MEGAN LEITCH

It takes an actress with intense presence to play the characters she's played. When you make a series debut as Fox Mulder's sister [The X-Files] or as an incarnation of mass-murderer Linea [Stargate SG-1], both the audience and the other characters in the series already have their ideas about what your character should mean. You therefore have big expectations to live up to.

- Søren Skarsgaard, February 2001

COMING SOON: QUICKITME SNIPPETS OF MEGAN IN STARGATE SG-1.


Megan Leitch is now appearing in:

HUMBLE BOY - JANUARY 29-FEBRUARY 19, 2005
http://www.vancouverplayhouse.com/currentseason/0405_humbleboy.php
By Charlotte Jones
A co-production with the National Arts Centre
Starring: Fiona Reid, Dean Paul Gibson, Megan Leitch
Director: Glynis Leyshon
Set Design: Pam Johnson
Sound Design: Noah Drew
Lighting Design: Gerald King

When Felix Humble, a theoretical astrophysicist, leaves the safety of his Cambridge studies for his father's funeral, he realises that his search for unity must also encompass his own chaotic life. A haunting and hilarious story of broken vows, failed hopes, black holes and bees, this modern retelling of Hamlet has had the theatre world buzzing with excitement.

Critics Circle Most Promising New Playwright Award (2000)
Critics Circle Most Promising New Play Award (2002)

"No Contest. This comic tragedy is unmissable" - The Observer
playhouse © 2004

We have presented a partial article to encourage support for the website where this article originally appears. For the entire article, please go to:

http://www.cyberex-et.com/spotlight/leitch/leitch2.html

Excerpts from Megan Leitch - Samantha Mulder Speaks

Leitch decided to be an actor when she was in the 6th grade. "When I first saw a play at school, I shouted, 'That's what I want to do!'." She began dramatic training at Studio 58, an acting school in Vancouver, and moved to Montreal to improve her study, then attended The National Theatre of Canada, which only accepts 12 students per year. Leitch graduated in 1988 and moved to Toronto. Then, in January of 1995, while visiting her parents in Vancouver for Christmas, her agent called. The X-Files was looking for an actress. "So I did the audition," she recalls. "I think it was the first time I'd ever seen the show. (laughter) After I did audition, they called me to go back. Chris Carter was there and said they wanted me to do exactly the same (as I did in the audition). I did that, and Mr. Carter said, 'Could you please wait outside,' so I did. Then he came out and said, 'We'd like you to do it. Can you go for a costume setting?' I got the role," Leitch says delightedly.

In the series, the tragedy of Samantha's abduction plunges the Mulder family into chaos, ultimately splitting them apart. Fox Mulder never forgives himself for failing his sister, and he can never be happy. The events of that night become the trauma that creates the conspiracy-obsessed Agent "the-truth-is-out-there" Mulder.

Ultimately, Agent Mulder all but throws his promising future away to transfer to the X-Files Unit in the basement of the DC Federal Building, where people call him 'Spooky' behind his back and give him odd looks in the hallway. But Mulder, desperate for any trace of the sister he knows was abducted by aliens, is blind to criticism.

"I still think that one of his motivations is love," Leitch states. "Mulder loves his sister. Even though he's taking that into the world of aliens, the motivation that moves him is sort of lost. He's searching for family. That's noble. Fox Mulder has a noble curse."

In season 2, Mulder encounters a woman who claims to be his long- lost sister. (Colony) She tells Mulder that she was raised by alien visitors under deep cover, and that she had repressed all her earlier memories. Later, while under hypnotherapy, she remembers her identity, finally remembering Fox and her long-lost family. "I watched *Little Green Men* to get a story line before filming. In *Colony*, Chris Carter wanted me to really believe I was Mulder's sister. There was no hint that I might be someone else," Leitch says.

Mulder's long quest to find his sister never concludes, even when it seems he has found her at last. In *End Game*, Samantha is dragged over a bridge railing by the alien bounty hunter and falls into the icy waters below. After being reunited for less than a day, Fox has lost her again, this time for good. Then Mulder finds alien clones who are identical to his sister. "In this episode we did several scenes, and Rob Bowman, the director, said, 'Can you do it as if you were really his sister,' and then 'Now do it as if you were something that might be an alien,' so we did various different shoots in one scene, and Rob chose one he liked," Leitch reports. "Shooting for TV, if it looks good, then move on. So it was a treat to be able to try to do different things like that."

Samantha makes a reappearance in *Redux II* in season 5. The Cigarette Smoking Man arranges a meeting between her and Mulder as part of a lure to induce Mulder to switch loyalties. This time, Samantha tells Mulder that she was taken to a hotel room after she was abducted and told that CSM is her real father. There is not enough time to explain, and this "real" Samantha is mentally frail and not up to the task of dealing with her tormented brother. Samantha leaves hurriedly with CSM, leaving Mulder alone once more, perhaps more alone than ever.

Is this newest Samantha really his sister? "I think that's a real one," Leitch claims. "That's what I played, what I thought I was a real one. But, who knows? This is the X-Files. She might be a clone of her, or Cigarette Smoking Man could be setting up another plot," she smiles.

Leitch has only appeared in three episodes, but she says it's a lot of fun. "We had some funny times. When we were shooting the 100th episode (ReduxII), we were trying to be seen at a Cafe, but there was a drunk upstairs. The crew didn't get him out. He yelled something, and we could hear it from different takes. And Kim Manners (the director of the episode) came to the scene and tried to take him out of the Cafe. They even tried to pay money to him for it, but he didn't. We were sitting around waiting. David (Duchovny, aka Fox Mulder) asked Kim, 'Ok, we want some stories,' he said, 'We want to hear about when you used to direct *Charlie's Angels*!' " (Manners began directing career with *Charlie's Angels.*)

Leitch's mother has a background in psychiatry. She claims that her experiences with her mother help her acting. "I use them to analyze the script to get into the character. For example, I played a woman who was highly physically deformed in a new Sci-Fi TV called *Welcome to Paradox.* I hired a coach to help me learn how the body moves, how affected my hands and feet were when I moved a body in such a condition. Then I got into rehearsal The director told me that it would really happen, but he wanted me to do it more in artistic way. So I needed to use my imagination to play that character. She is unhappy and always thinks of committing suicide. The woman doesn't belong to a part of society. So it's sort of using physically but also letting it flow into emotional states," says Leitch enthusiastically.

Leitch's sister is already married and has two small children. When asked if she wants to have her own family, she reports she has not yet met the man for her. "My partner in life would be someone who thinks of having a happy life and loving his family. I want to be a mom. I think I look to my mom and my sister, who always give lots of love to their children."

Though looking forward to a family in the future, Leitch is now more energetic about acting. She believes that acting need lots of practice, discipline, and character study, but using what you know about yourself is more important. "I definitely think of using myself to play characters on TV and films, " she states. "I find myself learning by researching other people, too. When I needed to play an autistic woman, I visited the workshop for people who have mental problems and talked to them. I went to dinner with them, too. What I learned from them really helped me play the role. In this case I use the experiences I have had, given from other people I've met, and dramatize the things I saw, felt, and did. Entertain your imagination - I use both myself and my imagination," Leitch says.