Jennifer Dale is one of Canada's most popular actors. Her American equivalent would be Lindsay Wagner or Stefanie Powers: women who have done many guest appearances on many TV shows and have had their own TV series.
By Ellen Vanstone
You can tell a lot about Jennifer and Cynthia Dale just by looking at the picture. There obviously sisters, with a family resemblance that's strongest around the eyes, though they project very different personalities.
Jennifer, at 40, is the elegant one, with her long hair and dignified demeanor. Cynthia, 35, is clearly the extrovert, with her bright red dress and kid-sister antics.
Both have been professional actors for over three decades, stars of stage, screen and television, and this year each has her own series: Jennifer as the newest cast member on Side Effects (CBC); Cynthia, after six years on Street Legal, stars in Taking The Falls (CTV).
TV Guide Nov. 11-17, 1995
Cynthia and Jennifer Dale sit giggling conspiratorially. They're laughing because they've been told separate interviews might yield more candid answers.
"Be nice." Jennifer, 38, commands as she slinks away in a Jackie Collins-inspired black and leopard-skin outfit with matching high heels.
"You too," responds Cynthia, 34, with a chuckle.
The acting Dale sisters have reunited in front of the cameras for Cynthia's new series Taking the Falls, a CTV comedy-action series debuting some time during the 1995-'96 television season. It marks the first time they've acted together since they were teenagers. That was in 1972 in CBC's Emily Carr musical biography The Wonder of It All. Cynthia played the artist as a child while Jennifer played Emily's sister.
"We had quite a laugh," says Jennifer later. "Cynthia managed to track down the tape of that for Christmas last year and got copies for all of us in the family. We had a real hoot looking at that again."
Now the Dale sisters are all grown up and having a ball in Bernie's Bridge Pub -- actually just a set inside an old brewery serving as head-quarters for tbe show. Jennifer is making a guest appearance as a flaky TV psychic named Gloria, the long-lost sister of Terry, Cynthia's character on Taking the Falls. In the episode,Terry -- a Niagara Falls cop-turned-private detective-- is less than thrilled to see Gloria arrive at her door step.
"Someone's stalking me," Gloria says.
"You've been saying that since you were eight," responds Terry, not missing a beat.
In real life as opposed to reel life, the two sisters couldn't be more thrilled to be side by side.
Jennifer, the ex-wife of Alliance head Robert Lantos freely admits there are shades of Gloria in her. "This character-- in a way for me -- is a sendup of many of the things that I believe in." she says.
Also starring in Taking the Falls as Terry's crime-solving partner is Vancouver actress Sandra Nelson. She plays Katherine, a prim conservative Bay Street lawyer who winds up in Niagara Falls because her father was Terry's partner on the local police force.
"I think this is going to be one of our best episodes because their relationship is so strong," said Nelson, who apppeared in the CBS late-night series Scene of the Crime, of the Dales.
While both sisters would like to see Gloria brought back as a recurring character, that could be next to impossible now that Jennifer has been cast in the CBC medical drama Side Effects next season. Still, Jennifer says they have plans to eventually do a play and a movie which she has co-written.
The Canadian Press
May 1995
JENNIFER DALE joins the cast of "Side Effects" this season as Dr. Liz Anderson, head of the Family Practice Unit at Kingsview General Hospital, overseeing the Health Clinic. Well known to Canadian audiences for her many lead roles in films, miniseries and guest appearances, her most recent work includes Tek War, Kung Fu - The Legend Continues, Robocop, Street Legal and the series lead in Family Passions. She also starred in two CBC telefilms, Love and Larceny and Grand Larceny.
1. "On the QT" (October 13/95)
Noah tries to convince a teenage patient with a rare heart condition that if he continues to live the fast life he will die young. Donald is forced to perform an emergency cricothyroidotomy on a little girl. Guest starring Gemini award winner Nancy Beatty and Christian Campbell.
2. "Snap, Crack Pop!" (October 20/95)
Tragedy strikes when a baby, abandoned on the steps of the clinic, triggers a series of events that lead to Jim, Noah and Gayle being taken hostage by a crack addict. Guest starring Callum Keith Rennie.
3. "Pillow Talk" (October 27/95)
Diane shocks Jim by telling him she loves him. Wanda, the clinic administrator, is fired for insubordination and Diane fights to get her reinstated. Diane and Jim try to help a couple whose marriage is threatened by the husband's loud snoring. Guest starring Jayne Eastwood.
4. "Leave My Bum Alone" (November 3/95)
The clinic doctors assume Diane will get the job when Kingsview Hospital establishes a Head of Family Practice. It goes instead to another woman, Liz Anderson. Jim reluctantly teams up with Dr. Anderson to defend a homeless man who claims to have been savagely beaten by a policeman. Jennifer Dale makes her Side Effects debut. Guest starring Air Farce's Roger Abbott.
5. "Paying The Price" (November 10/95)
Noah treats a high fashion model who has complications with silicone breast implants. He also tries to seduce a new plastic surgery resident who confers with him on the case. Diane tries to convince an artist that the drugs he is taking to combat depression are not destroying his talents as a painter. Guest starring Robert Joy.
6. "Feet of Clay" (November 17/95)
Donald suspects that a colleague he has admired since med school is now involved in the illegal use of narcotics. Can he force his fellow doctor to come clean or will he have to turn him in to the police? Noah is accused of homophobia by the partner of a gay patient.
7. "Rust Proof" (November 24/95)
As one of her patients slips toward death, Diane strives to discover the cause of his mysterious illness. Could his own diagnosis be correct? He swears he is the victim of a witch's curse. Noah comes up with an elaborate scheme which he hopes will get him close to the young plastics resident he has fallen for.
8. "Father Knows Best" (December 1/95)
Noah tries to convince his father to perform controversial brain surgery on a young man who suffers from a rare obsessive compulsive disorder. Liz and Diane have radically different responses when Jim's son is arrested for breaking and entering.
9. "Time Enough To Say Good-bye" (December 8/95)
Jim becomes an advocate for a mentally handicapped man who wants to take care of his ailing father. While Donald is being audited by the provincial health insurance agency, he begins to suspect his wife is having an affair.
10. "Sixth Sense" (December 15/95)
Diane is crushed when a patient she failed to examine thoroughly haemorrhages and dies. She wants to turn to Jim for support but believes he has become involved with Liz. One of Noah's patients threatens to sue him for recommending an operation that she claims destroyed her sex drive.
11. "Goin Down The Roadie" (January 5/96)
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12. "Sex, Death and Rock 'N' Roll (January 12/96)
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13. "Easy Breathing" (January 19/96)
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14. "You Can Run" (January 26/96)
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15. "Behind The Scenes (February 2/96)
Tba
16. "TBA" (February 9/96)
This came from the CBC Side Effects page at http://www.cbc.ca/side/ which is no longer there.
When it wins the World Series two years in a row? When people flock to the city from all over to attend its famous film festival?
Wrong! When we're home to a soap opera we can call our own. Family Passions, billed as a Canadian soap with international appeal, is the name of Ihe new television series that focuses on the lives of two families: the Hallers of Hamburg and the McDeeres of Woodland, somewhere in Canada.
Their lives - and fortunes - are centred around the world of automobile manufacturing; sort of Wheels meets Dynasty but with better clothing.
Forget the middle-class mores of the Plouffe family, what we have here is your typical wealth-ridden, glittering daytime drama, a la The Bold And The Beautiful or All My Children, complete with handsome men and women in stylish duds against tasteful interior backgrounds that only big money can buy.
Filmed locally at Cinespace on what is described as the "world's largest soap stage", created by production designer/producer Jack McAdam, the series has brought together an impressive group of professionals behind and in front of the camera.
Jorn Winther created the concept for Family Passions, which airs on ch. 9 at 3:30 p.m., and is responsible for defining the strong character driven plots for the writers, a proven style he honed during his three years as executive producer and director of All My Children, which won 12 Emmys during that time. Teamed with this experience is Winther's work as executive producer of both Generations, Rituals and many episodes of Santa Barbara.
The cast, like the series itself, is international, with enough familiar faces to catch Canadian viewers' attention. Soap veteran Gordon Thomson (Dynasty, Santa Barbara), plays Mathias Haller, while fellow Canadians Andrew Jackson (All My Children) plays Jan Futing and Roberta Weiss (Santa Barbara) plays Dolores. Although new to daytime soaps, Jennifer Dale (Yvonne Haller) is certainly no stranger to viewers. Patricia Gage (Camille Haller) is an established actress, as is Barry Flatman (Connor McDeere) who has appeared in more than 25 films and is paired on the series with his real-life longtime friend Susan Hogan (Libby McDeere) with whom he says he enjoys a passionate "Liz and Dick" style relationship. Hamilton-born Caroly Scott (Kelsey Benton) has had numerous guest starring roles in Top Cops, Secret Service and The Hidden Room and appeared in Deadly Matrimony with Brian Dennehy and The Broken Chord with Jimmy Smits.
John Wildman, who plays Dillon McDeere, will be remembered for his Genie-awarding winning performance in My American Cousin and E.N.G fans will recognize pretty Lisa Lacroix (Anita) from her role on that show as Kelly Longstreet. From Germany international TVB star Dietmar Schonherr plays Jurgen Haller and Raphael Wilczek plays the villainous Kristhof Brandt.
Soap Box
Kathleen Sloan
Starweek Magazine Sept. 24, 1994
"It's not often one gets to cast one's ex-wife as an ex-wife" - movie producer Robert Lantos, introducing his former wife, actor Jennifer Dale, as part of the Whale Music cast to the opening night audience at the Uptown Theatre. Coming on stage, Dale strode past him and hissed.
Toronto Star September 17, 1994
Jennifer had the part of "Fay" in this movie which starred Maury Chaykin as "Des" a Brian Wilson type of pop musician.
Cadillac Girls stars Jennifer Dale, Mia Kirshner (Exotica), Gregory Harrison and Adam Beach (Dance Me Outside, Squanto). Directed by Vancouverite Nick Kendall, the film is produced by Kendall's Orca Productions, and Imagex.
Two of life's most difficult challenges are being a parent and coping with parents as a teenager. Cadillac Girls weaves both these situations into the compelling story of a mother-daughter relationship.
Sally MacKinnon (Jennifer Dale), has just received her doctorate and is looking to move on to a professional career. When her 18-year-old daughter, Page (Mia Kirshner), is arrested for car theft, Sally is forced to take custody and bring Page on a trip to her home town, where she must settle her father's estate. Being confined in the small town and back among relatives forces Sally to confront her past. Meanwhile, frustrated and resenting her mother's lack of affection, Page explores her newfound family and friends. Their turbulent relationship eventually explodes when both women fall for the poet-in-residence (Gregory Harrison) at a local university.
Music is by Simon Kendall and features the music of The Cowboy Junkies.
this material came from a web search on Imagex Online
This is a guest appearance by Jennifer on the drama series E.N.G. for the week of Feb. 22, 1990. The description reads "What happens to the news when true feelings cloud the truth?"
By Catherine Dunphy
The way she glides down these gray stone halls of Knox College, the small of her ramrod-straight back hidden by the properly stiff burgundy cloth of her period floor-sweeping suit, Jennifer Dale is totalling convincing that it is 1901 -- and it is her time. It's not her, she says, it's the corset.
"If I don't have it on, I don't feel like Betsy."
Betsy Bigley was a real-life Canadian-born con artist whose adventures in flim-flamming were chronicled six years ago in CBC's much vaunted special Love And Larceny. It was so succesful that the network is doing it again with Grand Larceny. Dale admires this indomitable ex-convict.
"She knows how to take all of her space, all of her power, makes no excuses for it and will not allow anybody to make her feel guilty."
She stares off into the University of Toronto's college courtyard, where the sequel is being filmed and sighs.
"I'm in awe of that. I admire it. It's a challenge for me personally. I guess like a lot of people I dump guilt on myself a lot of the time. I like (her brown eyes light up as she seizes the word) somebody who is not having any, thank you very much."
This is what she is working on, thank you very much, in her own life. She's living it as a single mother and as a singularly contemporary woman not afraid to explore her inner and unconscious worlds. She's tried rolfing, rebirthing, women's circles, studied Goddess worship and especially astrology along her metaphysical journey. She knows she is setting herself up for ridicule with this revelation. "There is a lot of silliness to a lot of it, it takes heavy discernment to be able to pick your way through" she says.
That won't stop her. It keeps her calm about her career, which she believes from her study of the stars, is approaching its zenith. So she is sanquine about the fact that her latest film -- Atom Egoyan's much praised The Adjuster -- made its debut in Cannes Film Festival's prestigious Director's Fortnight category without her because Grand Larceny filming wasn't finished.
"You do wonder how many times (Cannes) will happen in your life," she says, then more briskly "I'll wait for September (at Toronto's Festival of Festivals). They'll do a number on it then."
Conflicting work schedules are a blessing after four months of inactivity. That happened earlier this year - agony for any actor, especially one like Dale who has been in the business since she was a child and has a resume that lists seven movies and more than 30 appearances on TV.
"My feelings about myself when I'm not working have changed radically. I used to always feel when I wasn't working my life stopped. Now life is much more rich and full and that feeds the working, and means a deepening of a lot of other things."
It is not simply her metaphysical studies; it is, of course, her children. Ari is 10, (he has refused to be called by his full name Ariel since The Little Mermaid) Sabrina is 7.
And she has "the best, the most creative divorce I've ever heard of" from movie producer Robert Lantos.
"We see each other a lot. We actually make time to spend together with our kids. We do things together, I have a key to his house, I can go in when I want. He travels a lot and I stay at his house with the kids a lot. We have a joint custody arrangement and we are about three, maybe five minutes away from each other. The kids are back and forth all the time."
She has a civilized relationship with her sister, as well. Cynthia Dale is the star of CBC's hit series Street Legal. Cynthia's younger, how much Jennifer Dale won't say.
She grew up in Etobicoke, one of four kids of an ambitious mother and a father who sold cars. She was Jennifer Ciurluini and she was taking dance lessons at 5. At 9 she was Jennifer Dale and debuting as Gypsy Rose Lee's little sister in the Roval Alex's summer stock production of Gypsy.
She's always had showbiz ambitions; so has Cynthia. Vince, their younger brother, is now in L.A. hunting up parts.
She's also always been close to her family -- she and Cynthia have never competed for the same part, she says firmIy. Not once. She doesn't expect they ever will.
"We have different energies."
"I am fairly relaxed about my future. I happen to know I'm kind of a late bloomer in a lot of things; I know my best work is yet to come."
Toronto Star June 6, 1991
Jennifer Dale is a Canadian-born actress who has been busy acting for many years in film, theatre and television. Here she is in dialogue with Alexander Blair-Ewart.
A: How did you get into spiritual consciousness?
J: That must mean many different things to different people. For me it began in childhood in some way that I'm sure wasn't intellectual. I grew up as a Catholic and even though I remember my first holy communion very vividly, I remember it as being a very important day and we had a big party and I had a beautiful dress, and I knew all of my lines (laughs), but I don't remember it having any mystical impact.
A: Anything else in childhood?
J: As a child you were always learning by role -- I was about eighteen at the National Theatre school, I was very lonely, living alone, in Montreal -- very few friends -- and I used to go to Notre Dame Cathedral, and take long walks, and end up just sitting there for hours and meditate. And it was at the time near the end of theatre school that I went through a period of grace. Something I had been longing for began to come through my meditations and prayers.
A: What was the mood of that Grace?
J: It was a feeling that everything that was happening to me was unfolding with a kind of blessed correctness. It was a period of enormous creativity and growth as an actor. Suddenly the right people were in my life and I grew through them and started to find my feet.
Dimensions September 1987