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

Maxine, appreciate you joining us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

I truly believe that those of us who have taken on the life of a creative artist haven’t fully chosen it. It chose us. Because the hurdles and hoops one has to jump through to make this career possible are not to be taken lightly. There is a lot of vulnerability and uncertainty. I think all of us in this boat have considered the financial liberty and stability of a “regular” job. Of course we have; we’d be crazy not to. Especially this year, with strike after strike and inflation after inflation. It’s terrifying.

But in my opinion, the idea of something being a “regular job” is what baffles me.

I am the happiest when I am creative and artistic; there is no doubt about that. So why is it “irregular” to try to add multiple eggs to your basket. What I am trying to do is build something I can tag along to my acting. Whether it’s my co-owned audition workshop (isolACTION), writing my own scripts, directing my own films, producing my own projects or applying for grants. Being a creative artist is not so different than being an entrepreneur, really. Because even the most successful actors will have down time they want to fill, so why not start filling it while I’m still up-and-coming?

That’s not to say it’s easy. It isn’t. I’ve taken on my fare share of dull side gigs to help finance things. I’ve scrolled LinkedIn endlessly for jobs when audition after audition doesn’t pan out. But the moment I am on set, the moment I am telling a story as an actor, I can just feel a flow. Everything feels right and it reminds me that this IS what I want; suddenly it feels like it’s truly the only thing that CAN make me happy.

Maxine, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a Lebanese/Canadian actor who was born and raised in Dubai. Growing up, I always had a knack for the dramatics and the theatrics. Let’s just say, when I decided I wanted to pursue this full-time as an adult, not many people in my family were really surprised. That being said, I still got my bachelor’s degree at McGill University – majoring in Psychology, minoring in Behavioural Science and Spanish. I feel extremely grateful that my parents allowed me to be exposed to the creative arts as a child, they never hindered it. It was because I felt that they supported my love for storytelling that I saw the logic in “getting a degree first”. I have zero regrets because my university years taught me so much. Not only do I always call psychology the “science of acting” but I also joined clubs, like competitive cheerleading and committees like the Lebanese Association. I volunteered at the Children’s Hospital and hosted fundraisers on campus. I met so many people, enjoyed the college life, and found myself as a person. Most of all, I acclimated to North America this way. I found my agent in my final year at McGill, joined an acting class and started going to auditions and booking gigs pretty quickly! The rest is basically history!

Being an actor is a constant battle with doubt. Some years are incredibly slow; some years are so busy. Even more so, some months I can make so much money, some months I can make close to none. The bane of my existence is when banks ask me how much money I make monthly; “sir your guess is as good as mine”. But I wouldn’t change it for the world. When I booked my first lead role playing Dalia in Polarized (2023) I felt like I was on top of the world! They flew me out to another province, put me up in a condo and told me act for a month straight, and we’ll even pay you. Ummm yes please! I was living such a dream, that when I came back home afterwards, I struggled a lot with the simplicity of being “off set” and back to my “normal life”. It was a big learning curve for me. Love the highs, appreciate the lows.

Then things started to shift and move for me after that first big gig; I started booking more lead roles – playing Bassima in a French/Arabic drama, Paige in a “friends all go to a creepy cabin” horror film, Aleah in a coming of age college story all the way to dubbing Little Red Riding hood in a Japanese fairytale whodunit. I’ve picked up fun guest spots along the way too, from a surgeon on a medical show to an upbeat fitness guru on a comedy show. It’s been a wild ride taking on all these different characters in all these different mediums! I’ve worked in video games, audiobooks, commercials, animations, movies, series, shorts, live shows, web-series and more. You name it; if it’s got some kind of acting involved, I’ve tried it! That’s what I love about this job. One of the main things I tell others who want to get into this industry, is to find ways to absorb stories. Whether it’s in novels, narrative based video games, songs, autobiographies, people watching or movies. Everything has a story. Take it in and apply it. Do short films. Make skits with friends. Oh, and practice practice practice. But duh, everyone knows that one.

What I am most proud of? I’d say I am most proud of committing wholeheartedly to this craft and being the first in my entire family to do it. I am proud that I get to use both my cultures, and all my languages, in the projects I’ve worked on because they mean so much to me and they make up who I am as a person. So one of the main things I want those who follow along on my crazy journey to take away is to “embrace your you”. Anyone can be just an actor, but only I can be a Lebanese/Canadian woman born and raised in Dubai who speaks English, French, Arabic and Spanish, has blue eyes , is 5’2 ¾” (*ahem* *ahem* 5’3” to casting); who loves to travel and go to the cinema and read fiction books and rock climb and scuba dive and dance and sing and be hyperactive crazy and be organized, and play SpikeBall on the beach and make new friends and and and the list goes on. Only you can be your specific kind of person, with your specific kind of past, in your specific kind of industry; and that’s pretty cool.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Well, before the new year I would’ve said what illustrates my resilience is moving across the globe to Canada, by myself at 18 years old, to pursue higher education and a career in the arts. After January 4th 2024, that changed…
Me, my mom and my grandma got into a pretty scary car accident in Lebanon while visiting for the holidays. From one moment to the next we were spinning out of control and heading for a steep cliff. In those super brief moments, I vividly remember thinking “I’m not done yet, please don’t let me be done yet”. I want to do so much more. It made me feel so angry at every moody day I had, at the days I doubted myself or my career or my relationships or my life as a whole… because I wasn’t done yet! I couldn’t be!!

Then BAM. None of us knew what that meant, but our worlds stopped spinning, so that had to be good right? I remember all three of us screaming to get out of the car because we didn’t know if it would explode or fall off the cliff. As we all started to get out, I began to feel liquid streaming down my face. Uh oh. I heard my grandma screaming about her shoulder. I saw my mom squeeze around the airbag on the driver’s side. Okay. They’re alive and walking. Good. I remember being so calm. So stoic. I saw the tree that held our car. I saw the cliff we didn’t go over. While the world around me was screaming and running around – bystanders started to arrive to help (god bless Lebanese hospitality) – I casually walked to the other side of the road, sat down on the sidewalk cross legged and watched the scene unfold for a brief moment. It all went so slow in my mind. Like a movie. I suddenly feel the wetness on my face again. For some strange reason (I blame the Gen Z in me) I never let go of my phone through all of this. So I open the camera and see red covering my face. I snap two photos. That really doesn’t look so good. My second thought after “is my family alive” was “is this gonna affect my career?”. It might not have been a rational thought, but I thought it. Then my mom saw me. I will never forget the look on her face, or the sound of her screaming, or the feeling of her panic and her guilt. I tried so hard to stay calm; I remember keeping my voice so level as I told her to go check on my grandma. “Mom, I’m fine.” “I’m okay mom. Go check on Titi.” “Mom please, I’m alright.” Then I called for help. Good thing I still had that phone.

To cut a long story short. We’re all okay overall. An angel of a man took us to the closest ER. We scrapped the car for parts, my grandma (who we call Titi) got operated on for a broken shoulder, my mom got a concussion and bruises and I got a deep gash to my forehead from a metal hook in the car that my grandpa had attached to hang stuff on. I got 8 stitches and a tetanus shot. I remember begging the doctor “please, I don’t want it to scar, I’m an actor.” But, I’m also just so grateful we’re all alive and it wasn’t worse. But I also care about my face. Is that bad? Is that vain? In the moment I didn’t care. I just didn’t want a scar. Now, three weeks after the accident, I couldn’t care less if it scars. I’ve had time to process it. I remembered the idea of “embrace your you”, and this incident is part of my story. It taught me a lot. I feel more resilient for not letting it slow me down. It gave me a different perspective. It showed me who in my life I can rely on and trust. I love my scar now; because just like Harry Potter, I’m the girl who lived; and who doesn’t love a happy ending?

Except it’s not the end for me, or my mom, or my Titi, it’s just the beginning. I’m right back on set and filming auditions, scar and all.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Wow, that’s a tough one. There are so many things I find extremely rewarding. A big one though, is that I get the opportunity to be so many different people; to tell so many incredible stories. I mean I don’t have to pick one person to be, I can be so many, with unique jobs and specific relationships. How cool is that??
I also love that I get to work with phenomenally talented people. In each project I’ve taken on, I’ve encountered some brilliant creatives. I absolutely adore how collaborative it all is. I’m a people-person, extraverted, high energy kinda girl and it’s teamwork all the way in this industry. I thrive in it.

So I’d say, the overall most rewarding aspect of being a creative artist is how every day can be different. It can be scary at times, but in the end, it really is where I belong.

Contact Info:

• Website: maxinedenis.com
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/maxinedenis
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MaxineDenisOfficial/
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/maxinedenis
• Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5278397/

Image Credits
Mark Zelinski at OFFA10