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Laura Vandervoort:
Even More Than A Super Girl
By Amanda (Age 22, USA)
Laura Vandervoort
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Since Portrait last featured her, Laura Vandervoort’s role on Instant Star, and our chance to see her as Sadie Harrison every week, came to an end. Never fear! Laura has kept pretty busy since the show ended its run in 2008, continuing her part as Clark Kent’s Super Girl cousin Kara on Smallville, as well as stacking up a few film credits to her name. She’s even got a role in a new science fiction series, and a project for the Sy-Fy channel coming up. She’s well on her way to becoming everyone’s favorite science fiction girl, but sci-fi isn’t all she can do.
Laura as Kara on "Smallville"
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While Laura has a lot of fans following her career because of her role on Instant Star, it is undoubtedly her role as a flying girl from Krypton that got her attention on a large scale. Amongst science fiction fans especially, Laura is best known for her role as Super Girl on the CW’s Smallville, and Laura recently reveled in an interview that she has a lot of love for her time on the show, especially because it worked as a vehicle to get her parts she might not have otherwise had access to, saying, “I loved Smallville. It was everything to me. You know, it was the first role that put me out there in front of America and the world – it's played all over the world – and it's helped me get in the door for other projects that were grittier and different, that I would have never been considered for because of the way you look, or the way they've seen you in the past.”
Laura at Comic Con in 2008
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So, just what were those roles she was able to nab because of her heroic stint? In addition to her science fiction roles, Laura has also done a few movies that were made for television, as well as straight to video releases.
She starred as Marcie Cutler in Lifetime’s Out of Control as an investigator falling for the criminal she was supposed to be apprehending. The movie was not exactly hailed as anything special, but it did allow her to showcase some of her martial arts skills, and it also allowed her the experience of acting in a crime thriller, something she hadn’t really done before. She put in a lot of
Laura as a Brunette
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effort to do roles that are new to her. (Laura even dyed her hair brown for a couple of her roles over the last couple of years, demonstrating that she was committed to her characters.) Laura also costars in Damage, a gritty action movie that saw a straight to video release in some areas of the world, but has theatrical release dates for 2010 in other areas. Laura plays an abuse victim who gets into the world of underground fighting, definitely one of her more dramatic roles. With films like these, Laura is sure to keep people from thinking she’s just another pretty face.
With Chris Cormack |
One of the more recognizable names in movies that Laura filmed over the last year would have to be Into The Blue 2: The Reef. This direct to video sequel of the 2005 film that starred Jessica Alba and Chris Walker had Laura playing a diver opposite The OC’s Chris Carmack on a quest to find Columbus’s treasure. Movies like Into the Blue aren’t usually known for their acting, but for their eye candy. The sequel though is a fun action adventure film, and Laura does a great job.
Her current project though is not a movie going straight to video, or one broadcast as the movie of the week on a cable network, but another science fiction series that’s getting a lot of buzz. Laura is again playing a “visitor” from another planet as Lisa in V. V features a lot of well known actors in the genre, like Elizabeth Mitchell and Morena Baccarin, and is based on the 1983 mini-series of the same name. It’s story follows a race of aliens who come to Earth, negotiating to trade their technology and medicine in exchange for fuel and water. There are many humans who believe that the alien plot is more nefarious.
Laura as Lisa in "V" |
Lisa is a young “woman” who works with the visitor’s Peace Ambassador program, helping to get the human youth on board with the alien ideology. In some of her press interviews for the new show, Laura joked that being cast on the show worried her a little bit. She said was afraid that after being Super Girl, and now one of the Visitors, that there was something inherently “alien” about her acting. I’m sure her fans would disagree, maintaining that it takes a lot of talent to pass yourself off as something out of this world.
Laura's Photo Shoot for 'Hello' Magazine
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Laura has high hopes that she will be able to stretch her acting chops and potentially play a bad girl on the show. She told TV Guide: "I would [describe her as a good girl], but I also hope that she's not. First of all, the way that Lisa is seen is kind of in an angelic state. Anna [has] obviously got something evil. You can see it behind her eyes. I feel like Lisa is being taken along for the ride... Maybe she really does think that we're here for peace, and she is truly falling for Tyler and enjoying being on Earth because she's still young. I do think she's there for good, but I [would] love if the writers suddenly make her turn on her own people or turn on the humans, being two-faced all along."
Laura at the 'Into the Blue 2' Premier |
As it turns out, Laura’s new series V shoots not far from the set for Smallville. When asked about a possible return to Smallville in a recent interview, Laura had this to say:
Oh gosh, there's been a few background performers I did Smallville with, and they're coming up and saying, "So, are you coming back?" And I don't know. I mean, I'm in Vancouver, I don't know if they know I'm here, but it would be nice to hop over and be part of the show again… I owe everything to Smallville, and I'd love to go back, I don't know if they're going to have a storyline for me, I'm not sure what direction they're taking the show in, so fingers crossed. I'd love to go back before the show is done.
At the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival with boyfriend Corey Sevier |
The possibility of a return to her old stomping grounds aside, Laura does have another project already filmed that should be airing sometime in 2010 on the Sy-Fy channel. Riverworld is a miniseries starring Laura and Tahmoh Penikett as an engaged couple who find themselves separated in a mysterious world along a river bank when they are unexpectedly killed. The mini-series is a science fiction/fantasy look at the idea of purgatory that many religions have, and is loosely based on a series of novels of the same name. Laura says the project is a more dramatic turn for her, that it’s more heart wrenching than the films she has done in the past. The majority of the series sees the two characters trying to find their way back to one
another, not wanting to spend life after death apart. So, not only is Laura adding another science fiction project to her resume, but one that will surely see her working even harder than she has before.
Laura Vandervoort seems to have made quite an effort over the last few years to establish herself as a serious actress, hunting down and accepting parts that differ considerably from one another, and taking a stab at multiple genres. She’s come a long way from the teen drama days of Instant Star, and I don’t think she needs to worry about being pigeon holed into any one kind of role.
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