Taras Lavren is a Toronto-based actor, director, and producer. He discovered his passion for acting at a young age, loving the adrenaline rush that came with performing in front of his peers. After being encouraged by his teachers to enroll in drama class, where he became the recipient of several awards, Taras set his sights on pursuing acting as a career. He began his official journey into showbiz when he joined drama class in high school. From there, he went on to attend Humber College where he continued to cultivate his skills as an actor and later enrolled in a post-graduate film business program at Centennial College where he developed his second passion in directing and producing.
After graduating, Taras was quickly inspired to direct his first short film My Coffee with Jim. The film was exceptionally well received throughout several film festivals across Canada and has since launched into collaborations on several other acclaimed films, music videos, and creative works as a director, cinematographer, and producer.
Taras is currently a founding member of Blink Twice Films, a unique project dedicated as a collaborative platform for actors, writers, composers, and filmmakers. The project aspires to bridge local and international talent around the world by creating an anthology of one-minute short films, which are periodically released over their Instagram platform @blinktwicefilms.
His first big break into acting came when he guest starred in an episode of CW’s Reign. In 2017, he was cast as Nathaniel in the highly-acclaimed drama television series Anne With an E (CBC, Netflix) becoming a series regular and a fan favorite. Audiences can expect to see Taras in the upcoming second season of the show premiering on September 23, 2018. Coming up next, Taras will be appearing in the highly anticipated show V-Wars and Wayne due out in 2019.
Outside of acting and directing, Taras enjoys playing the guitar and composing music.
We had the fantastic opportunity to speak with Taras about Annie with an E. Check out the interview below.
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Hi, Taras! Thank you for granting the interview. Congrats on your role as Nathaniel in Netflix’s award-winning series, Anne with an E. What should the audience expect to see?
Thank you so much! The second season of Anne with an E really takes a departure from the canon of the original books and comes into its own. You’ll get to see more themes on gender equality, homosexuality, and racial divides, as explored through the eyes of Anne during that period in time. But it’s also incredibly funny and charming and heartfelt. The show also adventures outside of Avonlea and PEI for the first time!
Tell us about Nathaniel. Who is he? What is his personality like?
Nathaniel is this sharp-minded grifter who ends up boarding at Green Gables, and unbeknownst to his fellow landlords he sort of entangles them with his charm into a “long con”. His personality is very two-faced, he knows how to play his cards and charms the town folk into believing him as this sincere and earnest guy but secretly he has ulterior plans.
What role does Nathaniel play in the series?
Nathaniel is the villain on the show, to put it simply!
Is it a challenge to play Nathaniel? Did you have to pull from experience?
It was a challenge in the sense that I had to sort of play two version of a character constantly. In a lot of the scenes he is playing the townsfolk into believing his ploy, so it was tricky to have to play a scene within a scene.
How did you get the role?
I booked it over a self-tape while on vacation! Makes for a great story.
The subject matter of the series is for children. How does the series’ production bring something new to similar thrillers?
Well to be more specific, the subject matter is really more mature and not just for children. It is told through the perspective of a 14-year-old girl which resonates with a lot of young adults, teens especially. However, the topics it covers are very much relevant and sometimes dark and heavy, but none of it feels out of place.
What is going to surprise people about Nathaniel?
I think what will surprise people is how much larger of a storyline he has in the second season and how much he and his partner really affect the town.
Without giving anything away, what’s your favorite line of dialogue and why?
Well, to be honest, all of my favorite lines of dialogue are major spoilers. [haha] So, I really can’t say, but there is a lot of clever foreshadowing lines he says that if you rewatch the show you will catch them early on.
When looking back on the production, what resonated with you the most and why?
Working so closely with Helen Shaver was a really unique experience. She’s a tough cat on set and she doesn’t waste time, but she also won’t stop until she feels she’s achieved quality content. She pushed me a lot to go deeper and darker for certain scenes and it really helped me build more confidence taking control of a character on a show like this.
In your opinion, what scene in the series is going to blow people away and why?
There are a lot of great scenes in the show so it’s really hard to pick, but there is a really beautiful scene when Anne meets a person of color for the first time in her life and in her eyes, she has no prejudice or racial aversion as the world did back then. She just simply sees him for the beautiful person that he is, and it is a moment of just purity.
What do you enjoy most about your character and role?
I really just had a blast playing a baddie on the show, it’s so much fun to get to have all of the slick moments and lines.
You’re also a gifted director and filmmaker. Tell us about Blink Twice Films.
Blink Twice Films is an anthology of one-minute short films, all featured on Instagram. It’s a unique production in that it is dedicated as a collaborative platform for actors, writers, composers, and filmmakers, locally and internationally. Being inspired by the one-minute video upload restriction to Instagram we thought it would be a cool project to create this dedicated online space for bite-size stories.
Check out Blink Twice Films.
We officially launched the page in June 2018 and we’ve been incredibly fortunate with the reaction and support we’ve gotten from artists and fans all over the world. We were also featured at the young filmmakers TIFF party this year. There is an appetite for micro-form content and we are definitely trying to lead the charge on that! You can find us on Instagram @blinktwicefilms. We release new content/films every month, so follow us on Instagram!
Follow Taras on Instagram at @taras.l.
Featured Image Credit: LV Imagery.
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