Here are my 5 favourite ‘behind the scenes’ moments from the set:

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1. Victoria Pratt plays a Disney Princess!

It was the first day of working with the soon-to-be one of my favourite people ever, Ms. Pratt, and it was chilly outside. We were shooting at the ranch and headed inside to warm up. The lovely people of the wardrobe department offered us “cool shots” to put in our shoes and pockets. No sooner had they offered, I heard “Yeah baby, here we go!”

I turned around to find Victoria Pratt, face first in the full stance of a Disney Princess, laughing right into the blasting heat. In that moment, I knew we were destined to cause so much trouble together! #sisterfromanothermister

2. Cowboy Dempsey Bryk takes mom out on the range!

The best part about playing a mom on-screen is getting to know some really great kids. Jen’s step son “Wyatt” – played by Dempsey Bryk – is a fabulous 19 year-old young man in real life and we hit it off instantly. So naturally, I agreed when he suggested we head out on our day off to take riding lessons together. After an amazing afternoon at Cowley’s Rafter Six Ranch with our instructor Kateri Cowley, I was very proud of my faux family! It was clear. Wyatt is a pretty darn good cowboy!

3. New Show with an old friend: Andrea meets Peter?

For the past two years, I have loved working on the Murder She Baked movie series for Hallmark Movies & Mysteries with Alison Sweeney, Cameron Mathison and Barbara Niven. But one of my favourite characters on the show has always been Norman, played by the dashing Gabriel Hogan. As the sensible “other man”, my character “Andrea Todd” spent most of her time vehemently opposed to anything he said or did. She’s clearly #TeamMike all the way. Therefore, I was so excited to learn that Jen would be introduced to Peter this season on Heartland! Gabe is one of the funniest people I have every worked with, so it was great to finally get to do a scene together where we could get along. Our first scene was a page and half of me talking, non-stop, with the stage directions ending it off with:

Peter sits thinking to himself, “Now that was chatty woman!”

Gabe’s response to me after reading it? Laughter along with saying, “I read that and thought… yup, that definitely sounds like Durupt.”

4. 6 degrees from Kevin “Bacon” McGarry!

In this case, it was only 1 degree. Back in the day, I played one of the ‘silly girls’ in the musical Beauty and the Beast at Rainbow Stage in Winnipeg and became friends with a beautiful dancer named Alex. I was thrilled to learn she is now the real-life leading lady in the life of Kevin McGarry, the man that Heartland fans know as “Mitch”. Sorry ladies, she is a total gem and wonderful friend. I could not be happier for them.

5. Keeping it in the family with “Tim”!

The best part of working on such a great family show is getting to know the cast and seeing how they take care of each other. That was very clear when Chris Potter (“Tim” on the show) stepped behind the camera to direct episode 7. As a performer, he is very passionate about his work so I knew we were in good hands with him as a director.

He was so great about really wanting to establish who “Jen” was in the Heartland world with the first kitchen scene between Peter, Jen and a whole lot of groceries. My favorite Chris Potter moment was when he walked up to me on-set to give me direction. As he was talking – very seriously of course – all I could see was his misbuttoned shirt. Naturally, I listened politely and then kindly blurted out, “What the hell is happening with your clothing today?”

He lightened right up, laughed and adjusted it. Needless to say, I wasn’t fired so I think it is safe to say we are officially family.

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I have had a total blast working on this show and I hope you enjoy the rest of the season!

I was by no means a die-hard Tragically Hip fan, though one of their albums was the neverending soundtrack at work for an entire summer at Dairy Queen. But watching the news today as they recapped his life, his accomplishments and his continued selfless acts of kindness, it was overwhelming. Probably the coolest part was the manner in which the reports kept coming back to one main point: HE LOVED BEING CANADIAN. He was so clear on who he was and how he wanted to live his life – helping people, fighting to make his country even better. This made me start to think…who am I? Talk about an intense question, but here is what I came up with:

I am a bossy sister. I am a great friend and at times a really annoying driver. I am an actress. I am that girl at the Manitoba social who loves to dance and I am a partner to the kindest, most stubborn Italian man alive. I am Métis. I am a Dateline addict.  I am an athlete that grew up playing hockey who is now learning to golf and curl. I am talkative. I am a proud member of the coolest club I never wanted to be part of: ‘Living with Multiple Sclerosis’. I am always looking on the bright side. I am that person that loves their dog more than anyone else on any given day and who visits their grandparents as often as humanly possible.  I am a daughter. I am a lover of all that is stationary and can be bought at Indigo Books. I am a clutz.  I am 100% an animal helper that will pull over to save any animal on the road, even the highway and even if it is not possible. I am a hater of all Mayonnaise. I am the girl sent home from the sleepover in 3^rd grade because she laughed louder then everyone else at 2am. But most importantly, I too am an extremely proud Canadian. Why should any of that matter? Because who knows how many of those opportunities, passions and individual quirks I would have been granted had I not been born in Canada.

The next thing I found so inspiring was his commitment to his artistry.

The Tragically Hip was known as ‘Canada’s Band’ though I bet they were given many opportunities to venture out in to the waters of international success …if only they would not always write about Canada. But Gord Downie and the group never strayed from their style of songwriting. They chose to highlight the good, the bad and the ugly of Canada’s young life as a country, inspiring people through musical storytelling. This is beyond inspiring. This really hits home for me, working in the film and television industry.

Being a Canadian actor is interesting. From the moment you start working, you are taught that you will eventually have to move elsewhere. That’s because the story goes that if you don’t leave Canada, you will probably not succeed. So like almost every actor, when my opportunities came about, I did just that. I got a manager, I got a work visa, I went down to L.A. and what did I learn? I learned that I love being a Canadian actor. I like living in Canada. I like having the opportunities I do. I really enjoy the lifestyle that being a working Canadian actor affords me and I like the Canadian people I work with. I understand that in Canada we may not make the same amount of money as our counterparts might elsewhere or have exactly the same opportunities, but if that’s true, then that is okay. Why? Because at the end of the day, I personally love the art of acting and that does not change based on where I live. I am so proud that our talent pool here is extremely large and undeniably well trained.  I love that actors, filmmakers, and story tellers in this country are beyond creative, passionate and humble.  We do what we do because, like Gord, we truly love the art.

Now as a member of the Heartland family on the CBC, my gratitude for Canada, Canadian art, and thriving in my home country is greater than ever. This Canadian heart is full and it comes back to Gord.

As someone who never fully understood the impact of his artistic voice until now, I thank Gord for teaching me that the true meaning of success is what you believe it to be. For me, that is getting to do what I love in a country I love. Moving forward, I hope we can all be #morelikegord and find our own place in life, wherever that may be.

As we move through the 11th season of this long-standing Canadian show, I will be sharing stories from my Heartland experience, which have included experiencing the Calgary horse culture, learning to horseback ride, and making friends with the incredible team that makes this show possible.

Please follow along with me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and with the official Heartland social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) so we can enjoy the journey together.

Who’s Jen? Here she is in a nutshell.

In Canada, you can watch Heartland at 7PM / 7:30PM NT on the CBC or check out full episodes online through the official CBC website.

Enjoy!