Degrassi: The Next Generation's Lauren Collins has big plans. Just don’t tell her that.By Nicola Six
Lauren Collins has been holding a smile for hours. You’d think taking her picture would be straightforward, a simple matter of pointing and clicking, but the jumbled mass of bodies and machines in the room suggests otherwise.
There are photographers bumping into stylists, publicists tripping over cameramen, journalists trapped behind makeup artists, and a few stragglers who don’t seem to be doing anything at all. The chaos will continue for the better part of a day so that a single split-second deemed worthy can go on the cover of Vervegirl Magazine.
“The photo shoot side of things is something I think I’ll always feel awkward with,” Lauren, 21, says later. “When I’m in front of the camera [on set] I’ve got an action, I’ve got lines—I’m doing something. But to just stand there, yeah, it’s a very strange feeling.”
A strange feeling indeed, but Lauren, who plays Paige on CTV’s Degrassi: The Next Generation, is getting used to strange feelings. After seven years on the show, change is becoming a central theme in her life, both on and off camera.
On camera, in the operatic world of Degrassi—where eating disorders, rape and fatal stabbings dictate life one half-hour at a time—the “tightly wound” Paige Michalchuk is typically miffed. “When we left Paige last season she was having a really tough time. She’d just dropped out of school and she was confused about her sexuality, so she’d really been through a lot.” says Lauren. “That continues into this season [starting in October]. She starts in a better place, but there are some things that need to be dealt with before she can finally be at peace with herself.”
But things aren’t all bad. “Paige gets a new job [assisting a fashion buyer for a chic retailer]. It’s been so much fun for me because I really love fashion,” says Lauren. “She goes in a whole new direction with her wardrobe and I’m really trying to help with that as much as I can. Going shopping with the wardrobe people has been amazing.”
Thankfully, Lauren’s life isn’t quite as dramatic as that of her onscreen counterpart, but she too is bracing for change. After a relatively sedentary life spent in Thornhill—a quiet suburb of Toronto—Lauren, along with Degrassi co-star Adamo Ruggiero (who plays Marco Del Rossi), is planning on taking the actor’s pilgrimage west to L.A. early this year.
“It’s pilot season, when they cast all the new shows, starting in January until maybe April, so I’m planning on being down there sometime around then,” says Lauren. “But who knows what could happen before then. It’s all temporary.
“There’s definitely a nervous excitement, but it’s something I feel like I have to do—and now’s the time to do it. It should be interesting. I’m going in with low expectations, which I really think is what you have to do in this business.”
Low expectations aside, Lauren’s chances at finding major success in L.A. are significant. “Lauren does an incredible job of bringing Paige’s vulnerabilities to life on Degrassi,” says Degrassi Executive Producer Linda Schuyler. “This speaks to her willingness and courage to go wherever she needs to as an actress.”
Stacy Farber, who plays Ellie on Degrassi, echoes Schuyler’s admiration. “Lauren and I have the same agent, we’re on the same show, and we audition for the same roles, but it’s never been a competition for us,” she says. “Lauren is one my most supportive friends. Her constant encouragement highlights her maturity, self-confidence and incredible professionalism.”
Lauren’s work ethic—backed by a resumé that includes a stint on Radio Free Roscoe, her work in 2006’s Take the Lead, which starred Antonio Banderas, and her 2002 Young Artist Award for Best Ensemble Actor in a TV Series—does the same.
Assuming she does find glory in the City of Angels, Lauren says she plans to do what she can to stay with the show that propelled her career so far forward. “I’m in Degrassi as long as they want me,” she says. “I love doing it.”
One way or another, you can bet this won’t be her last cover shoot.
