Exclusive Interview: Natasha Calis Talks SkyMed, Her Character’s Emotional Arc, and More

Natasha Calis is one of the industry’s most versatile actresses. She’s known for the multilayered characters she’s brought to life in projects including The Possession, When Calls the Heart, and Nurses. This summer, she can be seen as one of the leads of SkyMed.

The must-see medical drama follows the intense personal lives of young nurses and pilots flying air ambulances in remote Northern Canada. Natasha is a standout as a new flight nurse who is trying to escape her life and demons.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Natasha about SkyMed, how she prepared to tackle her character’s emotional arc, and more.

PC: Tell us about SkyMed, your character, and what drew you to this project.
Natasha: SkyMed follows the intense personal lives of young first responders in the north. It’s really fun because it also follows them as they live in a crew house together in the middle of nowhere. There are trials, triumphs, and heartbreaks involved with that, which is really fun.

My character Hayley is new to the SkyMed team. She was a labor and delivery nurse in Toronto who hopes to escape her life and some of her demons so she signs up for the SkyMed team. She moves to Northern Manitoba. She’s a bit in over her head and has to get caught up to speed. She has to prove not only to herself but to her fellow crew members that she’s capable and that she belongs there.

What drew me to the project was that it’s so fun. It’s an action-adventure show. We filmed in some really beautiful locations. Every day was a new day. There were ATVs, snowmobiles, and boats. We were filming in so many wonderful and beautiful places with such unique and different scenarios every single day. The north is unpredictable. The elements are unexpected. The weather changes. We were really thrown into every single one of those situations. That’s going to make for really incredible and grounded performances because we were really actually in minus four degrees. We were in the thick of it.

PC: The series is loosely based on creator Julie Puckrin’s sister and brother-in-law’s experiences as a flight pilot and nurse. You got to actually have conversations with them ahead of filming. How beneficial was that?
Natasha: Super beneficial. Jamie, Julie’s brother-in-law, was a pilot and Sarah was a flight nurse. The pilots got to have conversations with Jamie. He was there consulting on set every single day. We walked into the green room and there was a big drawing on the whiteboard. I was like, “What the heck is that?” I realized that he had drawn the inside of the cockpit. He was showing the pilots what buttons to push. He took them up flying. We all went. Those playing pilots sat near the front of the plane and watched the pilots and got first-hand experience.

We got to chat with Sarah. Hearing what she experienced in her career was super cool. We also had a paramedic, Medic Steve, on set. He overlooked everything on the production. He also gave me medical training beforehand. He put together this insane PowerPoint presentation where it was years of pandemic and EMT training all crammed into a single day. We were well supported throughout.

PC: This project comes off the back of the incredible work that you did on Nurses. What is it about medical dramas that excites you as a creative?
Natasha: It’s high stakes. It’s literally life or death, so that’s really interesting. Every episode is a new patient with a new scenario. Working together with a team of nurses and doctors to help save somebody’s life is really intriguing and exciting. What sets this show apart is that it’s high stakes already and then you throw in airplanes. You throw in the fact that they’re 20,000 feet in the sky trying to save someone’s life. It’s exciting and dangerous. Then we follow all of us home, living in this crew house where all this drama unfolds.

PC: When Hayley arrives at the crew house, she doesn’t receive the warmest reception from Crystal, but over the course of Season 1, we’ll see this beautiful female friendship form. What was it like collaborating with Morgan [Holmstrom] as you brought that dynamic and journey to life?
Natasha: It was really fun. Morgan is incredible. She’s one of my best friends now. We really clicked and bonded right off the bat. She’s mega-talented. Collaborating with her to bring that dynamic to life was really fun. As the season went on, we got closer as people. It was really challenging to pretend that we didn’t like each other at the beginning because we were always cracking jokes. We had a lot of fun. We were professionals, but we’d often break in the middle of a scene because we were having fun or because it was hilarious that we were giving each other death looks or whatever it was. It was very fun and a wonderful experience.

PC: One of the benefits of television is that you have multiple episodes to build these three-dimensional characters. The writers are able to alter storylines based on the performances that the actors are giving. They throw so much at Hayley, especially towards the back half of the season. How rewarding has it been for you to know that your writers trust you with such sensitive topics? How early on were you clued in on where Hayley’s arc was heading?
Natasha: I mean, to be able to work with Julie again was incredible. She was our co-showrunner on Nurses. The same with Vanessa Piazza. She was one of the producers on the first season of Nurses. Working with these two wonderful ladies again has been such an honor. They’re such powerhouses and such female bosses. I really look up to both of them. Julie puts so much life into these characters. Every single one of our characters has had a huge and beautiful story arc. It’s an honor to tell her stories.

As far as the character arc, I was finding out most of it as we were going. She briefed me on what was to come as far ahead as what was coming up in each episode. I was finding out as I went. But it was really fun building her and putting so much vulnerability in her. She’s navigating a lot of emotions and tough times. She’s wanting to escape all of that in moving to the north and signing up for SkyMed. She’s running and wanting to distract herself and really immerse herself in this and try to help other people.

There were a lot of layers to her. I think what was interesting and challenging for me as an actor was when situations that had to do with cancer came up with patients. Or something that she related to because she was triggered by it but she also had to save their lives. But it’s more of a personal connection with those patients in particular. She battled that a bit. It was fun playing those layers.

PC: Perfect segue to this next question. There are so many emotional moments involving your character as she’s coming to terms with what she’s running from and things that occurred on the job. You handle those scenes with so much nuance. As an actor, how do you create the space for yourself to dive into those moments in particular?
Natasha: Wow, great question. As an actor, I try to put a bit of myself into every role that I play, which I hope makes for a grounded and real performance. Unfortunately, I’ve lost people in my life to cancer—my grandparents and one of my mom’s closest friends. In situations like that, I try to channel real emotions that I’ve experienced, which helps me.

PC: What was your favorite episode or scene to film? Which was the most challenging?
Natasha: The most challenging scene for me to film occurs later on in the season. I have to deal with a carotid bleed on an airplane mid-flight. We had this whole blood rig and I got sprayed. I had to hop on top of him. It was very emotional and stressful and a very intense scene. There’s a lot riding on that scene. Hayley didn’t want to lose another patient. Emotionally, there was a lot going on there. It was very intense, but also very rewarding to film. It was the final scene I filmed on the show. There were a lot of emotions because it was the last scene. I wanted to give it my all. I knew after we finished filming that scene that the whole thing was wrapped. It was very emotional from that perspective, too.

One of the more “pinch me” moments in my career was early on in filming. I want to say day one or day two. We were filming on a lake and the sun was setting. It was the end of the day. There were a few of us on this speed boat zipping across the lake. There was a drone following us and panning around us as we were going. It was so beautiful. It was so exciting that we were all a part of this. It was one of the moments when I knew we were making an epic show. That’s a moment that I’ll remember forever.

PC: One of the central themes of this show is about taking care of your own. There’s such great chemistry that comes off the screen between you and the rest of the cast. How were you all able to build that bond?
Natasha: It happened so fast. None of us were from Winnipeg. We were all coming in and living in the same apartment building, which was really fun. We joked that it was a college dorm room experience. We would leave our doors unlocked and hop over to each other’s places and have movie and game nights. But one of the very first times that we all bonded was over a Zoom call with our director Steven for the first episode. We shared really personal life stories. We were all so vulnerable with each other and every single one of us were crying while we were telling our stories or listening to other people’s stories. That really played a factor into opening up and surrendering to each other. We were like, “We’re in this for five months. This is going to be a hell of a ride. We have to lean on each other.” That was a special moment.

From then on, we all leaned on each other throughout the entire season. We’d get homesick and we’d have each other. If somebody was having a bad day, they’d let us all know and we’d all be there for them. It was really special bonding with all of them. I hope that translates onto the screen.

To keep up with Natasha, follow her on Twitter and Instagram. Watch SkyMed on Paramount+ today.

Photo Credit: Noah Asanias