Michael Riley Article | Michel Riley Online

MICHAEL RILEY IS RIDING A WAVE OF MASS APPEAL

By Katherine Monk

CANWEST NEWS SERVICE

July 2, 2010

Michael Riley is living the life. To be more accurate, the veteran Canadian actor is living several.

Cresting on a wave of mass appeal after Being Erica, the successful CBC series in which he plays Dr. Tom, a psychiatrist with mysterious time-shifting talents, Riley is emotionally magnanimous and practically realistic about the roller-coaster life of a working actor.

"I've always been fairly romantic about why we tell the stories we do. I've lived in L.A., and for the eight years that I was there... I saw the machine built from art and commerce," says Riley over the phone from Toronto, where he's shooting the third season of Being Erica.

"But it's nice to be back in this country, and tell stories for ourselves."

Raised in Burlington, Ont., Riley moved to Montreal to attend the National Theatre School after graduation at the age of 18, and immediately entered the ranks of formally trained players trodding the boards.

"[The NTS] had a classical conservatory approach... in the way it explored the relationship between the character and the text. I was steeped in that very young."

Because Riley sees the thespian exercise as a largely "romantic" adventure into human behaviour and universal truth, he doesn't follow the line of thought that separates "character actors" from "leading players."

"I think every actor is a character actor, when you get right down to it. It's about wiping the slate clean and making enough room for someone else. It's about sharing the experience ... and hitting the chord that will resonate with as many people as possible. If it's true, it will ring."

Making it true, when the building blocks are scripted lines, can be a challenge. But that's where training and the right attitude come in, says Riley.

Using his work on St. Urbain's Horseman, the 2007 TV miniseries based on Mordecai Richler's coming-of-age tale, as an example, Riley says preparation and the right focus can make even the biggest character shift seem effortless -- at least to the viewer.

In St. Urbain's Horseman, out on DVD this week, Riley pulls off a slick and colourful transformation worthy of a cuttlefish as he embodies the de facto villain, Harry Stein.

With his hair greased into thin, balding clumps of stringy brown algae and sporting false, yellowish teeth, Riley is unrecognizable as the sleazy amateur pornographer/bookkeeper who lands the novel's hero, Jake, in court for abetting an obscene act.

"Harry is such a Dickensian character," says Riley. "I wondered if I would be able to disappear ... but we got the false teeth to make him look like the product of British dentistry ... and at one point, I decided to take him out."

Riley says he was preparing for the shoot in Montreal when he figured he should test his performance skills in Harry Stein out on the town.

"I found the English pub in Montreal [Sir Winnie's] and I got my own set of false teeth and wardrobe and went out as Harry. I struck up conversations with people to see if I could pull it off," he says.

"I like being a little scared when I go to work. It means I'm being challenged ... and that means I keep growing and learning. I wasn't sure about Harry.

"I had this fear as I went out that someone might see right through it, and ask me if I was an actor. But, given a choice, I'd rather fail in front of a bartender than a camera."

Riley did not fail on his night out. He passed as a debauched Brit with bad teeth sans snags and brought his stellar character collage to set.

"As an actor, I felt like I could check that box next to 'mission statement.' I knew I could pass."

Despite the necessary navel-gazing and self-assessment that goes into the actors' craft, Riley says the truly ironic twist to the whole game is its inherently collaborative nature.

The acting profession may attract narcissistic personalities, he says, but they tend to fail, because they can't see the rest of the puzzle and get lost in dramatic dead ends.

"You might think it's all about you ... but it's about the whole team. There are times when you need to be self-contained and confident -- such as during the audition process.

"But once you get the part, and you've run the gauntlet of insecurity, in that exact second, you have to transition into selflessness. You have to get out of your own way."

Riley, good Canadian that he is, likens it to a hockey game: "I see it as being on the ice during a playoff game. I may only be on the ice for two minutes of the game, but for the two minutes I'm there, I better be as prepared and as good as I can possibly be."

Mr. Nobody is slated for a July 16 release in Canada. St. Urbain's Horseman is now available on DVD, and Being Erica begins its third season this fall.