Meet Molly Vaillancourt

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Molly Vaillancourt a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Molly, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.

Well, being an Aquarius, I feel like my creativity never really burns out—okay, half joking. In reality, I think it’s completely normal for creativity to burn out at times, especially in an industry built on rejection. Sometimes I’m shocked when casting even takes the time to tell you that you didn’t get the role—since when do they have the time? Other times it’s a grant rejection for a short story I’ve been passionately working to turn into a film.

I keep my creativity alive because I have to—it burns inside of me. I do it from the heart or not at all. Even when I’m disappointed about not getting a role or a grant, I write every single day. But I’ve also learned that creativity needs room to breathe, and that it’s important to have other outlets that allow it to blossom in different ways.

Cheerleading and dance have always been that space for me. I cheer for the University of Windsor Lancer team, dance for the Windsor Express basketball team, and coach young girls who are just beginning to fall in love with cheerleading at North Star Cheer. Watching their faces light up when they finally land a new skill reminds me why I create in the first place—it’s about joy, discipline, and believing in yourself before anyone else does.

I’ve also been incredibly lucky to grow within a supportive film community in Windsor. Gavin Booth (Canadian filmmaker and music video director known for the films Last Call and The Scarehouse) and Sarah Booth (Canadian actress, most noted for her role as Keri Whitman in the second season of the drama anthology series Plan B), have always supported me. Whether it’s Gavin randomly coming up with the most creative idea and us shooting it that very day or Sarah dropping everything to help me film and coach me through self-tapes.

I also need to thank Shaun Benson (Canadian actor and director). When I first moved to Toronto, I definitely had a what am I doing? moment. Walking to my waitressing job—one I genuinely loved because I thrive on connecting with people—I’d pass production after production. The irony of being a wannabe actress who failed her Smart Serve the first time wasn’t lost on me (I did pass the second time). I’d stand there in awe, dreaming that they might suddenly need a 5’5 brunette actress. I took many acting classes in Toronto, but often felt what I learned was scene-specific. Shaun’s Meisner class changed that. It taught me how to translate my work into every aspect of my acting and truly trust my impulses. It was challenging—I was usually sweating getting up on that chair, the youngest in the room with a fraction of the credits everyone else had—but it pushed me forward.

When I’m not creating, I’m watching other people create. I love reading, attending theatre, and watching films of all kinds—especially in a movie theatre with a lime slushy. My creativity stays alive through community.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I hold a B.A. Honours in Arts and Education, focused on second-language pedagogy and French. I had already picked a university branch, and I knew I could do acting too, hence why I saw it out until the very end. Linguistics actually helped me more in acting than I ever thought possible.

I am very focused on pursuing a career in acting. This dream of mine started when I was nineteen, but I was a very attention-seeking child. I’ve been performing practically since I was a child—forcing my dad to record me singing, tumbling, and dancing on the trampoline on his video camera. I was put into cheerleading, which only confirmed my love for performing for an audience. Before getting an agent, my mom drove me four hours up to Helen Tansey’s studio because I had done my research and knew she was the best. That’s where I got my very first pink headshots—which still get me booked to this day (we’re not going to talk about how I’m twenty-three now).

An Adidas commercial was my very first paid acting job, and the latest one I filmed was for a prequel series to a super show on Prime Video. I’m lucky to be back on set for a bank commercial this month, what a way to start the New Year! In between, I’ve volunteered as much as possible on sets of any kind, big or small, paid or unpaid, background or lead. I quite literally played a “Jogger” for Strange Tales of the South Side and the “Lost Spice Girl,” original member Michelle Stephenson. What can I say? Acting keeps me humble. I even volunteer as a patient for College Boréal, a local French college, to practice my acting and scare the nursing students—and let me tell you, I have so much fun doing it.

What excites me most about acting is getting to portray a character while bringing a part of myself—who Molly is—into the character. To say what you want, give into real impulses, and create a climax is thrilling. But what’s most special about acting is the people. I’ve been so lucky to meet wonderfully talented humans. I met my best friend Alison Adams (actress and playwright with The Vault) while shooting a movie together, playing sisters. I can’t talk about myself without mentioning the people that shape me—Alison became like a real sister, and that’s something truly special that came out of acting. Alison has been and continues to be a beam of support in my personal and artistic life.

I’ve always loved writing, but recently I wrote a story I especially believe would benefit audiences. I’m in the “dreadful process” of applying for writing grants and pitching my story, forcing my lovely friends to read every single version I write. The title is Superbloom. This short film addresses the sensitive and pressing issue of sexual assault, particularly within the environment of gymnastics. It’s vital for me to create my own opportunities—especially to overcome the heavy rejection I face and to feel fulfilled—and by extension, to create opportunities for other actors and behind-the-camera artists in our Windsor film community.

Early feedback on Superbloom has been incredibly encouraging. Dr. Margery Holman, Professor Emerita, called it a “cutting-edge initiative” with a novel approach to educating coaches, athletes, and anyone invested in safe sport environments. Dr. Lorenzo Buj, Professor at the University of Windsor, described it as a “timely, socially consequential project” that handles a difficult subject with authenticity, noting that “Molly writes believable, idiomatic dialogues and constructs compelling, everyday scenarios that are a masterful blend of suspense and subtlety.” Knowing that experts see the potential in Superbloom only strengthens my drive to bring it to life. My goal is to shoot Superbloom and submit it to film festivals, sharing this important story with audiences as widely as possible.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I sound like a broken record, but writing has been the single most helpful skill for me. It’s a cheap and simple way to stay creative, organize thoughts, and track goals. Writing out steps and celebrating even the smallest wins helps me achieve bigger ones. Reading good writing has expanded my vocabulary and inspired me to craft stories that resonate. Short stories are my obsession—condensing a narrative into something tight yet meaningful is an art in itself. I’m fascinated by glimpses into characters’ lives, imagining the rest of their world. Getting only glimpses is so special and intimate to me. In my own life, I have given glimpses of myself into other people’s lives, and they have returned the honour, and you wouldn’t believe how much it’s changed me. I’m rapt by authors like Rebecca Curtis, Alice Munro, and Junot Diaz, whose work continually inspires me to explore storytelling in new ways.

I’m on my way to becoming a teacher and I recently completed my placement in a grade one classroom. It reminded me how much acting and teaching overlap. To keep the children engaged, I had to be full-body, fully present, and tell stories in a way that captivated them. Kids are blunt, impulsive, and endlessly creative, and being around them reminded me to approach acting—and life—with curiosity, spontaneity, and empathy.

I’m a very bubbly, outgoing person and honestly, every time I leave the house, I become a better actress. I’ve moved to Toronto, pounded the pavement with resumes, taken a workout class in the middle of the Eaton Centre, and even survived being stuck in LaGuardia Airport for twenty-four hours. Every single one of these crazy experiences—humiliating at times—has improved my acting, my confidence, and my ability to throw myself into life fully.

So here’s my advice: start. Whatever is burning underneath your skin, do it today. Write it down, face it, bother your friends for help, go out, watch live music, get off your phone, don’t use AI (you don’t want to be artificially intelligent), go thrifting for vinyls, don’t quit even after endless rejections, go to the movie theatre! Leave your house every single day, even if it’s just for a walk, dream at night and during the day, and cut out pictures from magazines and tape them to your walls. My grandmother once let me and my cousins colour over all of her walls with crayons, so I guess I was born ready. All of it counts. All of it feeds the fire.

Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?

Friends and family. My friends who help me with self-tapes are honest, brilliant, and dedicated—they come up with ideas I wouldn’t have thought of because sometimes I dial in so hard, trying to give exactly what I think casting wants (news flash: they don’t even know what they want). I have this rule that I only film a tape three times—if I’m not trying something different each time, there’s no more discoveries to be made. When rejection feels unbearable, they remind me it’s just redirection. When I feel like I’ve accomplished nothing, I swear they have an Excel spreadsheet of every job I’ve done, ready to go. My friends never hesitate to pull me out of the house for coffee when business is slow or I’m in holding for a role I really want. My brothers have been forced into reading self-tapes or helping me memorize lines. My parents and aunt have driven me to Toronto for bookings and classes. I am surrounded by people who believe in me and show up for me. No matter where I end up, I will always be lucky to call Windsor my first home.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm15339728/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/molly_vaillancourt/
• Other: [email protected]

Image Credits

Helen Tansey (Headshot)

Sean Thrawn O’Neil (CBC and WIFF poster)

Shayenna Nolan (Molly Vaillancourt being styled by Sarah Avery Mancini)
Website: Shayenna.ca
Instagram: @shayennaa

Vedant Pandey (Medium Shot)