Charlotte Sullivan is one of the stars of the popular TV show Rookie Blue, the second season of which just premiered on Global. She landed the coveted role after a challenging turn in the much-hyped mini-series The Kennedys. The sky is the limit for the beautiful and talented Toronto actor. So why is she sitting in California, learning to play the cello and contemplating a permanent hiatus from acting?
After two seasons filming Rookie Blue as tough rookie police officer Gail Peck, the Toronto-born actress is embracing a side of her that has been neglected for a while. Sullivan says she’s taking a break to re-energize. She bought herself a cello and is taking life one day at a time, something the straightlaced character Peck would never do.
“I want to learn as much as possible,” Sullivan says.
Although she doesn’t know what the future holds for her and if she’ll even return to acting, it does become obvious she adored being a part of the hit TV drama that airs on ABC and Global.
Shot in Toronto, Rookie Blue premiered in 2010 and was renewed for a second season after only a handful of episodes had been aired. (The second season premiered June 23.) Sullivan says the formula to Rookie Blue’s success is that it showcases cops at the beginning of their careers when every situation is new and ripe with anxiety.
“We are not seasoned and we make mistakes,” Sullivan says. “When you talk to police officers, they felt pretty constipated for their first six years; they were scared out of their minds.” Sullivan’s character is a rookie officer with connections in the force (her godfather is the chief of police) whose desire to prove her worth results in her isolation from her colleagues. To train for the role, Sullivan worked with a policewoman whom she describes as “one of the foxiest cops I’ve ever met.”
What Sullivan doesn’t remember is anything the policewoman taught her that day. “I literally did not remember anything, but I think if we had done extensive training it would show,” she explains. “That’s not what the show is about.”
Though she hasn’t yet refined certain police techniques, Sullivan says the show has been one great acting workshop.
“I find acting to be really hard —it’s not an effortless thing for me,” she says. “I haven’t done any formal training, and [on Rookie Blue] I’ve learned so much. Because we’re pumping out so many scenes a day, I do feel I’m always in class with my fellow actors.”
The show also stars Canadian actors Missy Peregrym (Heroes), and Gregory Smith (Everwood). Sullivan credits character actor Matt Gordon, who plays cynical training officer Oliver Shaw, with being an inspiration during shoots.
“He has that goosebumps quality: he’s so in the moment, devoid of how he’s coming across,” she says. She’s happy to have had the opportunity to work with Matt and the cast.
Shooting the series in Toronto also had its advantages for Sullivan, who owns a house in the city. “Toronto pulls at my heartstrings,” Sullivan says. “It’s got beautiful food. There’s great shawarma on Queen Street I go to. I love trying new restaurants in Leslieville and I love the TTC.”
Toronto is also where Sullivan started her acting career, although now she is back and forth to Los Angeles for auditions.
She recalls growing up with her mom, an Air Canada worker, and older brother and moving around the city a lot.
“We lived in Bloor West Village, High Park, Richmond and Spadina. We were this beautiful dysfunctional team constantly on the move in Toronto,” she says and laughs.
At the age of six, Sullivan watched Tim Burton’s fantasy masterpiece Edward Scissorhands and felt an immediate affinity for the conflicted and awkward protagonist, played by Johnny Depp. She says she knew she wanted to be a part of Burton’s world.
“I couldn’t imagine not doing it,” Sullivan says about acting. “I said to my mom, ‘I want to do that.’”
When Sullivan’s mother saw a newspaper ad announcing a casting for a Liza Minnelli music video shooting in Toronto, the entire family turned up at the audition.
Both Sullivan and her brother were chosen as background performers, which led to her getting an agent and eventually auditions for larger roles.
Sullivan found early success, cast as Marion Hawthorne in the children’s movie Harriet the Spy (1996), starring Rosie O’Donnell. She also starred in the CBS TV show The New Ghostwriter Mysteries (1997). More work followed, from bit character parts to meaty roles in movies such as Defendor, starring Woody Harrelson. But her most challenging role has been playing Marilyn Monroe in the much-hyped History Channel miniseries The Kennedys (2011), starring Greg Kinnear as John F. Kennedy and Katie Holmes as Jackie Kennedy. Canadian director Jon Cassar helmed the show that looked at the tumultuous lives of the ambitious Kennedy clan. “It’s the most interesting thing I will ever do,” Sullivan says, admitting it was her most stress-inducing project. “I can’t hold a candle to her, and I knew I would face an incredible amount of criticism,” she says. “I couldn’t sleep. I was nervous all the time.”
To prepare for the role, Sullivan watched old movies and read biographies. But she says she barely scratched the surface of who the iconic actress could have been.
“I became morbidly obsessed with her and I still don’t feel I know her at all, and nobody really will,” Sullivan says. In the end, she came to identify with Monroe’s sadness and her anxiety about working in the business.
“I lose sleep over things and I worry too much,” Sullivan says. “As an actor, you want to be liked, which is such a horrible quality.”
For now, Sullivan, who is engaged to Canadian actor Peter Stebbings, is on hiatus. “I’m struggling with why I find it [acting] so hard,” she says. “I need to reconnect with why I love it so much.”
Of course, if Rookie Blue continues to draw viewers, Sullivan may find herself back at work sooner than she thinks.