Haven's Jordan Mckee (Kate Kelton). Photo by Adam Secore and copyright of Syfy.
At The Gun & Rose Diner in the seaside town of Haven, you can be guaranteed a warm welcome as well as a good cup of coffee and some interesting conversation. One of the diner’s employees and someone who is not shy about voicing her opinion is waitress Jordan McKee. Described as “spirited and fierce,” she is much more than meets the eye. Like several of her fellow townsfolk, Jordan is among “The Troubled,” and possesses quite a powerful little supernatural quirk.
This is, however, not the waitress’ only connection to this particular group of people, and actress Kate Kelton, who plays Jordan on Syfy’s hit series Haven, relished the chance to reveal her character’s many sides to viewers. “Jordan has been a dream to play because she is so multi-layered and very passionate,” says Kelton. “There are some similarities to me, but obviously the main difference is that Jordan has a Trouble, like many in Haven, and it’s a pretty gnarly one, too. My character is unable to touch anyone and vice versa because she tends to be a human taser.
“Jordan’s cover job is working as a waitress when she’s not working with The Guard, an entity that protects the town’s Troubled. They’ll explore that much more on the show this season, but there’s something to be said about playing a character that can’t touch anyone and being an actress who does touch people as part of my performance. I had to rethink every little action, especially playing a waitress where you would naturally brush up against someone anyway. So making adjustments to how I carried my body and moved with it were definitely called for.
“It was wonderful to see Jordan actually use her Trouble. I had a conversation with one of Haven’s writers and we were talking about the fact that the show was born about the time that another program called Heroes was on NBC. Its story was obviously touting superhero powers, and Haven wanted to do a different take on that, where the very real repercussions of having these so-called superpowers come into play. Jordan’s development had quite a bit to do with how she reacts to using her own power as well as how it impacts her personality.
Jordan (Kate Kelton) and Nathan Wuornos (Lucas Bryant). Photo by Michael Tompkins and copyright of Syfy.
“It’s not a two-dimensional or shall we say shallow reaction, either, but a very human one. That made it all the more interesting to delve into what it would be like to have such powers and what the repercussions are on a human being.”
Kelton’s character is one of the new faces that appear for the first time throughout Haven’s third season. In fact, the actress originally auditioned for a different role. “I read for the part of Dr. Claire Callahan, which Bree Williamson ended up getting,” she notes. “It was a wonderful script and audition. I had a great time and went in for a callback, where I got on with everyone like a house on fire, but then I never heard another thing about it.
“I then found out that the part was initially for 11 to 13 episodes. I had shot a series last year called Bullet in the Face with Eric Roberts and Eddie Izzard, and there was a guest-spot cap in my contract that stated that I wasn’t allowed to do more than five episodes of another show. I was hoping that that was mainly the reason, but I think also that Bree was just perfect for the part. However, I later heard that they [the producers] wanted to see me for the Jordan role, and sort of through the grapevine, Bree told me that they mentioned to her that they wrote the role for me because they liked me so much and wanted to work with me.”
Although the actress is credited in the season three Haven episode Stay, her one scene never made it into the final cut. “The first scene I shot for the show was between Jordan and Dwight Hendrickson, who is played by Adam Copeland [former WWE wrestling superstar Edge],” recalls Kelton. “He was so fantastic to work with, the irony being that I don’t watch wrestling. I didn’t have a clue who Adam was, but I did recognize him and he seemed really familiar to me.
Dwight Hendrickson (Adam Copeland) and Jordan (Kate Kelton) in the season three Haven episode "Stay." Photo by Michael Tompkins and copyright of Syfy.
“I eventually realized it was because I had seen an interview with Adam on a Canadian talk show called George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight. It was a beautiful and touching interview where he spoke about wrestling and whatnot. I watched it again once I realized where I’d recognized him from. He’s such an amazing actor and I think that’s going to be the biggest surprise to his fans with regard to him switching careers like that. The two of us had a wonderful time. Our scene actually wound up getting cut from the episode because of time, so the first scene you’ll see me in doesn’t happen until later in the season.”
As a waitress, Jordan interacts with many of Haven’s residents, but there is one, in particular, with whom she forms a special bond. “Chief of Police Nathan Wuornos’ [Lucas Bryant] Trouble is that he can’t feel anything,” notes Kelton. “So that lends itself to opening the door for a bit of a love interest between him and Jordan. It’s cool how the two of them come together and how shocking it is for Jordan to be able to touch another human being and not see him or her immediately writhing on the ground in agony.
“So there’s certainly a lot of room to explore that relationship, and also from Nathan’s perspective, him being able to delve into The Guard and trying to find out more about them through his involvement with Jordan. It’s a teeter-totter if you will of how much things between them are real, how much is not, and other similar issues that arise this season.”
What was Kelton’s experience working with the Haven cast and crew? “They are amazing,” she enthuses. “I’d never been welcomed into an on-set family as much as I was on this show. It just felt like everyone was really excited and happy to have these new guest actors be a part of this season. I have so much respect for Emily Rose [Audrey Parker] and Lucas Bryant because looking back at the first two seasons it was basically them carrying the weight of the show’s insane shooting schedule on their shoulders.
Jordan (Kate Kelton) and Nathan (Lucas Bryant) share their "Troubles" in "Over My Head." Photo by Michael Tompkins and copyright of Syfy.
“They’re workhorses and they never complain. It’s inspirational to work with them. Lucas is just a gem, and his wife and daughter, both of whom I had the chance to meet, are fantastic as well. As for Emily, all I can say is, oh, wow, what a woman. She carries the show effortlessly on her thin shoulders and makes it look like it’s so easy, but you know that’s not true at all. They’re all such a talented group of actors and it was an absolute joy to work with them.”
As a child, Kelton received a significant amount of familial inspiration that helped encourage her on to one day pursue a career in arts and entertainment.
“I’m a painter at heart, really,” says the actress. “I started when I was two years old, and that’s a career I’ll always have. Acting seemed to be more youth oriented, so I jumped into that somewhat more earnestly. I went to film school where I began thinking about making films from the backend as opposed to being onscreen. However, a lot of my classmates asked me to be in their [student] films, probably because I was free labor,” she jokes, “and it got me a bit of a [demo] reel by the time I graduated. So it was almost accidental that I got into acting.
“It’s been pretty fantastic growing up in an artistic household, because that’s more or less how it all started for me. My mom is a painter, her father was a painter, and my great aunt was a very famous photographer in Prague and Czechoslovakia, so it really goes back in my family. I was born in Germany after my parents escaped Czechoslovakia, and I spent most of my childhood traipsing around Europe in a VW bus painted with flowers and being dragged to every major art gallery in Europe. So it’s in the blood and almost second nature to me.
The women of Haven (L-R): Jordan McKee (Kate Kelton), Audrey Parker (Emily Rose) and Dr. Claire Callahan (Bree Williamson). Photo by Adam Secore and copyright of Syfy.
“I went to a wonderful high school, Etobicoke School of the Arts [ESA], in Toronto, which is a little bit like Fame, the fictional school on television. I was a visual arts major, and the instructors there really just hit home to us that there are artists out there in the world making a living at doing what they love the most, so why not us, too?”
Having graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Film from Ryerson University in 1998, she made her big screen debut two years later at the Toronto International Film Festival in The Republic of Love, directed by Deepa Mehta. Among her other film credits are Harold & Kumar Go to While Castle and American Psycho II: All American Girl. On TV, Kelton appeared as the first non-blonde “Tic Tac Girl” in a hugely popular ad campaign that ran for almost a decade. The actress’ first significant TV role was Martine Mahler in the aforementioned Bullet in the Face, which recently aired on IFC.
“That was the first time that I had a long run at a character over a number of episodes, and it was fascinating to delve into something over such a long period of time,” says Kelton. “She was fun to play because it was an absurdist action comedy that was completely off the wall and highly stylized, almost like a comic book, so the character was verging on insane and undeniably heroic. It was an experience of a lifetime and one that I’ll never forget, especially improvising with Eddie Izzard [Heinrich Tannhauser].”
Having finished work on season three of Haven not too long ago, what is next on the horizon for the actress? “There’s nothing yet. I’ve just been auditioning and auditioning, which has been quite nice,” she says. “After Haven and Bullet in the Face I feel like I’m knocking on some good doors and getting to meet the right people, so the momentum is growing and I’m thrilled about that.”
Steve Eramo
As noted above, photos by Adam Secore or Michael Tompkins and copyright of Syfy, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!
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