Knight Ridder Tribune 12/18/06: Victoria Pratt
Victoria Pratt stays on track with role in ABC's `Day Break'
Source: Knight Ridder/Tribune
Publication Date: 18-DEC-06
Byline: Luaine Lee
PASADENA, Calif. _ When actress Victoria Pratt was a little girl her father gave her a pogo stick to keep her from constantly bugging the family to play games.
"I'd have a contest with myself to see how many times I could jump without falling off," she says over lunch in a crowded restaurant here. "I remember being in the garage bouncing and bouncing, and my mom saying it was time for dinner. `I can't until I beat my last record.' I had boundless energy."
She still does. It was partly that energy and her competitive spirit that first introduced her to acting. Following a stint with a fitness magazine (both as a model and writer) she started studying acting. And Pratt found herself reacting to "action" in more ways than one. First on "Xena: the Warrior Princess" and later on "Mutant X" and "Cleopatra 2525," she exploited her athletic prowess as well as her feminine charms.
"I guested on `Xena' and the producers were looking for a show to replace `Hercules.' They got three of the girls they'd worked with before and enjoyed and put together this fabulous sci-fi show called `Cleopatra 2525,' which was a complete lark, and it was just a hoot ... It was a fantastic opportunity for me. It allowed me to put in a lot of time. I was so very green. It propelled me into the action world. It was fantasy and sci-fi, and it was crazy. And we were running around in rubber pants and bustiers. It was what it was. But it was great fun, great money and a great time."
She'd been competing in track and field events in her hometown of Chesley, Canada since she was 13. "I ran the 50 the 100, the 400, the 800. I did the long jump and the shot put. I did everything. And I came home with a chest full of ribbons. I remember they invited me to join the track team. That set me on a different course because where I was, I was starting to get a little boy crazy _ you know, pubescent angst. It was constructive for me to channel my energy into track and field work."
When ABC was casting the role of the streetwise cop in its time-shifting series "Day Break," Pratt auditioned. But this time there were no bustiers and rubber pants. In fact, she was clothed from crown to instep.
"It was really gratifying when I went into this audition completely covered up. I didn't show arms, I didn't show anything. It was a complete acting piece and it made me so proud to get this great role based purely on the acting. Now the series is physical and raw and everything I could've hoped for, but I got it because of the acting."
In college Pratt excelled in academics as well and was headed for a master's degree in physiotherapy when she suddenly changed her mind. "I came home one day and said, `I'm not going to take the scholarship I was offered. I don't think I can work in a physical therapy office for the rest of my life. I don't think I can do it. I want to write, I want to do this, do that.' I'm a very practical person. I think it confused my parents but they trusted me to do right by myself."
She toiled in the human performance lab at York University in Toronto while tending bar at night. "Bartending was a social outlet for me. I had a grand old time. To me it felt like I was hosting a party. I had the greatest time. It was a great way to make money. I was making more money bartending two nights a week than I was at the lab."
Pratt, 36, refuses to say whether she's married, though sources report that she married director T.J. Scott six years ago. While she's proud owner of a blue belt in Shotokan karate, she admits that her physical expertise has sometimes been a liability.
"Training has worked against me at times because I don't think I'm a traditional beauty, though I'm happy with the way I am," says Pratt, who's dressed in black jeans and a white blouse with ruching down the sides.
"You see me with short sleeves on, you see muscles, and maybe that's not right for the school teacher. But it definitely helped me get roles that I love and I think that years of training makes you carry yourself in a different way. I've always had a distinctive walk. I walk like a hurdler. I remember when I was in university I had to take this gymnastics class and the coach had trained the Romanian team and she said, `We're dancing, not HURDLING.' It's just the way my body is."
© Knight Ridder/Tribune
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