“She was cooler than cool,” Fairlie recalls. “The power that exuded from her was really impressive. It really made an impression on me that this was a strong woman in a lead role…Pretty much everything about being on set was very inspiring and life-changing for me as an actor.”
But before Fairlie experienced this taste of epic Hollywood filmmaking, her first step to establishing a career as a television, film and voice actress, was her role as Becky Lester on Kevin Sullivan’s Road to Avonlea.
“My goal in life was to be on Road to Avonlea,” she says, explaining that her family watched the show every Sunday evening when the series first aired. In fact, she auditioned about eight times for just about every little girl character on the series.
Fairlie credits casting director Anne Tait for her eventual success in obtaining the part of Becky in the sixth season of the show, when she was nine years old. “She really believed in me and to have the support of a casting director was really amazing,” she says. “It was actually like one of my dreams coming true.”
Kyle Labine as Davey Keith and Kristin Fairlie as Becky Lester.
Avonlea held many firsts for Fairlie, including her initial exposure to a veteran actor. She recalls the first time she filmed a scene with Jackie Burroughs (Hetty King). “She was all done up and speaking in her fabulous dialect," Fairlie says. But when the scene ended, Fairlie was struck by Burroughs’ transformation from the rigid, uptight Hetty to her cool, laid-back self. “That experience with Jackie was the first time that the realization of character came to me. It was almost like Hetty was a separate extension of herself,” she says.
Not only was Burroughs an inspiration to Fairlie, she was also a kind friend. Fairlie remembers receiving a beautiful star-studded ceramic container from the actress at a cast Christmas party. “I couldn’t believe that she had gotten me a gift, that I was like her peer.”
A few years later, she ran into Burroughs outside of a Starbucks. When Fairlie introduced herself, Burroughs sweetly squeezed her hand – establishing a moment in time that Fairlie warmly holds onto.
Burroughs is not the only cast member that Fairlie holds affection for. She has stayed in touch with Zachary Bennett (Felix King) who, funny enough, also presented Fairlie with a present that Christmas – a copy of The Nightmare Before Christmas. She still has it to this day.
Due to her guest appearance as Ruby Trammel on Kevin Sullivan’s other award-winning series, Wind at My Back, Fairlie is also good friends with actor Dylan Provencher (Hub Bailey).
“Sullivan was always a really nice place to work,” she says. Though there were many children cast on that series, the set remained a calm and cool place to be, she says. It also helped that she had already worked with Provencher on the film The Sweetest Gift, for which they both won a Young Artist of Hollywood Award, and traveled to L.A together to receive.
In addition to Fairlie’s roles on a number of television series, such as Murdoch Mysteries, Flashpoint and Instant Star, she is also well known for her voice work on several animated series, her first being that of “Nicole” on Madeline. For this role, for which she also sang, Fairlie had to be trained in Parisian dialect.
Fairlie is also the voice of Little Bear on Little Bear, Bridgette on Total Drama Island and Emma on Stoked. Just this September, she was able to personally witness how much fans appreciate these animated series when she attended Fan Expo in Toronto. “It was really cool to meet people who were excited to meet me,” she says. A few people were very emotional, she added, surprised.
And though her work is sometimes behind the camera, fashion is one of Fairlie’s greatest passions, out of which she has created her own brand, Hate and Heartbreak, newly launched in July. This one-of-a-kind collection is made up of new and pre-loved clothing, selected by Fairlie herself, from London, New York, Los Angeles and Toronto.
Ever since she began acting, Fairlie has been collecting vintage pieces from the sets and filming locations at which she’s worked, with the aim to eventually sell them. The collection then came together when Fairlie cemented the concept and her roommate in L.A., Kelli Murray, designed the logo below.
Logo design by Kelli Murray.
“The name Hate and Heartbreak is in homage to people who decide that they have the strength to move on from heartbreak and to be stronger than before,” Fairlie explains. “This universal feeling of heartbreak is something that everyone is faced with.”
Those interested can take a look at Fairlie’s collection in person at The Clothing Show in Toronto on September 23, 24 and 25. She will be displaying Hate and Heartbreak at the Queen Elizabeth Building on the Exhibition Grounds, as part of Canada’s largest vintage and new independent designer show. To read more about it and visit the Hate and Heartbreak site, click here!
Next up, Fairlie can be seen in the indie film, Moon Point, which co-stars Jayne Eastwood (Mrs. Hammond from Anne of Green Gables) and Art Hindle (Sullivan Entertainment’s Sleeping Dogs Lie). The film tells the quirky story of a young man who decides to cross several hundred miles in a wagon hooked onto the back of his friend’s electric wheelchair, in order to track down a past crush.
Kristin is very active on social media, so stay on top of her latest news by "liking" her official Facebook page (Kristin Fairlie) and following her twitter accounts (@kristinfairlie and @H8NHRTBRK).
To read more interviews with other Avonlea alumni, visit our Inspired Performances section, here!
