Episode 144: April Telek
Content warning: This episode contains discussion about sexual violence and rape. Listener discretion is advised. If you are a victim of sexual assault or know someone who needs help, please check the episode notes for resources. You are not alone.
April Telek is an accomplished actress whose filmography includes comedy, science fiction, fantasy, and drama. She shone as Constance Fogg on CBC’s women-driven Western series, Strange Empire, as Nell in Hell on Wheels, as Donna in Rogue, and in Amazon Falls, playing a character based on Lana Clarkson. She played the authoritarian artistic director of Sashay Dance Academy in Gary Hawes’ hilarious Leap 4 Your Life, and she inspired empathy and heartache playing Roxy, a survival sex worker, in Rachel Talalay’s brilliant On The Farm, which was inspired by the dozens of women who died at the hands of a serial killer on Vancouver’s East Side.
In 2020, April came forward as a victim of accused rapist Peter Nygard. Her survivor story is currently being told in Evil by Design, a CBC Podcast about the more than 80 women from around the world who have accused the disgraced fashion designer of rape, sexual assault, and human trafficking, as well as in the Discovery+ Series, Unseamly: The Investigation of Peter Nygard.
In this revealing and emotional conversation, April reflects on her decision to go public with her story, and how she intends to use her voice to help keep others safe. Also: working with Cole Hauser, dancing the tango with John Emmet Tracy, making “bougie Bugles,” and how her ideas around success have changed over the course of her career. Episode sponsor: UBCP/ACTRA
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This episode of the YVR Screen Scene Podcast is sponsored by UBCP/ACTRA. http://www.ubcpactra.ca.
SEXUAL ASSAULT RESOURCES
RAINN (United States): https://www.rainn.org/
Women Against Violence Against Women (Vancouver): https://www.wavaw.ca/
Rape Crisis Network Europe: https://www.rcne.com/
RELATED LINKS
https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/475-evil-by-design
https://corporate.discovery.com/discovery-newsroom/unseamly-the-investigation-of-peter-nygard-exposes-fashion-mogul-from-rise-to-power-to-recent-arrest/
April and Sabrina on the 2017 Leo Awards red carpet (6:02): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5YGKD_CD9Y
https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/courier-archive/general-archive/hollywood-north-this-is-an-abusive-industry-for-women-3060377
https://www.yvrscreenscene.com/home/2018/2/16/after-metoo-sabrina-furminger-on-complicity-grief-and-moving-forward
https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/courier-archive/news/after-metoo-a-seismic-shift-in-vancouvers-film-and-tv-industry-3068777
https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/courier-archive/general-archive/strange-empire-a-bold-new-direction-for-cbc-2986560
SOCIAL MEDIA
https://twitter.com/TELEKTRA
https://www.instagram.com/apriltelekofficial
http://www.facebook.com/yvrscreenscene
http://www.instagram.com/yvrscreenscene
http://www.twitter.com/sabrinarmf
CREDITS
Host and executive producer: Sabrina Furminger
Editor: Simon Furminger
Producer: Paul Furminger
Patreon ad reader: Mariana Furminger
Original music: Dane Deviller