Sunday, July 27, 1997

Balancing act
By BOB THOMPSON - Toronto Sun

Don't mess with Kelly Rowan. She'll hit you with her best shot. Well, she wouldn't really, but she could if she had to.

The former Toronto model turned L.A. actress likes to duke it out -- in the ring.

While her kinder, gentler peers do stairs, laps, jog timed miles, and train with a trainer, Rowan pulls on the boxing gloves and goes a few rounds to stay in shape and blow off some frustration at the same time.

Why frustrated? She's not completely, but there are occasions. The movie industry she works in can push the most peaceful into fits of howling rage.

Getting a left jab in the jaw, however, does seem a little extreme, even for a certified member of the "hollyweird" brigade.

"Yeah, but you don't have anybody hit you in the face," says a chuckling Rowan by phone from L.A.

"I do shadow boxing, hit the speed bag, and when I go into the ring, I hit somebody, but they don't hit me. Isn't that a good deal?"

Yes, it is. Wise, too. But so is Rowan, who has worked diligently and cautiously since moving to the movie capital in 1990.

Finally, her measured and educated choices might be paying off.

Rowan is featured in the Samuel L. Jackson film called 187, (opening Aug. 1), named after the NYPD number code for a homicide. She has a high profile part as a teacher who befriends Jackson's teacher-character during some rough times at an L.A. high school.

Rowan is modest about her performance, but can't deny that the role comes at a critical time in her career.

"I am 30," she says, "the big three-0."

Rowan isn't looking over her shoulder quite yet, and she isn't in much of hurry, but she does appreciate the 187 opportunity.

"I don't know if I'll have another job like that," Rowan says.

Chances are she will have many more.

Not bad for the former Northern Secondary school graduate who went to the University of Western Ontario with good intentions, "but I became a statistic instead." She dropped out of college.

"It was a tough decision," says Rowan. "I got a Canadian TV series, Mount Royal. I was 20 years old. It was in Paris with a per diem."

When she returned to Toronto, she did some fashion modelling to pay the bills, then moved to New York where she enrolled in the Neighborhood Playhouse.

Three years later, she was on the road in The Gingerbread Lady when she decided to go for it, and move to Hollywood.

"I've always been of the school that if you try something and fall on your face, at least you've fallen on your face trying."

After her move, she has had a slow build.

"My first job was on Growing Pains," she says, "and my first feature was Hook with Steven Spielberg.

"I had a tiny role in Hook. I played Peter Pan's mother when Peter was a baby, but I remember walking around the sets in a big soundstage. And meeting Steven was amazing."

In fact, those first few years were less audition situations and more meeting sessions.

"I knew there was certain work I wanted to do," Rowan says. "But I also knew that I would have to get out there and see people at first. Eventually, though, you stop auditioning for things you don't want on your resume."

Rowan even turned down a TV series so she could concentrate on her feature film career. She won her part in 187 shortly after that decision.

"You really do get more concerned and careful as you grow older, and I think more about how I want to spend my time. You start eliminating things quickly."

With that kind of strict attitude, there is a risk of not only isolating yourself, but also going broke. "Financially," she admits, "it's like gambling a little bit."

Throw in the unpredictable we-accept-you-we-reject-you, hot-cold showbiz climate, and you have an unsettling way to make a living for somebody with discerning tastes.

However, the friendly and easy-going Rowan seems to be keeping herself together nicely.

"Some days," laughs Rowan, "I don't.

"The thing is, there are no rules here. The bottom line is that, as an actor, director or producer, the only thing you have control over is your output, and that's what you have to enjoy, because the rest will make you insane. There's no logic to a lot of things that happen."

In other words, Rowan continues to resist the temptation of succumbing to the bright lights, big city of the movie industry.

"You have to keep yourself motivated with other things. You have to maintain some balance, some normalcy, or you get kooky."

It can take its toll, if you let it. She won't.

"I don't have a pager, for example. I won't ever have a pager," she insists. "I don't want to be beeped. I'll check for messages but I don't want to beeped."

What does she want? How about a decent, respectable career and a few pay cheques to go with them.

And something else.

"Every now and then I really want to drink a Labatt's beer on a Muskoka dock," she says.

Rowan chuckles. "Yes," she adds, "I am proud of my roots."

THE KELLY ROWAN FILE

MOVED: From Ottawa to Toronto, went to Northern secondary, University of Western Ontario, worked on Mount Royal in Paris.

JOINED: Neighborhood Playhouse in New York, did modelling on the side to pay the rent. Stage credits include Bloody Poetry at Globe Playhouse, and The Gingerbread Lady at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Florida.

L.A. RESUME: Movies include Hook, Candyman 2, Assassins, a short film called Mocking The Cosmos, and 187. Telefilms include CBS movie of the week Adrift, which won her a Canadian Gemini. Coming this fall she's featured in CBS movie of the week called The Disappearing Act, starring Patty Duke.
 

Source: Jam!ShowBiz                                                        <<Back