Pic from The Official Site
TV Zone Issue 173: Karen Cliche, on Karencliche.com
A Piercing Beauty
Mutant X's newest recruit Karen Cliche sits down with Steven Eramo and sheds some light on the mysterious character of Lexa Pierce.
Time: The Present. The place: a loft interior filled with sculptures and abstract paintings being scrutinized by a group of smartly-dressed art critics and select members of the public. Cocktail in hand, Lexa Pierce casually weaves her way through the crowd and stops near a door being guarded by two burly men in tuxedoes. She glances over at Shalimar Fox, who is being approached by one of the male critics. After a brief verbal exchange, Shalimar slaps him across his face.
"You touched me!" exclaims Shalimar. "Did you see that?" she asks those guests standing nearby. "He touched me!"
"What? No I didn't," protests the bewildered critic.
The other people in the room, including the two guards, begin to walk towards Shalimar and the man to see what all the commotion is about. Setting down her drink, Lexa turns invisible. Seconds later, the door behind her opens and closes.
"Cut and print!" says Mutant X director Andrew Potter.
The above scene is the opening teaser for the third season Mutant X episode Art of Attraction. On this cold and overcast November afternoon, the show's cast and crew are filming on location at Godderham and Worts, an old distillery in Toronto. Having finished for the day, Karen Cliche (pronounced Kleesh), who plays Lexa Pierce, changes out of her evening dress and into more casual attire. Relaxing in her trailer, the actress happily chats about the story that is currently being shot.
Cliche is very enthusiastic about the current episode. "This is very much a Lexa-centric episode," she says. "She and Mutant X are trying to find three paintings, all of which are encoded with information. They're the missing pieces to the puzzle that will allow our heroes to accomplish their mission. In the midst of all this, Lexa falls for a guy, but is he good or bad? I'm not telling," she teases. "Their relationship is similar to the one shared by the two main characters in [the feature film] The Thomas Crown Affair in that it's a game of cat-and-mouse. So that's been fun for me to play."
Cliche's character is the latest addition to the genetically-enhanced team of crime-fighters. Lexa has the ability to not only bend light and make herself as well as others invisible but also to manipulate light to use as a weapon. Fans of the now-cancelled series Adventure Inc will remember her as action adventure gal Mackenzie Previn. Making the transition from the high seas to the superhero world was a pleasant surprise for her.
"The same people [Tribune Entertainment] who produce Mutant X also produced Adventure Inc," explains the actress. "We were in France filming the end of Adventure Inc when I was approached about the job. They knew that the show wasn't being renewed for a second year so they asked me, 'Would you like to play this new character of Lexa on Mutant X?' It's rare that you're offered one series right after the other, so I said, 'Sure'. Once we wrapped Adventure Inc, I flew home, then out to Toronto, found an apartment and we began doing Mutant X a couple of months later. I feel very fortunate to have been asked to join this show and flattered that its producers thought I would be a good addition to it."
Mutant X's year two cliffhanger Lest He Become ended with Adam Kane (John Shea) and his teammates fighting for their lives as the building they are in collapses into the sea. In the third season opener, Into the Moonless Night, it's revealed that both Adam and Emma deLauro (Lauren Lee Smith) are dead. Not long after returning to Sanctuary (their hidden base), the surviving members of Mutant X are paid a surprise visit by Lexa. What she tells them only serves to further shatter their world.
"My character is quite strong willed and does not want to be there at all," says Cliche. "Lexa has made a deal with an outside organization called The Dominion and is put in the compromising position of having to join Mutant X so that they can help her find someone very important to her. That said, her initial attitude is 'I want as little to do with you people. I'm not part of your little "family" nor do I want to be'. To make matters worse, Lexa is the bearer of some information that the group is unaware of. She basically tells them that they were lied to by Adam and that he kept secrets form them."
The actress continues, "So, there's a bit of tension at first between her and the rest of Mutant X," she says.
"However, something happens mid-season in one of the episodes that makes Lexa stop and think, "Maybe I can get something out of this'. She consequently does 'soften up' slightly and becomes more a part of the team. Lexa is still feisty, though, and could leave at any time and not look back. I like having that edge to my character."
How would the actress describe Lexa's relationships with her three team-mates? "She and Brennan [Victor Webster] have very strong personalities and on occasion they'll butt heads," she notes. "With her and Shalimar [Victoria Pratt], there's a mutual respect that has developed between them. They share an understanding but certainly aren't what you would call close friends. As for Jesse [Forbes March] he's the one who, at the start, tries to offer the hand of friendship to Lexa. Theirs is a closer relationship, but whether it's one of brother and sister or one that will blossom into a romance, I don't know. So we'll have to wait and see. I did tell Forbes that if we have to kiss on camera he'd better not eat garlic or anything like it beforehand! And I'm saying that very loud because his trailer is right next door to mine and he's in there now," the actress chuckles.
Like all actors in this position, Cliche had some trepidation insofar as joining an established series, as well as replacing a much-loved character. It's a double-edged sword. Happily, though, everything has worked out very well for her. "Coming in, no one ever made it tough for me, it was just the pressure I put on myself," she says. "The cast and crew are fantastic to work with and are nothing but encouraging. As for the fans, they continue to be very kind towards and supportive of Lexa and myself. It's been a great ride so far and I'm hoping it lasts a while longer."
Let's Get Physical!
Cliche had already been a regular on four series when she was hired for Adventure Inc. "I had such a blast working with Michael Biehn and Jesse Nilsson, who sadly passed away last April," says the actress. "My character of Mackenzie was very physical, not only as far as the actual fights, but also when it came ot climbing up the side of a mountain, scuba-diving, driving boats, backpacking, etc. It was different from my work on Mutant X in that there was less exposition. With Adventure Inc we knew pretty much from the get-go what was happening. This allowed us to get one much more quickly with the adventures, which of course is what our audience tuned in to see. I had the chance to do some things I'd never done before in my life, and that's great for a gal like me who really loves a challenge."
Career Aspirations
Born 22nd July 1976 in Sept-Iles, Quebec, Canada, Karen Cliche was thinking about an acting career at a young age. "I was six years old when I wrote my Oscar acceptance speech. I recited it in front of a mirror and holding a Barbie doll," she says smiling. "In school I took drama classes and performed in plays. When I enrolled in college I had to pick a major and chose psychology, which was something else that interested me. At the same time I did some professional modelling, and after one semester at college I began to think, 'This just doesn't feel right. I need to try something different'. The modelling agency I was working for opened up an acting division. They asked me if I could act and I told them, 'I have no idea, you tell me'. They began sending me out on auditions and things just took off from there.
"My first job was playing a secretary in a movie called The Collector starring casper Van Dien. That was five years ago and I though, 'Yes, this is really what I was meant to do'. Thank God I had the chance to stop and really take time to think about what I wanted for a career. I'm grateful to those who gave me a break and allowed me to start off with no real acting experience."
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