Pop Culturalist Chats with Tamsen McDonough

Tamsen McDonough captured our hearts as Lucy in the sci-fi hit, Killjoys. Her character’s sassy personality instantly made her a fan favorite. She’s appeared in major picture films including The Incredible Hulk and Chloe. Recently, she created the comedic web series, Miss Odette’s Modern Handbook to Manners. Can you say triple threat? Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to chat with Tamsen about Killjoys, her career, and her new projects.

Killjoys Questions

PC: What drew you to Killjoys?
Tamsen: They had me at spaceship. I was so excited to have the rare opportunity to play an AI character, and on a show about bounty hunters in space created by the very clever Michelle Lovretta. It was a no-brainer ;).

PC: What’s been your favorite scene/moment so far? And, why?
Tamsen: The scene where Lucy-bot convinces her long-time crush, John, to kiss her. Not only is it a sweet scene (and funny, with D’avin creeped out by it) but it’s Lucy’s dream to have a greater connection with John and this was her chance. I like when a character I’m playing gets a win.

PC: What was the audition process like? And, how did you prepare for the role?
Tamsen: Killjoys shoots in Toronto, but I was in Vancouver at the time so it was all via emails and a digital recording. Then back again for the callback with more email notes and some great Lucy backstory.

To prepare I took a look at a few AI performances that I thought were especially good: Paul Bettany as Jarvis on Iron Man and Anthony Daniels as C3PO. But I was also told that they liked my ‘sassy’ receptionist in Lost Girl (another Lovretta show), and to let that character influence Lucy’s tone.

PC: You play the voice of Lucy, how has this experience been different than past roles you’ve had?
Tamsen: I’ve never played a voice-only character before, so this was all very new to me. It was a steep learning curve, but so much fun figuring out how to convey all Lucy’s ideas and motivations with just my voice. I record all my scenes in a sound studio while watching the almost completed show on a huge screen with amazing sound, so I am surrounded by the scene…which is really great as it gives me a bit of the feeling of being the spaceship.

Career Questions

PC: What is your dream role?
Tamsen: I don’t have so much of a dream role in mind as a dream career. I would love to have the careers of Elizabeth Banks or Woody Harrelson as they have worked hard to become respected as character actors. They work on big and small projects and parts, film, TV, and all genres and types of characters. (Though it would be verrrry cool to play Black Widow… ;).

PC: Do you have any future projects that you can tell us about?
Tamsen: I’m currently working with a very talented group of friends (including Thom Allison from Killjoys) to create a comedic web series that I wrote about modern manners. It’s very silly but grounded in reality about the awkward situations that arise every day in modern society. For instance, the first episode is about the trickiness of (and lack of hard-and-fast etiquette surrounding) hugs.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: What’s your guilty pleasure TV show or movie?
Tamsen: I have too many to count as I generally like most romantic comedies…good and bad. Hopeless romantic I guess ;).

PC: What’s your favorite play or musical?
Tamsen: I really loved Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

PC: What’s your favorite book?
Tamsen: The Princess Bride, the good parts version where William Goldman goes into the backstory of all the characters, adds in ridiculous “historical” references, etc. I’ve probably read it more than twenty times.

PC: A band or artist people would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Tamsen: I don’t have great taste in music as I pretty much like anything that I can bop around to. So there’s a looooot of top forty on my playlist…sad, very sad I know.

PC: Favorite social media platform?
Tamsen: Definitely Twitter. I opened an account with Twitter when it first got going but never did anything with it until I was encouraged to start tweeting when Killjoys began airing last year. It was excellent advice as I’ve really enjoyed connecting with the show’s fans. We have the best fans hands down!

Killjoys Season 3 airs in 2017. Until then, keep up with Tamsen on Twitter and Instagram.