (sung in italiano, of course) models marched out in a series of feminine looks that progressed from champagne tones to bubblegum pink, with the odd injection of sky blue.

Standouts included a two-toned spaghetti-strap dress that featured a full skirt in the front, with the back crafted out of a single panel of fabric. A blush pink gown titillated in the back, with two printed and embellished fabric panels secured at the nape of the neck, exposing the spine. Gallagher cuts impeccably, and each piece floated over the body just-so.

There wasn’t a single misstep in the whole collection.

Sid Neigum

Sid Neigum showed a strong collection for spring. This time, the designer opted to (mostly) take a breather from prints, instead focusing on the fabric itself, either draping it or injecting patterns into it via laser cutting.

Metallic garments in chocolate and cobalt shades opened the show, enveloping the body in a protective manner. A series of white pieces followed, injecting some fresh verve into the collection. We liked a cool-kid look in which layers of fabric wrapped around the body every which way, tying in the front (very now). But the most gabbed about pieces were the laser-cut looks, which proceeded out in a march of symmetry. The garments were mostly designed as mirrored reflections, with each half of the piece an exact replica of the other. Very cool.

Lest we forget, the self-designed shoes — hulking masses of crumpled leather — were a much talked about item from the show (this isn't the first time — remember when he sent out Japan-inspired wooden clogs?). Leave it to Sid to continue pushing boundaries with his work.

Beaufille

Beaufille (recently rebranded from Chloé Comme Parris) is always a hot ticket. By now, any fan of Parris and Chloe Gordon is well-versed in their signature look: feminine takes on masculine shapes, intricate uniquely-designed prints and a softly grungy cool-girl vibe.

The best of the bunch included blazers. Touched with a feminine wand, they spilled out into lazy A-lines punctuated with pleats. The dominant print was reminiscent of ancient European mosaics plucked from 16th century churches. It was used best in a silk spaghetti strap dress with a below-the-bust cutout fit with piercing closures. Metal cross fixings were sprinkled around liberally.

In seasons past, the Gordon girls have put out pieces that the audience is clamouring after (that strappy leather backpack; a pale pink moto) but this time, despite a solid collection, the pieces weren't calling out with quite the same urgency.

Mercedes-Benz Start Up Winners

This year’s Mercedes-Benz Start Up competition saw designers from across the country vying for the prize (winners get mentorship from the judges, editorial coverage in FASHION magazine, and a show at next year’s Fashion Week). In a surprise ending, two designers ended up winning after a panel — including our own fashion columnist Jeanne Beker — came to a gridlock.

Malorie Urbanovitch has already been noted in the press thanks to her highly wearable, well-made pieces. The Edmontonian sent out a series of mix and match separates in a muted palette (think dusky rose, lilac and champagne). As a whole it managed to be classic yet au courant, with a nod to grunge noted in toppers wrapped around the hips. A grey and black mohair sweater anchoring a silk dress was a favourite look.

Matière Noire designer Cecile Raizonville’s garments had a bit more urban grit to them. Top looks included the opening one starring a boxy white T with a triangle emblem in the centre; jackets where waists were nipped in yet volume was retained above; and a long dove grey vest with a series of stripes reaching horizontally across the hips. The work felt sophisticated and restrained but never boring.

Towing in Richmond Hill can cost up to $900 currently

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Richmond Hill is one of the only municipalities in the GTA without a bylaw in place to regulate vehicle towing, meaning there is no standard for what private towing companies may charge for services.

That is set to change soon following a recent Richmond Hill Town Council committee vote approving a set of recommendations to regulate the industry.

The suggested towing rate in the bylaw from a non-collision scene tow is $125 — far less than some of the fees reported to John DeVries, director, regulatory services for Richmond Hill.

“Tow fees off of private property are anywhere between $600 and $900,” said DeVries. “We’re trying to bring in uniform fares that we think are reasonable.”

In Toronto, specific tow truck companies are assigned to five different districts, and the base towing charges are all restricted to $164.90 or lower.

The bylaw must still go through the full Richmond Hill council for approval. A meeting was set to take place on Oct. 29.
Residents recently began reporting a trend of aggressive towing enforcement, particularly at a plaza at 10077 Yonge St.

“A lot of these folks [who speak] English as a second language parked to go to a school right next door,” said former Ward 4 councillor Lynn Foster.

The tow truck operators in the area have been identified as “chasers,” in the town’s recommendations, staking out awaiting opportunities to tow vehicles.

“They took the opportunity to do what perhaps might have been legally correct but certainly morally reprehensible to tow people out of this plaza,” said Foster. “There are elements in that industry that are quite predatory.”

Local artist takes work to Capitol Hill

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North York artist and activist Franke James returned from a trip to Washington, D.C., this past October where she unveiled her unique protest art. Six posters were hung at different city bus stops as part of her “Oh No Canada” anti–tar sands campaign.
The posters feature slogans such as “Do not talk about climate change” and take aim at Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government.

Two years ago, shortly before she was to embark on an extensive European art tour, government funding was pulled from the tour without explanation. James filed a request under the Access to Information Act.

“This ludicrous statement that I found in one of the access documents [said] ‘The artist’s work dealt mostly with climate change and was advocating a message that was contrary to the government’s policies.’ Another way to say that is, ‘do not talk about climate change. It is against Canada’s policy,’ ” James said.

James has since used her art to aggressively fire back and spread awareness through creative means.

Still no consensus on Bathurst Manor Plaza

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Residents of the Bathurst Manor area have been working with the City of Toronto and a developer since 2006 to come to a consensus on a proposed six-storey, mixed-use development on Wilmington Avenue. After the most recent community meeting last month, residents are still feeling dissatisfied.

“It’s been very frustrating,” said Michael Anthony, a resident who has been involved in the talks since they began. He said that the developers, who have been represented by their attorney at meetings, have made small changes to the proposal over time, but the key issues of density and traffic remain the same.

“We feel that the number of units, of people and cars that would come into the neighbourhood are just too large,” Anthony said.

The most recent community meeting at Beth Emeth Bais Yehuda Synagogue had over 400 attendees present. The newest update to the proposal requested a bylaw amendment to permit a six-storey, mixed-use building on the northeast corner of Wilmington Avenue and Overbrook Place, with 179 units and ground floor retail; a three- to six-storey, mixed-used building on the northwest corner, with 171 residential units; and a total of 43 townhouse units on the site.

“The plan had not really changed that much in the three years since the previous presentation,” said Coun. James Pasternak. “It has a totally inadequate amount of retail. While we do want the [Bathurst Manor Plaza] site cleaned up, we don’t want it cleaned up at any price.”

Anthony agreed that the retail in the plaza does not make up for the services the community has lost. “We’ve seen the bank, Shoppers Drug Mart and the hardware store go away. Those were really important to a community that is an older community, age-wise. [The] retail space, we feel, is minimal and doesn’t replace what we’ve had in the past.”

Pasternak said he is now forming a working group for community members to come together to build a consensus on what is acceptable: “Next steps will be for this group to meet throughout the fall and work out a design for a plan that is acceptable in the community.”

More proposed Bayview townhouses create stir

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Two townhouse developments being proposed on Bayview Ridge at the corner of Bayview Avenue have some residents concerned.

North York Community Council voted to move ahead with community consultation for the proposed developments at 103 and 108 Bayview Ridge and to extend the notice area, an amendment brought forward by Ward 25 councillor Jaye Robinson during the Oct. 17 meeting.

“We’ve extended the notice area here dramatically, quite significantly, to ensure that we’re getting a significant amount of input from the local residents because, now that they’ve seen three developments approved, they’re really starting to get very concerned about the creep into the neighbourhood,” she said after the meeting. “And that’s what we have to be really adamant about stopping, that creep into the neighbourhood and not allowing townhouses to expand past that.”

Robinson added she thinks she has received more negative responses about the developments than for any other Bayview Avenue application.

“We’re seeing a neighbourhood in transition and it’s transforming, and the residents are not happy about it,” she said.

The proposed development at 103 Bayview Ridge would entail six townhouses and two single detached units, and the development across the street would include five townhouses and two detached units.

York Mills Gardens Community Association president John Nicholls expressed concern over the amenity space on the roof of the townhouses.

“The height now has gone — on a street that’s only zoned for maximum two-storeys-high detached homes — to row houses that, in effect, in reality, will be five storeys high, four under the city’s interpretation, but really with a rooftop patio up on the fifth floor,” he said.

Moiz Behar, planner for developer 2341853 Ontario Inc., said the planning and urban design justification report for the application “clearly describes that it is in keeping with the emerging context of the area and is sensitive to the surroundings,” and it “represents a high standard of design.”

Don Mills school land eyed for arena

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A move by a Toronto City Council committee to defer a decision about the future location of a Don Mills arena brings local groups’ preferred location a step closer to fruition.

At its Oct. 15 meeting, the government management committee deferred considering a recommendation to move the Don Mills Civitan Arena (which needs to close at its current location in 2020) to city-owned land at York Mills Road and the Don Valley Parkway (DVP) and will consider it in January.

A public meeting is to be scheduled to discuss the future location and the Toronto District School Board’s relinquishment of land at the Don Mills Middle School.

Don Mills Civitan Club secretary Peter MacInnis said the field at the school is a preferable location for the arena to the York Mills and DVP option.

“Geographically, it’s just not very convenient for the people that we have in our programs,” he said.

Don Mills Residents Inc. president Terry West also said his group supports the school location for the arena.

Pipeline hearing disrupted by protest

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A National Energy Board of Canada (NEB) public hearing is underway in Toronto concerning the controversial application for Enbridge to reverse the flow and increase the capacity of an existing 639-kilometre-long section of its Line 9 from Ontario to Quebec, enabling Enbridge to pump bitumen from the Alberta tar sands to the east.

The Toronto hearings were supposed to have concluded on Oct. 19, but final arguments have been postponed to a date as yet to be announced. According to Eric Prud’Homme, manager of public affairs, Eastern Canada, for Enbridge, the final segment was postponed for security reasons, which Enbridge can not disclose the nature of.

“We were prepared, present and willing to provide our closing arguments on Friday or Saturday without protest,” said Prud’Homme.

Line 9 runs through North York near Finch Avenue, and the proposed reversal has concerned many residents of Toronto. Some believe that the aging pipeline can not handle the increased flow, and many are disturbed about the diluted bitumen that would be flowing through Toronto. Bitumen is heavier and more viscous than crude oil and was the same substance which famously spilled into the waters of Kalamazoo, Mich., in 2010 — a spill that Enbridge is still cleaning up three years later.

“Given the many deficiencies uncovered in Enbridge’s application … there is a high risk that Line 9 will rupture,” said Richard Kuprewicz, president of pipeline safety firm Accufacts Inc., in a report assessing the line, submitted to the NEB.

On Oct. 6, a protest concert, Rock the Line, was organized at Mel Lastman Square by Environmental Defence. Singer-songwriter Sarah Harmer was among the performers.

“This will be high-pressure tar sands pumped through a 40-year-old dilapidated pipeline,” said Harmer. “It’s a bad idea that needs to be rejected. And most people don’t know about it.”

Prud’Homme, however, said that the public review of the line has been very extensive. “We’ve engaged thousands of people over the past year.”

A front seat to history

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Spending many days at North Toronto Collegiate Institute playing basketball and other sports, Jee-Yun Lee wasn’t sure what to do when her graduation date crept up.

When it came, like many other graduates, she had quite a lot to look back on.

In Lee’s senior year, her basketball team won the city championships. She had a good group of friends that were attracted to her bubbly and fun personality. But now as a journalist, looking back on those days, it’s hard to trace how Jee-Yun Lee the high school athlete became Jee-Yun Lee, the CP24 anchor and reporter that we have come to know so well.

When at North Toronto, her attraction to sports meant that she had to find a way to fit the practices and drills that came with being an athlete around her high school life. Lee credits that as being a key factor in her learning the importance of punctuality.

For those who know her personally today, chances are that she’d be among the most honest, hard-working and loyal people that they know. But for the rest of us, she’s one of the lucky few who gets to inform thousands of Torontonians on the goings on of their city (and the world). Given that she’s a journalist in one of the largest cities in North America, Lee’s job tends to be anything but dull.

“I interview some of the most interesting people you will ever meet, and I get a front-row seat to history in the making,” Lee says. “I am lucky to do a job that I love.”

But the job isn’t as easy as you might think. It’s a competitive field, and some might say it favours people who are natural storytellers, which Lee admits she isn’t.

“I had to work really hard to get where I am today,” Lee says. “There was no secret formula. I basically worked long hours and took on every task that I could to improve my skills.”

And so far it seems all her hard work has paid off. Striving to improve her journalism skills over the years, Lee moved up from a local CTV station in Saskatchewan to her home now at CP24. This is all while managing an acting career on the side, appearing in a handful of TV shows and movies (including The Incredible Hulk and Repo Men). But her time at North Toronto is one that she cherishes.

“My husband and I are considering moving just so our son could attend North Toronto,” says Lee.

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