Megan Follows

The Weight of Freckles and Red Hair

Megan Follows never had to choose a profession. She was born in Toronto into a family where theater was part of everyday life, since her father was an actor and so was her mother. So by the age of nine she was already filming commercials for Canadian television without quite understanding what fame meant.

Kevin Sullivan searched for months for the lead of Anne of Green Gables in 1985. He turned down hundreds of girls. But when he saw Megan, he knew the character of Lucy Maud Montgomery finally had a real face.

That decision defined her commercial career.

The miniseries broke ratings records in Canada and the United States. Megan played Anne Shirley with a mix of stubbornness and vulnerability that is still studied in acting schools across Ontario. She won the Gemini Award for Best Actress in 1986 and repeated the honor in 1988 with the sequel to the story.

But early success can be a trap. For years, casting directors saw her only as the orphan girl from Prince Edward Island. So she decided to take refuge on the stage to prove her range was much broader.

Life after the crown of France

In 1988, she moved to Los Angeles to break out of her typecasting. She appeared in films such as Inherit the Wind alongside Kirk Douglas and Jason Robards. Although movies did not always give her the roles she deserved, television was her safe haven.

Television was his safe haven.

Decades of supporting roles and steady work on procedural series followed. Then, in 2013, the script for Reign arrived. She played Catherine de' Medici across 78 episodes, turning the queen into a dark, magnetic character far removed from her earlier innocent roles.

Her performance as the French monarch allowed her to explore a technical coolness she had not shown before. On that series' set, she discovered she was as interested in what happened in front of the lens as in what happened behind it. And it wasn't long before she asked for a chance to direct.

The move behind the camera

In 2018, she directed her first episode of the series Murdoch Mysteries. It was not the whim of a veteran actress. She approached the work with meticulous precision, studying every shot and every transition, to earn the respect of the crew.

Her work as a director quickly took shape. She directed episodes of Heartland and the horror series October Faction in 2020. But she never fully gave up acting, because the stage bug was still there.

In 2021, she joined the cast of The Republic of Sarah as Ellen Cooper. The series lasted just one season on The CW. Despite the cancellation, Megan used that time to keep developing her own independent productions in Canada.

The Canadian industry gave her the Legacy Award in 2022 for her contribution to the country's culture.

In 2023, she played Barbara in the drama series Maternal, produced by the British broadcaster ITV. Filming took place entirely in Liverpool on an estimated budget of 15 million pounds.