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When you hear the name Megan Follows, what comes to mind? For many of us, it's that little red-headed orphan from P.E.I., a.k.a. Anne Shirley, a.k.a. Anne of Green Gables. You'd be forgiven: After all, the 'Anne of Green Gables' mini-series, first broadcast on CBC is one of the highest-rated Canadian television dramas of all time, and won Megan a Gemini Award when she was just 18. But that was 25 years ago.
And there's way more to Megan than just little Anne Shirley.
Megan started appearing in commercials at age nine, nabbing her first big role on the TV series Matt and Jenny by age 11. And drama is actually in Megan's blood. Her parents, Ted Follows and Dawn Greenhalgh are both stars of the theatre. They were once known as the "Fighting Follows" and with good reason: they split when Megan was 11. But family is still tremendously important to her, and she's appeared with them on stage and screen.
Since Anne, Megan's had roles in just about every major TV show: Everything from 'Law & Order' and 'House' to 'Heartland'. Lately, she's been commanding the stage. She earned raves and Dora Award nominations for her roles as Marlene in Caryl Churchill's 'Top Girls' and Masha in Anton Chekhov's 'Three Sisters'. Now she's got the lead in Nightwood Theatre's production of 'The Penelopiad', in Toronto. The play, by Margaret Atwood, is a retelling of the story of the Odyssey from the point of view of the hero's long-suffering wife. It's a play that questions what we think we know -- which kind of applies to what we think we know about Megan, too.
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