Dan Payne is a Canadian born actor who has appeared in a wide variety of projects. Including Watchmen, Stargate SG1, Stargate Atlantis, Cabin In The Woods, Mulligans, Dead Like Me, The Snow Queen & The L Word.

(This interview was recorded a year a go, so somethings that are mentioned in the interview have happened/changed.)

Shelley: First question. How did you get into acting?

Dan: Wow, as a high school student I caught myself getting a little bored so i’d sort of be the kid who got in trouble acting up. And the teachers had a lot of difficulty trying to give me reprimand because I was getting… I was a nerd. I was an annoying nerd I guess. Because i’d get great grades and they couldn’t really go (puts on voice) ‘look, your school works suffering’. I’m just like ‘no it’s not’. So being applauded and rewarded for being a goof kind of inspired me to carry on. I played pro-sports which put me in front of an audience. And I kind of put two and two together and when the volleyball ended I thought wow, I like being a goof and I love audience response, that kind of equals acting!

Shelley: Haha, most likely yeah.

Dan: And then thats kind of… I think brother and my dad and my sister all, and my mom too. But mostly my dad, my brother and my sister are very, very comedic minded. Very, very funny people and we grew up in a house laughing. So, it’s kind of the one thing i’m truly addicted to is either laughing or making people laugh, thanks to them. That’s why i’ve always had a strong desire to be a part of comedy and comedy related things. And again that’s where it started. My brother and I wrote a comedy show and I did stand-up for a while. And that was sort of the beginnings of getting infront of people in a performance manner other than sports.

S: Oh that’s cool.

D: Yeah.

S: I’ve got to say, I never knew you did stand-up for a bit. I never knew that bit.

D: Yeah, well it was one of those cut your teeth when nobody knew you thing so that you could, if you sucked nobody would know about it, you know?

S: Yeah. How long were you playing professional, was it professional volleyball or part-time or something like that?

D: Yeah, professional volleyball. I played for the University of Calgary here in Canada for four years. Then I went and played National B, one for National B team. Then I actually wound up going to Holland to play professionally in Capella. Many, many moons a go when I was youthful and exuberant.

S: Haha.

D: Now i’m broken and old. Yay!

S: Hahaha. What kind of role would you like to play that you haven’t played so far?

D: I’ve just finished with the Mulligans, which we might talk about later. I got to play the love lorn, struggling, depressed, emotional kind of rollercoaster character which was a lot of fun to explore that. I think now what i’d really like to do is try and make a villain appealing, you know? Try and be the absolute baddie that people love.That would be fun.

S: You’ve obviously played a few bad guys that people have loved to hate in the past and i’m sure… it would be good to see you do one where you actually get to not wear make-up.

D: Yeah, exactly. Those baddies were a lot of fun but in a way I get to hide behind the make up and they are sort of meant to be disliked because they are the ones that almost always get killed. Not that baddies don’t always get killed, they do, pretty much. But, these ones were like the creatures that are of dislike so the big bad wraith was a lot of fun, but, again, destined to get his butt kicked because he was not a nice guy. I’m talking about those villains that people root for. That they want to win, almost, you know? It’s a difficult dance to be a guy who has a moral ambiguity or what ever and kind of causes people harm. But in the end you’re like ‘boy, I hope it all works out for him’ you know?

S: Yeah. There are a few characters, villains, that people love and they want them to succeed.

D: Yeah, exactly.

S: One that springs to mind, there’s a Joss Whedon thing called ‘Dr Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog’ where the main character is actually a villain played by Neil Patrick Harris. And you actually root for him instead of Captain Hammer played by Nathan Fillion. It’s like how the hero is portrayed as the bad guy almost.

D: That’s great. Nathan Fillion and Neil Patrick Harris. Neil Patrick Harris is a great comedian.

S: And it’s a musical aswell.

D: Pardon?

S: It’s a musical aswell.

D: Oh my goodness. I’ve got to see that.

S: I know it’s available… I think it’s available on Itunes. I can pass long the web address for you.

D: That’d be great.

S: You spoke about your characters in SG1, did you hae a favourite out of the Stargate SG1 characters you’ve played and why?

D: Sg1, are we going to include Atlantis aswell?

S: Yeah and Atlantis. Yeah, sure.

D: I enjoyed being the Super Soldier just for the longevity of it and the kinda creating the creature part of it because they really were cool about involving me in making it less robot, more human sort of descendant type thing. That was fun, but I think the most actual fun I had in the doing was the big bad Wraith. The Uber Wraith was just so much fun to see it evolve. Even in the makeup chair, to see it come to life that way and then to just got out and woop some Ronon ass was pretty cool.

S: It was pretty cool to watch as well because there was a behind the scenes bit for it on the dvd. You got to see what it was like behind where you talked about the character a bit and we saw you there and we saw some of the preparation for the fight aswell. Which was really good to see. What is like when the makeup for the Uber Wraith or the Super Soldier suit… is it uncomfortable or do they adapt it to make it more comfortable?

D: Well the Super Soldier suit they actually built a body cast specifically of my body so that they could build it to completely to function for my specific frame. So the comfort was built in and they were really aware and very conscious of the fact that i’d be in it for multiple hours a day, sometimes up to fourteen hours a day and that comfort would be sort of a key thing. And that had a great person looking after me named Nancy, who always made sure that if anything was uncomfortable, she would fix, repair, alter immediately. So, yeah, that was great and then the Uber Wraith, I didn’t really care, I was only gonna be in it for, I think four, five days max. I just wanted to be that guy, so… But it wound up being very comfortable aswell because everything was very pliable and mobile, because it needed to be for the fight. I mean, some stuff was a little bit heavy on the Uber Wraith but, again, we… they knew they had to make it work and they alwas… they do do that. They keep you in mind first, so, it’s kinda cool. That’s why I call it a family. The family… Family looks after one another and they really do look after one another. Not that other shows don’t, but these do more than most. They go that little bit above and beyond.

S: Yeah. I get that feeling when i’ve met the cast. They always speak well of each other and it does seem like quite a nice family unit in the world of Stargate as it were.

D: Yeah, like Amanda Tapping, everytime I showed up on set, she’s such just a beautiful person. She’d come over and say hi. And even when I was just getting to know people there, she was always very gentle and kind. And when you kind of working your way into a set, so to speak, there’s some trepidations or what ever. She always erased any kind of nerves, just be coming over and just such a beautiful and open person. Give you a hug and make you feel welcome and it stemmed from there down. Everyone else there was great too. The directors, they were all just like ‘We’re here to have fun, kid, so do your thing’.

S: Many of the characters you’ve played have required you to wear some form of make-up or prosthetics, like the Supersoldier or the Uber-Wraith. What is it like to play a character where you’re actually kind of hidden from the camera anddo you change the way you act or prepare for it differently?

D: Well, often if they’re gonna put a prosthetic on you, or that much make-up, there’s no real presidence set. Like there’s no… we can’t go travel to the beginnings of wraith-dom and find out what those people were like. So it’s kind of a fun freedom to be able to just run a muck. To just go crazy and the director and everybody else will help you shape it so it’s not too big, too small or off the mark. But there’s no real presidence set so it’s just a lot of freedom to create. Which is an amazing, amazing opportunity cause where if you’re playing a real person, unless you’re a looney tune in a happy bin you kind of have to stick to the what people are like thing. But Supersoldier’s and Uber-Wraith, there’s no real presidence set. You get to just really create a whole other world. So there is a freedom involved. And when you’re hiding behind the mask, so to speak, you also get that sort of nobodies gonna know it’s me so I can take a little extra risk and i think that’s something I learned from wearing those costumes is that, taking those risks is almost essential. Whether you’re wearing a mask or not and that’s only the freedom given to me by wearing those masks that I realised that, you know?

S: Yeah.

D: Did I answer that question? I’m not sure, I might have just rambled my head off there, i’m not sure.

S: I’m not sure either.

D: We’ll go with yes.

S: I just asked did you change the way you prepare for the character?

D: Ah, right. Yeah, but it bled into other characters, thankfully, because of the freedoms involved. There we go.

S: There we go.

D: All that in two seconds versus…. yeah.

S: I know. Another of the sci fi shows you’ve appeared on is the web version of Sanctuary. What was it like working on a show that used so much green screen? Was it a challenge or was it easier than normal?

D: Again, for people who just love to be creative and use their imagination, it’s just a fantastic opportunity. Sometimes it’s more difficult for eyelines, if you’ve got to be looking in a specific direction, at a specific thing and there’s nothing there. And there’s like little x’s and stuff. That might be difficult, but the creation, imagination factor is huge and it’s a lot of fun to just go to a completely different world.

S: The most notable character on the show was the Corporate Vampire, for which we saw you with and without prosthetics. What was it like playing a character which required two different looks like that?

D: So much fun. It was nice to be able to not be wearing a mask, a,  and play that way. Not that we got to invest too much into it, in terms of creating and developing the character. It was a bit of a brief jaunt over all, but it was a lot of fun. And to vamp out, I guess is what i’ll call it, was just awesome. I love the make-up cause it was kind of… you could kind of tell it was me. But you get to be all super strong and masterfully evil. It was unbelievable fun and, yeah, there is two totally different worlds there, which is great to switch, you know? It’s ideal. I would love so much for that character to still be around.

S: Well, hopefully, you never know, a lot of the fans i’ve spoken to want the character back, so fingers crossed they’ll bring him back because that’s what the fans would like. That i’ve spoken to, anyway.

D: Oh, that’s fantastic. Yeah, the fans have been absolutely brilliantly supportive. I remember there was a little bit of a poll as to favourite characters per episode and the vampire snuck in on top a couple times, which was pretty awesome.

S: Yeah, definitely for the webisode 8 that that character was in, he was voted the top character. Helen was about the same, or might have just beat him to it, but she’s the main character.

D: Yeah, ofcourse yeah.

S: What was your favourite thing about playing the vampire?

D: The physicality, I guess the physicality. Once you vamp out, then you get to be just.. I don’t know, I was a humungous fan of ‘Lost Boys’. I don’t know if i’m gonna share to much here, people’ll be like ‘Really? You’re a huge nerd’. Anyway, ‘Lost Boys’ was awesome and I thought Jason Patrick was like, just the kick ass character of characters, where you’re just caught in between worlds and he’d kind of vamp out but then he’d kind of keep himself from crossing that line and it was fun to just go into that physicality without the obstacles of goodness, I guess. Although I think the Corporate Vampire did have a conscience because he would of killed more freely-er or intensely with the powers he apparently possessed. So it was fun the physicality of knowing you could just toss people around and play with peoples minds, it was great.

S: Through the tv shows you’ve appeared on, you’ve been to may conventions. Do you have a favourite moment and do you have any moments that are memorable for another reason?

D: Well, I think the best… the biggest and best feeling I most recently had and it’s possibly only because it’s the most recent because i’ve had so many amazing experiences at conventions and it’s all because of the people that you meet and the people you get to hang out with, which is overwhelming at times. But, the most recent experience was a friend of mine, well actually my cousin and my aunt, brought to my attention a young girls plight for medical assistance regarding her pituitary gland, which she had surgically removed by them removing the top of her head, had to pull an eye out to lift her brain and get to the pituitary gland. It’s just unbelievable and intense and she’s lost her pituitary gland and is unable to produce growth hormone and the Canadian government only covers so much so they’re financially strapped. Well, I came to the only people I knew that could make a complete difference in a big way and that was the fans and at the last convention I had an auction which raised $8,600 for this little girl which was the most amazingly massive expression of love that i’ve personally been a part of that directly. And I just, if I can, want to thank Kim Fox, Alex Zahara, Sylvia, Mike, everybody involved with all the planning and helping and also all the fans obviously for their donations and their generosity. It was just an amazing experience.

S: I’ve heard a lot about that and it does seem like it went very, very well.

D: Thats the altruistic experiences of experiences but the sort of selfish one that was a lot of fun was just farting around with Mr. Zahara, doing our show and interacting with fans. That’s just good times, no matter what.

S: You’re also appearing in the upcoming comic book adaptation Watchmen. You play the character Dollar Bill. Can you tell us anything the film or your role?

D: I got in on the Watchmen just kind of by, I guess not by fluke, but I got to be the reader for a very kind casting agent named Michelle Allen and in doing so met Zach Snyder and after going through all the auditioning of other actors and what not at the end he’s like you know what your physicality and demour is pretty much spot on for ??? if you’d like to take a whack at that. You know it took me all of a nano second to be all “Yeah uhuh, uhuh”, just to be a part of it. So He said theres not much of a role it’s a bit of  flash back scene and obviously your death scene and I’m like “I don’t care if I’m bringing ya doughnuts Sir!”. So Yeah it came about by great right place right time random events and its not a big role by any means but just being in such an amazing production is exciting and I am honored to be there. And I met some cool people too in doing that, you know like Jeffery Dean Morgan  and hes a pretty cool dude!

S: He is yup, he is! Have you ever worked behind the camera or if not do you ever consider it?

D: Yeah in the interests of trying to figure out everything and anything about the industry that I can that’s how I came about understanding that I love to write as well. But I made, I wrote my own short and I cast it, I produced it and I directed it, co directed it with a friend. I never want to direct right now because oh my goodness I might have just been wearing too many hats at the time. But producing is a skill as much as people might want to think it might not be totally a skill and those who have it have it and those who don’t should just not produce. I really think that if you invest enough time into learning that skill then you can go ahead. It didn’t interest me as much directing is just an art form that is separate from acting I mean it helps you understand acting. But I think you don’t really scratch the surface of directing unless you really feel for it, have an innate desire to be a part of that world and a lot of people cross over. I may do so as I get more and more involved with acting and deeper into the world of acting but at the moment I just want to see it as an art that I don’t yet understand. It’s a bit Picasso for me- so I’ll stick to the acting.

S: You’ve recently appeared in a feature film called Mulligans what can you tell us about the film and your role in it?

D: Probably one of the most, I am most proud of that character, that effort and that film. It was a low budget indie feature that had recently got distribution so all you people in North America, UK, Australia, I’m not sure where else have a look. But anyway that was my plug and back to the programming. Its about a forty year old Dad who late teens seventeen, eighteen becomes a father and is sort of thrown into fatherhood and parenthood without having time to explore and experience his life before going to that place. He marries the high school sweetheart and somethings just not quite right through his life and as he sort of goes through his mid life crisis he realizes that things are different for him and when his twenty two year old son comes home with his college roommate the father outs himself. Actually comes out of the closet in his mid life crisis by falling for his sons best friend. It throws the family into a whirlwind of change and an emotional rollercoaster beyond belief which is so much fun to explore. Its not a Disney ending I’m not going to blow it for you but its definitely not a Disney ending and its, Charlie David who wrote it, its his first feature and I just think that he knocked it out of the park for a first time effort. So yeah that’s the gist of the story and the character was just so much fun the layers and depth of that character were so much to explore.

S: It does look fantastic from what I have seen of it. Did it have several different film festivals its been around North America I believe?

D: Yeah its been an experience the first time for me to be going to festivals and you know different festivals, different levels, different budgets. All the ones that have been able to have flown me out to their festivals to have been a part of the premiere of the show, and we’ve premired on opening nights on some of them and some of them on closing nights. Which is great! Its an honor to be on opening or closing its been really cool. I’ve been to Pitsburgh, Seattle, Chicago is coming, I’m not sure and then Calgary, Vancouver. Anway a lot of places and its been pretty intense to actually watch a movie with an audience because your watching it with your knowing what’s going on and they’re watching it for the first time and there reactions are immediate. Your sitting there listening to there reactions you know it was tense the first couple of times but after we started to realize that we had done a good thing here, the audiences have always been very, very partial to open and warm about the project it has been just exciting, just cool!

S: I can imagine, it does look fantastic from what I have seen of it hopefully fingers crossed I will be able to get it when it comes out on DVD here in the UK.

D: Thankyou, I’d love to hear your feedback.

S: Hopefully it won’t be too long until it comes out.

D: They are telling me that it is going to be April. April of 09.

S: I’ll save up for it.

D: Thankyou. That is the latest that the distribution contract says by April it will be on shelves so that is pretty cool.

S: That’s cool. If you could play any other character on one of the shows or films you’ve worked on which would you play and why?

D: (whistles) Shelley and the questions that’s a deep question. Good question, something that I have been in?

S: Or if you’d like it could be something that you would like to be in if possible, if you wanted instead?

D: Well that makes it easier as I have to think more on the other one but the one that I have always said that I have wanted to be was Tristan from Legends of the Fall.

S: (laughs)

D: Yeah, not I want to be Brad Pitt not that that wouldn’t be pretty awesome but that character was just, I love that movie and I love that character. Huh! That was just off the top of my head I don’t know what to think, think deeper. Lets see stuff that I have been in. Well how about you help me with a little bit of history in some of the things that if you know I have been in that you though were cool.

S: That is putting all the difficulty on me now.

D: Exactly. Now I am just going to hang on and I’ll find out  I guess if I was young enough I would have enjoyed being Superman in Smallville.

S: That would have been interesting.

D: Yeah well I’m old now so obviously-

S: No you’re not!

D: Well for young Superman I should be.

S: Well there is always movies and stuff like that you never know.

D: True enough.

S: Very true!

D: Got to stay in shape damn dingin’.

S: Because I know there is a picture of you dressed up as Superman and I do believe its on your website. Several people have said, and have actually mentioned it and said that’s a good look for a Superman  as it was different. It would work well.

D: Cheers, that was just a Halloween that I just went around and goofed off. Stuff that I’ve been in you know I think that as a nerd, I think I would like to be, well I guess as Universe is the new show coming out I would love to be one of the core team members on that but again it sounds like I may be out of the age range.

S: Well if I am remembering correctly the main member of the team, I think they were trying to cast somebody that the fans are familiar with. It might be somebody from outside Stargate but I believe I think he is about your age range actually and all the rest are going to be young ones.

D: I’ve heard rumors of who they are going after. They are going after a name obviously and I have heard rumours about who it is. Have you not?

S: Theres not really been much we’ve seen different bits, we’ve synopsis’ of each character but we’ve not heard that I know of about who they are going after.

D: I guess I’ll have to keep that spoiler to myself incase I will get myself into big trouble.

S: If they asked you would you be in it?

D: If they asked me?

S: If they asked you if you would like to be one of the main roles.

D: Well if it was one of the main roles it would pretty much be a no brainer because it would obviously be something that I could invest in.  Even a recurring role where there is a character arc of whatever, for sure! I’m not a hundred percent sure that I want to be some sort of unambiguous creature. I’m not sure anymore I feel like I have paid my dues  pretty hard there. Again I’d like to be a part of that family but I’d like the reciprical putting in my time to be rewarded with something of a character of caliber rather than buried in prosthetics. Nobody would know, one time thing, like, but you know, saying that I’d still love to work and be a part of it so, if they asked me, I’d still do that and no one would know it’s me so I could obviously come back for something else that was my face. I guess my answer is, yeah, I’d do whatever they asked. I can’t say that of every project, but yeah.

S: It’s handy, when you’ve appeared in prosthetics they can include you as a different role later on. Like Jewel Staite in Stargate Atlantis, the other was the Wraith girl in an early episode and now she’s playing Doctor Jennifer Keller in the show as one of the main characters.

D: In a roundabout way to answer your question about what character would I want to be, I guess I’d want to be one of the Watchmen in “The Watchmen” as opposed to one of the extinct Minutemen. Yeah, because that’s an unbelievable story and, again, Zack Snider is pretty kick-butt.

S: It does look fantastic.

D: Yeah. Apparently one of the most highly-anticipated movies of the last fifty years or something. Or twenty years? I don’t know.

S: Yeah, there’s a lot of fuss being made about it and everyone’s getting excited.

D: Probably not fifty years ago. I don’t know if there were movies being made fifty years ago.

S: There were.

D: Silent, right?

S: Yeah. No, there were voice ones in the fifties.

D: Is that right.

S: I think.

D: I can barely remember what happened yesterday. I’ve got the goldfish memory. Hey, look, castle. Ooh, look, castle!

S: I get like that sometimes as well. There’s nothing wrong with that. I have one more question and it’s something I want to run for the website. It’s where people can submit like random questions that some people sometimes ask. I was wondering if you’d be all right with answering one that someone submitted to me that I just picked randomly from the ones that were submitted to me.

D: Absolutely.

S: Okay. “What is the furthest you’ve ever travelled from home?”

D: Oh! Well, for awhile it was hard to define home because I lived in Australia, I lived in London. So I would say, I guess I would say because now that I call Vancouver home, Australia would probably be the farthest. With the exception that I went to Papua, New Guinea and Indonesia, which I don’t know technically if they’re farther… and New Zealand, which, oh, okay, so New Zealand would be farther. Wow. Lots of places. I travelled like crazy. I was as much of a nomad as I could be for many, many years. Yeah, I bounced around all over the planet. I’ve probably been the farthest point from home ever.

S: It does sound like it from the places you’ve been, most likely.

D: And just for the record, no I’m not on the run. No, I’m not wanted. So nobody go check out for rewards for finding me. I didn’t do anything evil. Oh, you know what? One thing that’s cool. I worked exploration in the Yukon. This is sort of a ‘farthest from home’ thing in a way but, working up in the Yukon, I’ve actually apparently been dropped off by a helicopter and walked where no man has walked before.

S: Oh, fantastic. That sounds excellent.

D: I mean, there have been people there but I’ve most likely put a footstep where no other footstep has been. So that was neat to know.

S: That is, yeah.

D: And luckily they came back and picked me up, too. So that worked out.

S: That is very lucky, yeah. Well, that was the last question I had. Is there anything else you’d like to be asked or anything like that?

D: Uh, not really. Thank you very much to you for always being an amazing fan/supporter/friend; I appreciate all you do  and I want to extend that gratitude out to all fans and friends who have looked after and followed my career. I appreciate beyond comprehension, and I hope they know what that means to me. That’s why I love conventions because, if they want me there then I want to be there even if it’s the smallest gesture possible. Just to be able to be there and say thank you to those people who wanted me to be there.

Massive thank you to everybody and I hope that these petitions and these things you’re a part of to help me get on 90- um, on Universe — just joking — Universe and Sanctuary work out because I’d like to be back in the swing.

S: Cool.

D: Yay!