If you don't know...Emily Piggford

…Let me introduce you!

After growing up on Vancouver Island, Emily Piggford is now an actor for stage and screen, based in Toronto.

You can watch Emily on ‘The Sounds’ (CBC, Amazon) a miniseries thriller set in New Zealand, the digital series ‘Warigami’ (CBC Gem) and web series ‘That’s My DJ’, for which she was a producer on seasons 2-3 and nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Actress. Emily holds a BFA from the University of Victoria and has trained with Canadian Film Centre, CBC Actors Conservatory

I asked Emily some questions about her work…

HALEY: How do describe your work and how you spend your days?

EMILY: Being an actor / self-employed / unemployed means my days are often spent working on correspondence, social media, research for roles or into human nature/my nature and current events, reading scripts and articles, watching content for preparation and inspiration. Trying to work in some body movement, time for meal-making, working to maintain healthy boundaries and a sense of perspective, while also staying motivated and spontaneous. Auditions popping in makes for a constant dance of all these things.

HALEY: What's your mission as an artist?

EMILY: I want to uplift, inspire and heal. Shine light into marginalized and misunderstood corners to create a world of greater awareness, inclusion and safety for all.

Racial justice... mental health awareness/destigmatizing.... normalizing nudity, sexuality and body-positivity... LGBTQ+ rights/celebration... environmentalism... these are some of the things that are important to me and if I get to perform in or support work that supports these communities and movements, I'm so grateful.

HALEY: Are you working on anything in particular these days?

EMILY: I acted in two feature films during pandemic – an indie thriller directed by Randall Okita and a thriller for TV directed by Max McGuire where I got to play twins – the hero and the villain. Next up I take a turn on a couple TV shows, TBA. Outside of acting work, I'm focussed on educating myself and participating in the social justice movement.

HALEY: What artists do you look up to?

EMILY: Artists who are both courageous in their creative work and their activism – courageous enough to speak up for what they believe in as well as incorporate that in the work they choose to make. Some artists that I admire are Hayao Miyazaki, Sandra Bullock, D. W. Waterson, and Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs.

HALEY: Anything else you’d like to share?

EMILY: As an actor, I hope to represent the Asian community with roles and in stories that celebrate Asian culture, my heritage as a person of Japanese descent and specifically as a half-Japanese person. I also hope to represent by simply being myself, in the reality of the skin I live in and genetics and experiences I live with, portraying roles that aren't Asian-specific, and expand public perception and Asian pride in that way. I also want to do my part to support productions and organizations becoming as diverse behind the scenes as they are on screen or the surface. The future is intersectional.

This Spring, Emily created a short film to contribute to an online capsule collection exploring the voices/experiences of Canadian artists in a pandemic world. Read an interview about it and watch the film here.

You can also learn more about Emily on her IMDb and follow her on Instagram where she’s most active with work/life/activism updates.

Photo credit: J. Stevens