Chantal Cousineau (she/her) was born in Canada. Raised in Ottawa, she spent her childhood training/becoming a ITF Tae Kwon-Do champion. Achieving her first-degree black belt at the age of 15, she won gold at the Canadian and North American Championships. Modelling at the age of 17 she landed before the lens of famed photographers, shooting for Abercrombie & Fitch, Aveda, Italian Vogue, Elle, Cosmopolitan, Roots and many more.  

Moving to Los Angeles in 2001, she carved out a successful career as an actor in 100+ television commercials.  Since 2017, she has become a grounded voice within the MeToo advocacy community, helping 1,400+ survivors of sexual harassment, assault, and abuse. A longtime member of SAG-AFTRA, Chantal serves on several national safety committees to consult on ways the industry can expand its best practices to move closer towards equal treatment, pay parity, representation, and improving safety standards on sets.  

She has combined her many years of experience as a performer, with her advocacy work, to pivot to her career as a certified film/television Intimacy Coordinator.  Chantal is a dual citizen of Canada and the US and she speaks both French and English fluently.

Danielle and I chat about her Indiegogo Campaign for her film "Charlie and Jack - A 90's Nostalgic Love Story": https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/charlie-and-jack-a-90-s-nostalgic-love-story?create_edit=true&fbclid=IwAR0YGZ5CeF0urzRjSQWYjMBCBXGVmtj8d9NtUcJqYz3CmK6y0610S149uAo#/ 

Danielle LeBlanc is a Toronto-based writer, actor and producer hailing from Nova Scotia who proudly steers the wheel of her own career and creativity.  Whether it be drama, romantic comedy, or horror, Danielle continues to unapologetically tell the stories she feels compelled to tell through narrative films, and fully immerses herself in the entire filmmaking process. From writing the scripts and acting in her projects, to sourcing locations and props, to being her own films' publicist, Danielle's talents and efforts extend both on and off camera.   

In addition to independent films, over the last decade Danielle has lent her creative talents to a multitude of artistic endeavours such as commercials, voice over for cartoons, theatre, stand up comedy, and even puppeteering! She's trained at acting studios across Toronto, including The Second City for improv, stand up and writing.   

From her days touring internationally as a professional step dancer and musician, to now paving her way as an actor and filmmaker, this triple-threat is excited to continue to blaze her own trail, one story at a time. There is much more to come from this East Coaster.

Loved chatting with Patrick Daquah tonight!! We covered serious topics regarding mindset with a little bit of silliness thrown in the mix! His podcast “Next Up in the Spotlight” is an incredible podcast where Patrick discusses mindset and mental health among many other important topics. Check it out!  

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8sPmXcOjxG5B89zwo0VDIA/videos 

IG: @nextup_inthespotlight 

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/pdanquahengineeringconfidence

Chad Darnell’s feature film THE UNDERTAKER’S WIFE (Shannyn Sossamon, John Brotherton) will premiere in early 2022.  He is currently in pre-production to direct his follow-up feature, THE INTELLIGENT, which will begin filming in Los Angeles in August.

As an actor, he most recently appeared in HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS, and FORCED.  Recently retired from casting, he spent thirty years in extras and principal casting on over a hundred films and television series including SELMA, MAGIC MIKE XXL, ALIAS, CROSSING JORDAN, and SPIDER-MAN.

He is currently developing the series THE CASTRO, the television movie MURDER CLUB and will direct and star in INSTALLATION in early 2022.

An actor / writer / improviser / producer/director Naomi was a regular for 8 seasons on CBC’s hit comedy, ‘Mr. D’ (two time ACTRA nominated, four time CSA nominated and Canadian Comedy Award winner). She is an alumnus of 'The Second City Toronto' where she wrote and performed in five hit shows. She is a producer and founder of the new podcast Firecracker Department and half of the award winning duo Baram & Snieckus.  Her TV and film credits include  Designated Survivor, I Martin Short Go Home, ‘Drunk and On Drugs Happy Fun Time Hour’ (co-starring the cast of 'Trailer Park Boys'), ‘The Listener’, ‘Degrassi’,  ‘Being Erica’, ‘Wingin’ It’,  and ‘Dino Dan’.  She is the voice of ‘Aunt Turtle’ on the cartoon ‘Franklin the Turtle’ and ‘June’ on Monsters. She co-created the digital show ‘Doing it With Brian and Darla’ for CBC Comedy and ‘The Casting Room’ Web Series (LA WebFest and CCA winner). Naomi has also won a Canadian Comedy Award in the category of Best Female Improviser. She was a regular on ‘George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight’ on CBC, and is the host of the popular podcast Firecracker Department. She is a founding member and Co-Artistic Director of the five-time Canadian Comedy Award winning troupe ‘The National Theatre of the World. You can see her in the feature films such as : “Disney Zombies 1,2,3”, “Kiss and Cry” , ‘Happily Ever After’ with Alex Kingston and Peter Firth and ‘Two for One’ with Gavin Crawford, “SAW 3D”, “The Swap”,  and most recently in ‘Canadian Strain’ with Colin Mochrie. She currently is a recurring character on CTV’s Carter and can be seen in Disney Zombies 2 and Work It on Netflix. You can catch her and her comedy partner/husband Matt Baram on their comedy podcast “Baram & Snieckus” @baramsnieckus and #SomeoneStoleSomething as well as the engaging and inspiring discussions on her podcast/community the Firecracker Department. @firecrackerdept @snieckus

Brian Goldenberg is a professional theatre producer, music director, songwriter/arranger, performer, and educator. He is the Artistic Director/Producer for Vanier College Productions at York University, and also serves as the Artistic & Executive Director for Angelwalk Theatre, and the Artistic & Executive Producer for Goldenberg Productions. Previously, Brian worked as a Business Consultant for Dancap Productions, the Director of Business and Development for the Herbert H. Carnegie Future Aces Foundation, Assistant Producer for Acting Up Stage Company (now The Musical Stage Company), and Executive Director for Theatre 20.

An accomplished songwriter, Brian won first-place in an In Front Magazine Music Contest for his song “Music Will Always Lead Me Home”, and wrote the music and additional lyrics for the Herbert H. Carnegie Future Aces Foundation Theme Song. His original musical Seven of Us made its Toronto debut in the 2010 Toronto Fringe Festival and he conceived the 2017 original musical Maddie’s Karaoke Birthday Party. Brian is a recipient of the Herbert H. Carnegie Future Aces Citizenship Award, the Herbert H. Carnegie Future Aces Foundation Aces in Action Award, and three SINGular Sensation BackDoora Awards for contributions to the Toronto theatre community. Brian is a two-time graduate of York University, with a BFA in Music and a Schulich MBA specializing in Arts & Media Management.

Seth and I discuss the biz they call show. From male modelling to on-camera auditioning and getting buried alive, this chat was super random! We joke that it took Seth a little while to warm-up, so I'd just skip ahead to at least 30 minutes into the chat when we start having an actual conversation!

If you are more of a visual person, check out our chat on YouTube: https://youtu.be/BqwHP7Y-8X0

Aubrey is a children’s book author, playwright, illustrator and artist. Alongside publishing his first children’s book, "Belina Bloom, It’s Time to Grow Up!" he has also started a small online custom painting business called A.R Creations. Check out his website: https://aubreyrothman.com/

Full chat on YouTube: https://youtu.be/c6zvqv1A3LI

I know Hilary from Second City, always auditioning in-person for the same role, and I gave her a role in my web-series "The Self-Tape Perils" (she played the accordion and she was awesome!)

Exciting things about Hilary:

Other facts about Hilary

Hilary’s performed in past Toronto Fringe Festivals in: The Killing Game (2010, Red Handed/ Randolph Entertainment), Love is a Poverty You Can Sell II (2013, Soupcan Theatre), and Mullet’s Ghost Story (2016, MeMullet Productions).

Hilary’s film company Cackle Comedy Productions won Audience Choice award in the blue block of the Great Canadian Sketch Comedy Film Festival for the short Witchcraft Wednesday which Hilary wrote and acted in.

Along with acting, Hilary is known for her singing and musicianship. She played June Carter Cash in Magnus Theatre’s production of “The Ring of Fire: the Music of Johnny Cash”. Hilary and the four men cast in the show played all the music live on stage. Hilary played the piano, guitar, ukulele, trumpet, melodica, accordion, and drums.

Hilary is frequently recognized for her appearance on a tennis court in a recent Stelara commercial.

If you prefer seeing the chat visually, full chat is on YouTube: https://youtu.be/5_AKnPjNXTM

Eric Johnston is a Canadian Stand-Up Comedian, Actor and M.C. from Hamilton, Ontario. A professionally trained entertainer, he was educated at both Humber College Theatre Arts and the prestigious Vancouver Film School. An agile, high energy and diverse performer, Eric stars in the International Children’s show “Splatalot”, which is seen on major networks in over 170 Countries around the world (including Netflix) by day, and performs nightly on some of the top comedy stages and Comedy Festivals in North America. Eric has begun to make a splash in the American market with sold out shows in Chicago, New York City, New Jersey, Detroit, and Atlanta. Eric was invited to The World Famous Comedy Store in Hollywood where he performed alongside world-renowned comedians including fellow Canucks Russell Peters, Tom Green and Jeremy Hotz. Most recently Eric toured Canada coast to coast on his 3 month long 75 show “Small Town Tour” where he performed his full hour one man show in major markets and in towns as small as 150 people! Every day is different for Eric but one thing is for sure, he shows no signs of slowing down.

Twitter / Instagram: @ericjohnstonwho