Q with Tom Power

Before cementing her status as a bonafide comedic talent, Rose Byrne (Bridesmaids, Neighbors) was known for dramatic roles. The Australian actor combines those skills in the tense comedy-drama, If I Had Legs I'd Kick You, for which she just won a Golden Globe. During last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Rose sat down with Tom Power to discuss the film and what it was like co-starring with Conan O'Brien in his first serious acting role. She also told us how she broke out of her shell as a shy kid, how she and Heath Ledger helped each other out as young Australians in Hollywood, and what she thinks about her one line from Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones.

Juno-winning Canadian singer-songwriter Jessie Reyez blew up nearly 10 years ago with a song called Figures. With her powerful voice, she eventually achieved worldwide success — something she’d dreamt about since she was a kid — but she soon discovered that the reality of fame wasn’t what she expected it to be. On her new album, Paid In Memories, Jessie chronicles how she learned that true happiness doesn’t come from money or stardom, but rather the memories we make with loved ones. She sits down with Tom Power to tell us what happens when you achieve your dreams and the view from the top isn’t exactly sunshine and rainbows.

Canadian singer Jane Siberry is a free spirit in every sense. From distributing her own music to touring fans’ living rooms, she’s spent four decades doing things her own way. This year, Jane is being rewarded with honours from the Polaris Heritage Prize and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. She joins Tom Power to talk about following her muses and having the courage to be sensitive.

Film legend Zacharias Kunuk (Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner) has made more than 30 films and documentaries over his career — almost entirely in Inuktitut. His latest film, Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband), is an epic historical drama set 4,000 years ago in what we now call Nunavut, where supernatural forces threaten the promised marriage of lovers Kaujak and Sapa. Zacharias joins guest host Talia Schlanger to discuss the traditional Inuit stories that inspired the film, what he says John Wayne movies have in common with Inuit storytelling, and why he’s hoping audiences a century from now will still be studying his acclaimed body of work.

On Bells Larsen’s stunning album Blurring Time he has an unlikely collaborator — himself. Bells is a trans man and he first recorded the album in his pre-transition voice with the intent of revisiting the songs after he started hormone therapy. The result is a unique self-collaboration, in which he harmonizes with himself. Last year, the Canadian singer-songwriter sat down with Tom Power to talk about the record and having to cancel his U.S. tour.

When Elizabeth Gilbert published her memoir Eat, Pray, Love 20 years ago, she set off a tourism boom of solo travellers inspired by her search for self-worth and fulfillment. But if the book Eat, Pray, Love is an inspirational tale, then her latest memoir, All the Way to the River, is a cautionary one, detailing what happens when we look for validation in the arms of other people. In this candid interview with Tom Power, Elizabeth shares what she’s learned about love and why it’s a memoirist’s responsibility to tell the whole, messy truth. 

Canadian stand-up comedian Phil Hanley has lived with severe dyslexia for so long he can’t see life any other way. But what once held him back as a child has now become his greatest superpower, as he’s been able to find the humour in his diagnosis to great success. That’s something he writes about in his new memoir, Spellbound: My Life as a Dyslexic Wordsmith. Phil sits down with guest host Talia Schlanger to talk about his fascinating life (including a brief modelling career in the ’90s) and how comedy gave him the confidence to overcome his shame.

When Anoushka Shankar was in Goa a few years ago, she wrote down four words: “Three chapters, three geographies.” That note has been the inspiration for a trilogy of mini-albums. Last year, around the release of the final album in the trilogy, Chapter III: We Return To Light, the acclaimed sitar player sat down with Tom Power to talk about how she wants to change perceptions of her instrument, and how she navigates her career in the shadow cast by her famous father, Ravi Shankar.

Sixty years into their career and one intense legal battle later, Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman of the Guess Who have finally won back the rights to their name. To celebrate, the two Canadian music legends are getting the band back together for a tour across their home country. Burton and Randy join Tom Power to talk about their new chapter and tour, their songwriting partnership, and how they wrote some of their biggest hits. 

Nine-time Grammy winner Mark Ronson is responsible for producing some of the biggest pop songs of the last few decades. He’s worked with the likes of Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa and Amy Winehouse. Back in September, he released a new memoir, Night People, which traces his early years working as a DJ in nightclubs around New York City. Mark joined Tom Power to tell us how that laid the groundwork for his acclaimed career as a producer, and how it also taught him what it takes to make a crowd dance.