Lenore Zann - Reviving Rogue and X-Men 97, Embracing Diversity, and Life Beyond Voice Acting (Iconic Voice Actress, Former Politician) - podcast episode cover

Lenore Zann - Reviving Rogue and X-Men 97, Embracing Diversity, and Life Beyond Voice Acting (Iconic Voice Actress, Former Politician)

Nov 05, 202438 minSeason 2Ep. 82
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Episode description

Lenore Zann visits us at Big Leagues Pub and Eatery to tell us about her new memoir 'A Rogues Tale,' available in bookstores now. You can also hear her voice Rogue in the 2024 Disney+ hit X-MEN 97, or see her in the 2024 independent film 'The Madones.'

We reminisce about the 90's magic that made the original X-Men show a cultural phenomenon and explore how the new series continues to integrate the contemporary themes on acceptance, indifference and understanding. We also touch on Zann's  remarkable personal journey, and we learn why her family supported her transition into politics. We wrap up with a Q&A segment where Lenore shares her passions beyond voice acting, including her love for music and ancestral family tales of highway robbers. Join us for a blend of nostalgia, personal insights, and a celebration of the enduring legacy of Lenore, Rogue and the X-Men! 

AFTERNOON PINT will be at HALCON 2024 on Sunday November 10th, to see some of the amazing costumes and guests. If you see us there, make sure you say hi to us to get in a future video. 

The best way to buy Lenore Zanns Memoir is at your local bookstore :) Support a small business, and if you can't find Lenores book there, let us know! 


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Kimia Nejat of Kimia Nejat Realty
 

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Transcript

X-Men 97 Reboot and Diversity

Speaker 1

Cheers .

Speaker 2

Cheers .

Speaker 1

Cheers .

Speaker 3

Welcome to the Afternoon Pint . I'm Mike Tobin , I am Matt Conrad , and who do you have with us today ?

Speaker 1

Well , thank you , sugar . This here is Lenore Zan aka Rogue of the X-Men From the X-Men .

Speaker 2

There you go . That's amazing , and we were talking about this . I flew in .

Speaker 1

I just flew in . My arms are tired , amazing .

Speaker 2

So X-Men 97 has been a huge show this year . It's on Disney+ Marvel Television and the Marvel Universe . It's a reboot of a very popular 90s Marvel cartoon . We watched it . We watched both . We watched it as kids and as adults the new one and it was fantastic .

Speaker 3

We loved it . The storyline was amazing . This year they picked it right up . It was great . And you know what else I liked about it . It felt like it aged with the people who watched in the 90s .

Speaker 1

Exactly Right .

Speaker 2

It was a real fan service type thing , exactly .

Speaker 1

It was fun to watch , so now are you guys telling me you were nerds when you were younger .

Speaker 3

I played sports also , so I'm balanced it out .

Speaker 2

I'm comfortable to say I was still two years ago .

Speaker 1

You know it's cool to be nerd now Of years ago , but uh , you know it's . It's cool to be nerd .

Speaker 3

Now , of course , nerd being a nerd is cool . Yeah , you know , when I play , uh , I played .

I played competitive football up until about two years ago and I'm telling you I I played with , like you know , I'll call them kids , but I played with kids who were 18 , 19 years old and all of them like anime and all this other stuff and stuff that I think is kind of nerdy yeah but they're all into it and I was just kind of like , all right , cool

right .

Speaker 1

I mean you know we're complicated beings , right , but yeah well , you know , I get a lot of um fan mail too from people that are in the military a lot of folks that are that are stationed overseas , and so back in the day in the 90s , I used to get like snail mail yes written by many soldiers who were stationed , like in the gulf war and things like that

, and they were in ships and they had . They brought with them x-men tapes touching them while they were trying to like relax and yeah , take their mind off what they had to do , so , yeah , so I mean

Speaker 3

nerds are everywhere I think the thing about x-men , though , is I mean as much as , like you know , wolverine is always like one that that's considered a really big fan favorite obviously , spider-man and stuff like that , but I think amongst Batman , batman , yeah , that's on the DC side , but yeah , you're right , that's a huge one .

But Rogue is right up there with a lot of people and I think , at least with my age , rogue was like number two .

Speaker 1

Well , she's strong right , like number two . Well , she's strong right . She's the strongest woman in the universe . Yeah , yeah , you can take anyone's power right . Yeah .

Speaker 3

The special thing about X-Men is how advanced they are and how like of a criticism it is on our society . It's so deep .

Speaker 1

Yeah .

Speaker 3

And I know that and I'm diving right into it other things . So , yeah , we're here . That's why you're going to chapters .

Speaker 2

So you're going to becon November 10th for the costume contest .

Speaker 3

Yeah , so we're going in there for that . So we're going to be there .

Speaker 1

And you're going to be dressed up as Wolverine Maybe .

Speaker 3

We'll see about that , but yeah , I'm sure that everyone would love to see you back there someday , I know that you said you did it once .

Speaker 1

I would love to go someday . Yeah , but yeah , we'll make sure that you yeah well , you're everywhere this year , Holy smokes .

Speaker 3

The thing that's special about being about X-Men and there's a little controversy around Morph and his non-binaryism and all that stuff , which that's a whole other topic . But the thing that's great about the X-Men . It kind of came and went , that whole thing it did .

Speaker 1

It was like before the show actually aired the new show , there were a lot of people online . Well , not a lot . There were more people that were really excited about the show coming back Absolutely . But , there were some people who were like oh yeah , it's Disney , they're going to make it all woke . Oh , they've got this non-binary character . Blah , blah , blah .

Speaker 3

But he actually is fluid , he is .

Speaker 1

Or they are yeah , yeah .

Speaker 3

He is a fluid being .

Speaker 1

They can become anything they want , or she or it or they and whatever yeah .

Speaker 3

Like Morph , is a fluid being Always was . Yeah , always was , but that's the thing that's lost . I think about X-Men is there's a lot of people who were riled up about that that miss the point of X-Men , the genius of Stan Lee .

Like you know , we're talking like 40 , 50 years ago now , creating a group of people that are misunderstood , that are , you know , under-serviced , different or whatever Considered different . Except , and they're just trying to exist in a world right that hates them .

Speaker 1

That hates them only because they're different and they're not understood Exactly and they want to try and make a better world where everybody's accepted and where everybody can live in harmony with each other .

Speaker 3

That's right .

Speaker 1

And that's so beautiful . I mean Stan Lee . I wish I had met him while he was alive , but Stan Lee wrote it back . Actually they're about 60 years old yeah , yeah .

He wrote it at a time when , you know , racism was rampant and during the civil rights movement , and it was a lot to do with that , and that's what the X-Men stood for everybody coming together and being one brotherhood and sisterhood of man , so to speak .

And a lot of people think that Professor X was a little bit like Martin Luther King and Magneto is a little bit like Malcolm X .

Speaker 3

I can see that the different ways of approaching things Right because Magneto is a little bit like Malcolm X . I can see that , yeah , the different ways of approaching things . Right .

Speaker 1

because Magneto's kind of like burn it all down . You know we'll do whatever it takes .

Speaker 3

More aggressive . Yeah , right , and .

Speaker 1

Martin Luther King was like no , no , we need to be able to have peace , love , no violence .

Speaker 3

Yes .

Speaker 1

And so that's how it all came about . And now , when you look at what's going on in the world today , there's still racism , sadly .

Speaker 2

Yeah .

Speaker 1

Right , but also there's this otherism of migrants , immigrants , people of a different faith . Lgbtq People from the LGBTQ community yeah , and so a lot of those folks they've related to the X-Men all these years .

Speaker 2

Yeah .

Speaker 1

And many people in the LGBTQ community relate to Rogue because she can't touch anybody .

Speaker 3

Right .

Speaker 1

And so they've always felt like it was hard for them to be able to express their affection for somebody of the same sex , because they felt they would be shunted . And you know , hurt yes .

Speaker 3

Right yeah .

Speaker 1

And so that's why it's really quite beautiful that we speak to so many people and they say you helped me grow up , you saved me at different times in my life . This is what we hear from the fans .

Speaker 3

Wow .

Speaker 1

Because you made us feel like it's okay to be different .

Speaker 3

Yeah , I just wanted to start off with that because I thought it's a really cool thing to be a part of the X-Men .

Speaker 1

It is .

Speaker 3

As much as like there's . You know , obviously Disney's huge with Marvel and all that stuff right now . You know they're going to get their chance .

Speaker 1

Well , they bought Marvel , yeah .

Speaker 3

They're going to get their chance to do the X-Men right and then they did Deadpool . Yes , and .

Speaker 1

Deadpool's a huge success .

Speaker 3

I saw that twice . Yeah , it was a riot . Oh yeah , no , that was fantastic .

Speaker 1

I got to watch it the second time with Kevin Feige .

Speaker 3

Oh , no way , oh wow .

Speaker 1

Yeah , and I got to meet him afterwards and stuff like that . He met me for the first time . He goes oh my God , you even sound like Rogue .

Speaker 2

I'm like I wonder why . Yeah , to everybody , you sound like Rogue . It's amazing .

Speaker 3

The crazy thing is , too , is I'm stunned that I didn't put two and two together , Because I actually the first time I met you , you were MLA for the NDP party here in Provincial E and I was up an event in Truro and you stopped by and were kind of saying hi to people and stuff like that and I was running into a barbecue part of that , and that's the

first time I met you and I had known you because I'm a bit of a political geek In Victoria .

Speaker 1

Park In Victoria Park , exactly , yeah , Okay right and yeah .

Speaker 3

So I was like , oh , that's cool , and I've watched you in the legislature and stuff like that . And actually you had recently just I can't remember exactly what it was , but I remember my wife and I were watching the legislature and you were giving it to someone .

Speaker 2

And we were just like ooh , oh , this is like reality tv kind of like you were .

Speaker 1

It was a spicy over what I wish . I honestly wish I could have been the teachers .

Speaker 3

It was it . No , you know what I ?

Speaker 1

or the film . Getting rid of the film and television it was one of those .

Speaker 3

It was around that timeline , but the teachers .

Speaker 1

I was the education critic and I was up there fighting for the teachers and fighting for their my wife's teacher collective bargain . I bet that's so . I bet it was teacher thing .

Speaker 3

It was my wife's teacher and we were probably watching it a lot then . That's probably what it was , yeah , so yeah , so we were re-watching it and I remember . So I met you just like a couple weeks after that , and I remember telling my wife I met you and everything , aw .

That being said , though , had I known you were a rogue Okay , no , like you know to that , and I was just kind of like I would have geeked out probably back then , because I was like bro

Uncovering X-Men Impact and Personal Journey

.

Speaker 2

There was something I saw about the X-Men that you guys didn't really know . It was as monster of a success as it was , because at the time things were kind of different .

Speaker 1

Well , there was no social media . No social media , there was no email .

Speaker 2

There was mail bags , but they weren't always getting delivered . So to think .

Speaker 1

I know the cast of the original X-Men are all Canadian . I really can't push that enough .

Speaker 2

That's insane .

Speaker 1

It's amazing . So that show , the X-Men , the animated series from the 90s , became one of the top two animated series of all time . That one and Batman .

Speaker 3

I was going to say the Batman , the animated , yeah .

Speaker 1

And X-Men , and that's in a time and we're all Canadian that was really like kind of like in those early 90s .

Speaker 3

It was like a highlight , like maybe prime of animated superhero , because there was Batman but there was also Spider-Man .

Speaker 1

Yes .

Speaker 3

Like they tried a couple other ones they had , like Avengers and Iron man and things like that as well . There was a lot of good animation in the early 90s that you guys had to compete against .

Speaker 1

And Saturday mornings , Saturday morning cartoons . A lot of kids would just get up out of bed and they'd watch the show . In many towns and cities that I meet people at the Comic Cons they say that when they were kids they used to rush home from school , depending on the time zone .

Some of them would rush home from school to watch X-Men and some of them would rush home from school to watch . X-Men , oh yeah , and some of them would watch it first thing in the morning before they went to school . Amazing . But they all said that it changed their lives , it made their lives better and it made them who they are today .

So we never knew the effect we were having on people until about five years ago . Five years ago , just before the pandemic , maybe two years before the pandemic we were invited those of us in the original show invited to Texas to go to a reunion of the . X-Men to celebrate the 25 years of the X-Men , and we went there and the fans were just incredible .

They were so excited to meet us . And then from there we were invited to LA to the LA Comic Con , which is a big one . I just was at it this past weekend actually signing my books and stuff , and there were 100,000 people at that one and they roared .

When we came out on stage to do a panel , we had lineups around the block and we all looked at each other and went what's going on ? And then finally we found out that all of these folks had been huge fans for years .

Speaker 3

Yeah .

Speaker 1

And we never knew it .

Speaker 3

Wow .

Speaker 1

Because there was no social media , there was no emails , there was no nothing .

Speaker 3

Yeah .

Speaker 1

And Fox who owned the show back in the day .

I found out recently that there were all these bins full of fan mail at Fox and they were lined up down the hallway , up to the ceilings , down two hallways , and one of our producers for the show said Lenore , we had no idea how popular the show was , and then we got stuck with all this mail and we didn't know where to send it .

So they never sent it to us , to the actors . We never did see it and sadly , those kids never got us to write back to them . But now we are able to talk to them online and at the Comic-Cons and it's been really amazing .

Speaker 3

Yeah .

Speaker 1

Yeah , it's really fulfilling to know you've helped some people along the way . Absolutely yeah , so back , really fulfilling to know you've helped some people along the way .

Speaker 3

Absolutely yeah . So back when you were recording you said it's all Canadian cast , were they in ?

Speaker 1

Toronto .

Speaker 2

We were all in .

Speaker 1

Toronto . I was living in Toronto at the time , being an actor doing movies and television and stuff , and X-Men was only my second animated show .

Speaker 3

Wow , okay , what was the first one ?

Speaker 1

The first one was one called Stunt Dogs . Okay , it was about stunt people and I played a southerner in . That called Sizzle Okay , and so I got to practice a southern accent .

Speaker 3

So it helped with Rogue . It did . Yeah , yeah , okay , all right , you were born in Australia .

Speaker 1

Yeah , born in Australia , sydney Australia .

Speaker 3

Moved to .

Speaker 1

Regina , saskatchewan , for a year , where my parents were teachers . And then we heard how beautiful Nova Scotia was , and so we drove across the country and we camped all the way along , like Banff and Jasper and Niagara Falls .

You know we did the whole tourist thing , but we camped all the way in a whole summer and then made our way to Nova Scotia , to Truro , and we never left .

Speaker 3

Yeah , yeah , that's awesome .

Speaker 1

We just fell in love with it .

Speaker 3

So yeah , so yeah , so yeah moved Truro . Obviously you laid down some roots . Yeah , because you know you decided to really get involved .

Speaker 1

Yes , yeah , well , I bought a house and you know the voice acting was great . Like I did a lot of film and television , I did a lot of theater . I did it right across Canada and also in the United States and in Europe as well . I even worked and lived for a year in England , in London and Stockholm , sweden where I did a play .

Speaker 2

Yeah , I saw that and it was fantastic , you know .

Speaker 1

so I got a chance to live in a different country where they had different political system . They had like a social democratic system and I was very curious and very interested about politics . So the book is also about that , about my travels and about everything that I learned from traveling around the world .

Speaker 2

Yeah , you were born in Australia University of Toronto .

Speaker 1

I went to York University . Oh , okay , in Toronto , oh in Toronto , yes , york University in Toronto . And you ?

Speaker 2

studied drama arts and political science .

Speaker 1

And political science . Yeah , yeah , there you go . That's weird . You did all those things Because I was interested in all of it .

Speaker 2

Amazing and Marilyn Monroe .

Speaker 1

And played Marilyn Monroe . Marilyn Monroe was one of my well , that was my first starring role when I was 19 . Amazing . I got discovered over at the Charlottetown Festival . Okay yeah , I actually started at 16, . My first professional show at the Neptune Theater right here in Halifax oh cool , okay , it was the musical Gypsy .

Speaker 2

Yeah .

Speaker 1

And I got paid $75 a week and I loved it , wow . So I had an apartment here and everything and I lived with my boyfriend and we were in the shows together and then I went back to school . Then I came back the next summer , I did more theater , got an apartment again and then Charlottetown Festival the year after that Playing small roles .

But you know , when you're an actor and you want to be working and learning the trade , you know you're happy to get it 100% . And then at the end of the summer in Charlottetown I had been understudying Anne in Anne of Green Gables .

Speaker 2

Okay .

Speaker 1

And so I never got a chance to actually go on as Anne , which was disappointing .

Speaker 3

Oh yeah .

Speaker 1

But at the end of the summer they did like a concert called the Maude Whitmore Scholarship Concert and you got a chance to perform anything that you wanted to perform , that you felt could show what you could really do .

So I did a song from a musical called Funny Girl , oh yeah , called the Cornette man , and it was a real razzmatazzy , real showy kind of number .

And I walked out on stage in a trench coat and fishnet stockings and a beret with my hair and finger curls and then I , halfway through the song , ripped off the coat and was in this sexy little number underneath the coat and did this little routine and belted out this song .

And a guy happened to be in the audience who had just written a rock opera on the life of Marilyn Monroe . And they were looking for the right actress to play Marilyn Monroe and they'd been searching for a year . And he turned to his wife and the two of them said that's Marilyn . Wow , and that's how it happened , so you never know .

Speaker 2

And then your life from there just went . I mean the book , I mean just I read a bunch of notes on the book and I mean you've met Spielberg , you've worked with yes , Spielberg , keanu Reeves had a wonderful weekend with Keanu .

Speaker 1

Reeves .

Speaker 2

Yeah so tell me a little bit about that , matt Dillon .

Speaker 1

Matt Dillon , oh my gosh Andy Gib , who's the younger brother of the Bee Gees , oh yeah , yeah .

Speaker 2

So yeah , your book has the good and the bad and the ugly . The good the bad and the ugly , and I mean , I think , the ugly bit , I mean , you know , paralleling with Marilyn Monroe . Yes , getting into your 30s , addiction became a bit of a problem .

Speaker 1

Exactly .

Speaker 2

And by the sounds of it , what you said , you had a bit of a spiritual awakening .

Speaker 1

Yes , I mean , marilyn Monroe was this beautiful woman who had , if you would think , on paper she had everything . She had the men , she had the money , she had the fame , she was gorgeous . But she never really learned how to love herself .

And what many of us do , who don't know how to love ourselves , is we try to fill in that void with something outside of ourselves . That could be a substance , that could be food , that could be sex that's not healthy , that could be shopping , addictions , gambling , you know , you name it .

So Marilyn Monroe died at the age of 36 from an alcohol and drug overdose . And by the time I was 36 , I'd done a lot of movies and TV and all that stuff . I'd done X-Men . I had done four seasons of the X-Men . We still didn't know the show was successful or popular . But I reached a point in my drinking where I really hit bottom .

Where I was just I couldn't keep food down . I was vomiting all the time and I just felt like it was a crutch . I needed it in order to just live .

And I reached a point , in Los Angeles actually , where I finally realized that looking at the bottom of a toilet bowl every morning was the most depressing thing you could think of of how to start your day , and I realized that I was on my way to death , which , to be honest , I was self-destructive , as most addicts are , but I decided that the braver choice

was to live and face all of my fears and face all of my fears Amazing , and so I got up off my knees from the toilet that particular day and I called AA and this beautiful black woman came to my door and she had the hope in her eyes and the joy , everything that I was missing .

And she took me to my first AA meeting on Martin Luther King Boulevard .

Speaker 3

Oh my gosh , oh , okay .

Speaker 1

And I was the only white person in the meeting .

Speaker 2

Mm-hmm .

Speaker 1

And they loved me and they said , lenore , you do not know how to love yourself .

Speaker 2

That's beautiful .

Speaker 1

But we love you . And there's a beautiful soul inside of you and the addict is trying to kill her .

Speaker 2

That's an awakening , for sure . It was an awakening like you wouldn't believe and to think like you had all this stuff going on with your career . That was successful . Yeah , but you didn't really know it , right .

Speaker 1

It's kind of like you're doing something great and you don't see it for yourself , because it just seems like you're slogging through and even when you're like Marilyn Monroe she had everything Right , but it didn't make any , Because if you don't feel like you're worthy .

If you don't feel worthy and you feel like you're never going to be enough and nothing that you do is ever going to be enough , and that you're not really a good person and you hate yourself .

Speaker 2

Yeah .

Speaker 1

It's really sad , you know .

Speaker 2

It's funny too .

Speaker 1

They helped , they saved my life .

Speaker 3

Yeah , and that was 28 years ago . Outside looking in , like you know , people would think like , okay , you know you're in Hollywood and you know there's a lot of glamour and all that stuff that comes Like . People idolize that life and meanwhile they don't know that you're waking up staring at a toilet bowl every morning .

Speaker 1

Exactly , right , right , exactly .

Speaker 3

You just don't know what's going on behind closed doors for people .

Speaker 1

That's right . So many , I mean you don't have to scratch very far to find how many people in Hollywood have died of overdoses .

Speaker 2

Yeah , isn't that the truth . So did it come to a point for you where acting was out and politics was in ?

Speaker 1

It's interesting because I got sober at 36 , and then I finished X-Men and I went on and did a bunch of other things more movies and TV and theater and all that and then by the time I turned 40 , I decided that I wanted to write a play about Marilyn Monroe and perform it in New York off Broadway . And so I did that .

I wrote the show in New York and LA and in Seafoam , Nova Scotia , which is where my mom and dad had a little cottage and I went there and it just was great to write and so I wrote this play . And then I went back to New York and I went there and I it just was great to write and so I wrote this play .

And then I went back to New York and I put it on and the people loved my writing and and I made it very political what was the play called ?

Speaker 2

it was called the Maryland Tapes oh yes , okay , that was huge yeah yeah yeah , that was very popular off Broadway for a while right For about a year I did

Political Journey Towards Authentic Representation

it .

Speaker 1

And I realized that I really loved saying my own lines like what things . That meant something to me rather than just saying other people's scripts , right . And so I was like I think it's time for me to step out from behind the mask of a character and just be myself . And so I moved home .

I bought a house in Truro because I wanted to be closer to the family , and I started doing things like helping to save the old normal college in Truro , which they were going to tear it down because they said oh it just needs the wrecking ball .

Speaker 3

Yeah , yeah , yeah , and I'm like , no , what year was this guys Like round about ? Do you remember 2007 .

Speaker 2

Okay , 2007 , 2008 .

Speaker 1

And I helped . I raised $72,000 . And we did a feasibility study that showed if you repurpose it , they will come . Like if you rebuild it , you know , if you turn it into something that the community can use today and keep that beautiful structure . It will be a jewel in the crown of the downtown Truro , and that's exactly what happened .

And now it's our library . It's got like a little skating rink out front . Everybody commutes there and it's just beautiful . But that was my first foray into like doing some public service and then I was asked to run for the NDP in Truro . What ?

Speaker 2

made you choose them .

Speaker 1

Well , because my parents had always been NDPers .

Speaker 3

Okay .

Speaker 1

And because I'd lived in Sweden Stockholm , sweden and I learned what social democracy is and . I believed in all of that and I thought , well , that's the closest that we have to that in Canada , Okay . So they asked me if I would run and I thought , well , why not ? Now my mother and my sister told me I was crazy . I would never , win .

You know , Truro is a conservative town .

Speaker 3

It is , though , too , which is crazy . To think actually Like even federally , like that I mean we can get to it . To think actually like even even federally , like that I mean we can get to . Obviously , you obviously want it for the liberal party , and we'll get to that , but like that's even .

Speaker 1

It's pretty conservative it is , and two , two conservative premiers came out of there too , right yeah , stanfield and smith obviously the most one smith . But but my dad said go for it . You know what have you got to lose ? And I said exactly right , and that's been my attitude all along . It's just like what have you got to lose ?

And I said exactly Right , and that's been my attitude all along it's just like , what have I got to lose ? People that said , oh , you're going to try and go and get work in the States , you know how are you going to do that ? Or how are you going to get a job in LA .

Or oh , you're going to do a play in New York , how are you going to do that ?

Speaker 3

Yeah .

Speaker 1

You just go and you come back and you know I've never gone and stayed somewhere Like this has always been my home .

Speaker 3

Right .

Speaker 1

And I'm proud of that .

Speaker 3

Yeah .

Speaker 1

So where were we going with that ?

Speaker 3

What was the question ? Ndp , yes , ndp . So then I ran , you ran and I won in a landslide . There you go . Yeah , crushed it , so they called it a .

Speaker 2

Zanslide A . Okay , so tell me , how did you win over , I guess , a mostly conservative town ? What do you think did it ? I think just being myself . Yeah .

Speaker 1

I think people , bottom line political parties , the names and everything , the colors , the banners , you know you can give or take what they are . It's what your principles are and what you stand for . That's the most important they are . It's what your principles are and what you stand for . That's the most important .

And I think , when people can see authenticity , you know right , Like they want to know that somebody is representing them , who they can trust , who is going to do what they say they're going to do , or at least die trying . You know , that they're going to give it their all .

Speaker 3

Like a sports team , you know that they're going to give it their all and , let's be honest , like a sports team In Nova Scotia , like the three major provincial parties are not that different from each other .

Speaker 1

True , they're not that dissimilar yeah .

Speaker 3

You know , like they're all kind of rushing to the center , one just leans like center left , center right kind of thing , whatever right .

Speaker 1

And then one's in the middle , and one's in the middle and one's in the middle some .

Speaker 3

Some may argue that the names don't always match up . That's true , too , how you lean and how you don't ?

Speaker 1

that's very true that , and having been in the ndp and then going federal with the liberal party , exactly um , I can definitely say that that is true .

Speaker 3

Well , you would have been there with dexter I was , and and dexter , I would say , would be not as liberal as trudeau .

Speaker 1

In some ways , although he was very Dexter , was very social democratic about many things , yeah , but I think he had a lot of people that were talking to him where he wasn't necessarily listening to those of us who had the boots on the ground .

Speaker 3

Yeah , okay .

Speaker 1

And we were the ones that were hearing in our communities what was going on and what things that mattered , for instance , again , education . You know , if you're going to make cuts to education , that's not a good thing .

Speaker 3

People don't like that one . No , you don't touch education , you don't touch health care . Right , right , it hurt us .

Speaker 1

And my parents are both teachers . My sister was a teacher and my parents are both teachers . My sister was a teacher , so I was very adamant during that whole time that I believe in teachers and what they do and they're very important to our society , and so I managed to hold on to my seat at a time when most of my colleagues in the NDP lost theirs .

We had 31 seats and we were a government , the first NDP government in history , Nova Scotia yeah . And my mom and dad and I were so happy and proud . All our friends were happy and proud . And then we lost government .

Speaker 3

We went from 31 seats down to seven and I was one of them , and you lost it to—yes , yeah , and you were one of them , but you lost it to a liberal government .

Speaker 2

Yes , but McNe one of them , and then you , but you lost it to a liberal government , yes , but mcneil was not very conservative very conservative .

Speaker 3

That's what I mean too . Like he was a very conservative liberal guy right , he would be like kind of almost leaning right .

Speaker 1

I would agree on that right .

Speaker 3

Yes , yes so yeah , that kind of speaks to like nova scotia and how the names don't matter , right , it's kind of thing . And then then , yeah , and then you decide to run for Trudeau's .

Speaker 1

Yeah , like I mean I won three elections provincially .

Speaker 3

Right .

Speaker 1

So I was in for ten years a decade . Yeah , yeah , I had an apartment in Halifax . I was in the legislature , in the province house . That's where I introduced my bill on environmental racism .

Speaker 3

Yes , yeah , the first time in 2015 .

Speaker 1

It never passed because by that time we were not in government , right and but I kept introducing it every year . And then finally , um , there was going to be a federal election . Bill Casey was the uh , the member of parliament for Cumberland , colchester and he came to me and asked me if I would like to run , but for the liberals .

So I had to have a meeting with my dad and my mom and say what do you think ? And we agreed that we felt Trudeau was very progressive . We loved his father and his father was part of the reason why we came over from Australia to Canada . Oh no , way Okay .

Because we'd come over in 1968 when Trudeau Sr was prime minister and he had put out a call to Australia and New Zealand for teachers , because there was a shortage of teachers in Canada that year .

Speaker 2

Oh , interesting .

Speaker 1

We sailed over on a boat , the SS Canberra , with 2,000 Australian and New Zealand teachers .

Speaker 2

Whoa .

Speaker 1

Yeah , mom and dad were two of them .

Speaker 2

And now we're doing the same thing with paramedics . There you go . We are doing the same thing Full circle .

Speaker 1

And this is in the book . So , this is how it all starts , this is how we came to .

Speaker 2

Canada , and then ended up staying .

Speaker 1

So I flew up to Ottawa , I met with him and I met with Jagmeet Singh to talk about representing either one of them , and I came away and went . You know what I really relate to Trudeau . I think he's an honorable man , a very personable

Celebrity Q&A

man .

Speaker 2

I think we play the questions game here .

Speaker 1

in a moment we're going to know one of your answers , oh okay , all right , there you go . We're going to get that in here .

Speaker 2

Anyway , I loved him , so I said sure we might as well get into the questions . If you're yeah , let's go All right , let's do it .

Speaker 3

You do number one . Everybody , I'm going to start number one , Okay , so these are , yeah , ten questions , fun little questions . So in X-Men 97 , there's a bit of a love triangle between Rogue , Magneto and Gambit . Which Marvel character would Lenore Zahn choose as her lover , if Her lover , if she had to pick ?

Speaker 1

Gambit .

Speaker 3

Oh , okay .

Speaker 1

No problem there , all right , all right , all right , no question that one's easy .

Speaker 2

This one , next one , I think from the last bit will be pretty easy too .

Speaker 3

Yeah , I think it'll be pretty easy .

Speaker 2

We've asked almost everyone this question . Yeah , Between Trudeau , Paul D Evans Singh , which Prime Minister would you choose ?

Speaker 1

Trudeau , there you go , absolutely .

Speaker 3

Too easy for that one . Now Number three If you could play any character from any other renowned book , movies or series , who would it be ?

Speaker 1

Oh my goodness , that's a hard one who would it be ?

Speaker 3

We have some deep stuff here .

Speaker 1

Yeah , I don't know . I have to come back to that one .

Speaker 2

Okay , I'm going to pause on that one because there's something I forgot about . We on this year had Barry Dunn on the show .

Speaker 1

Oh yes , and talked about the movie the Madones . The Madones , yes , that was great .

Speaker 2

It was so great to be part of that and when I was doing the little bit of research for the show here today that we did , I was like I thought of your character in that show and . I thought what if Lenore Zahn went the other way ? Other way .

Speaker 1

Which other way ? Never got off drinking and alcohol .

Speaker 2

And started to live a life of debauchery .

Speaker 1

That could have ended up being that character . We could do a show about it .

Speaker 2

I was just saying it could have been that other . It was kind of like another portal into how your life could have went . It's just kind of crazy . It was a great show . I watched it .

Speaker 1

Thank you .

Speaker 2

That was when we first reached out to you , right it's just kind of crazy .

Speaker 3

It was a great show . I watched it , thank you , I really enjoyed it . That was when we first reached out to you . Actually , right , that's right . It had .

Speaker 1

Barry on . Actually that movie and another one we did here called Stage Mother by Tom Fitzgerald , is a really beautiful movie , oh cool .

Speaker 2

I haven't seen that one , and they can both be seen on Prime Video now . You can rent them . Okay , sorry about that . I have to think about that one . I don't know yet . All right , we'll come back to it .

So your turn , I guess , question four being an accomplished actor , politician and now author do you have any other hidden talents , anything that we don't know . Is it maybe in this book or otherwise ? Just fun .

Speaker 1

Well , yeah , you'd have to read the book to find out . But I mean , I also sing and I will be having an album coming out in the next year or so ?

Speaker 2

Oh , no way . Okay , cool , there you go .

Speaker 1

Awesome Rogue Sings yes , I wrote a song actually for it , called Mojo man .

Speaker 2

Oh nice .

Speaker 1

About Gambit . Yeah , yeah , yeah , oh , it's about Gambit . Yes , oh , there you go .

Speaker 2

What did you ?

Speaker 3

think of .

Speaker 1

Gambit and Wolverine and X-Men Did .

Speaker 3

He was fun . I had so much fun . He did a great job . Yeah , I did too . I laughed a lot yeah me too . So number five . So if you could travel to any place in time , where would you go and why ?

Speaker 1

Oh , my goodness , where would I go . I'd love to go back to the 1800s and meet some of my ancestors .

Speaker 3

Oh , okay . Yeah , I'd love to meet some of my ancestors 1800s yeah , that's a long time ago , it is .

Speaker 1

But that's around when they either got sent to Australia in chains as convicts , that's right . Young men Two of them . I have two on both sides of the family who were highway robbers .

Speaker 2

Oh , wow .

Speaker 1

One was in Ireland , one was in England . They got sent to Botany Bay in Australia . How did you ?

Speaker 2

figure all that out .

Speaker 1

Ancestrycom .

Speaker 2

Oh , really Okay yeah .

Speaker 1

I did the DNA thing and then I met all these cousins and people that are related oh wow .

Speaker 3

Insane and we put it all together ? Yeah , it was very interesting , very cool .

Speaker 1

Yeah .

Speaker 2

Number six . I think that's you . What's your favorite thing about life ?

Speaker 1

Life . What's your favorite thing ?

Speaker 2

about life , life Something you enjoy , life itself Just life itself .

Speaker 3

Okay , well , just being on this side of the dirt ?

Speaker 1

Yes , exactly .

Speaker 3

You a dog , cat or nun lady ?

Speaker 1

I have had both dogs and cats . I love them both , I love them all . I love animals , period , I love animals . But I did have three Shih Tzus and they all died , one after the other One at 17 years old , one at 15 , and one at 14 .

Speaker 2

That's pretty long-lived . Yeah , you're up . Have you ever gotten a fist fight ?

Speaker 1

No , I've never had a fist fight .

Speaker 2

Disappointing , but okay , we're moving on . Yeah .

Speaker 3

All right , yeah , all right . Question number nine name one conspiracy that you are uncertain of , but if you could actually , if you could actually it , but you think could actually be real .

Speaker 1

So it's seriously , oh , okay , so like ros the roswell well , not necessarily that , but just ufos I mean I think that could be real . I think that there's probably life on other planets .

Speaker 2

Our Halloween episode . We talked about that . We have a paranormal investigator on . Just before we end when this episode airs .

Speaker 3

Right , so he's on there , he talks about it . He's a former police officer who investigates that stuff Wow interesting .

Speaker 1

I love stuff like that .

Speaker 3

I'm really interested in that I kind of thought , with the whole Marilyn Monroe connection , that she was going to go but the JFK was , you know , like silence .

Speaker 1

Assassinated . Yeah , silence type of thing . Well , you never know , that could be true too . I don't know about that one , but that could be true too .

Speaker 3

All right , last question yes , we're going back to question three .

Speaker 2

but yeah , oh , yeah , okay . What's one thing we could all do to make the world a better place ? That's every one of us .

Speaker 1

Be kind yeah .

Speaker 3

Premier said , that too Did he .

Speaker 1

Well , I mean , I oftentimes say kindness is free .

Speaker 2

Yeah .

Speaker 1

It doesn't cost anything and if you just take that extra time to be nice to somebody instead of like snapping someone's head off or jumping , you know the gun . Online Everybody's so quick to anger and to be like sad and seeing the animosity on social media .

Speaker 2

sometimes I'm just like what the heck is all this about when the Aurora was going on , yes , on social media . Sometimes I'm just like what the heck is all this about .

When the Aurora was going on and everybody was just putting up colorful pictures all night and everybody's like , oh my God , and loving each other's photos Like man too bad social media wasn't like that all the time .

Speaker 1

All the time .

Speaker 2

It was so lovely last night .

Speaker 3

I agree it was really cool , I agree .

Speaker 1

So watch X-Men .

Speaker 2

X-Men 97 . Another season's coming out in 2025 ? 2026 , they say I have to wait that long . That's a long time to wait .

Speaker 1

I've recorded all my lines , but they have to now animate it .

Speaker 2

But you can now read Lenore Zahn's book A Rogue's Tale . Yes , you can .

Speaker 3

And you can answer maybe that question number three if you've got a quick answer .

Speaker 1

I'd love to do a lead in a TV series that's maybe like a detective . Oh , okay , she's a detective and maybe she rides a motorcycle .

Speaker 3

Oh .

Speaker 1

And you know . So she kind of lives a bit on the edge .

Speaker 3

But she's I think they do a female reboot of Dick Tracy .

Speaker 1

Oh , there you go .

Speaker 3

There you go . I think you can take that Run with that With the trench coat with the fishnet tights underneath it , you could . That'd be cool . Green and yellow that would be cool . A little bit of throwback to the road thing . You heard it here . Folks , there you go . Lenore Zan , it's been a pleasure meeting Pleasure man . Absolute pleasure , Cheers .

Speaker 2

Cheers . We'd love to talk to you again .

Speaker 1

We'll have to do this again , anytime , anytime , thank you . Thank you so much and thanks for tuning in .

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