Melissa O'Neil as Portia Lin (a.k.a. Two) in Dark Matter. Photo copyright of Prodigy Pictures/Syfy.
Beauty, brains, determination, a strong sense of survival and a mean right hook – those are just some of the qualities exhibited by Portia Lin alias Two in the opening episode of TV’s Dark Matter. When she and her five fellow crewmates onboard the spaceship Raza awake from stasis with no memory of who they are or what they are doing in the furthest regions of deep space, it throws them for a loop, and understandably so, but not for very long. Without hesitation, Two takes charge and prepares to lead herself and her shipmates over, around and, when necessary, right through the difficult and dangerous hurdles that lie in their path. For multi-talented stage performer Melissa O’Neil it was a character unlike those she had previously played and, with a little gentle persuasion, decided to try out for the role.
“I have to give all the initial credit to my wonderful agent,” says O’Neil. “He’s a bit younger than I am and he has so much vision. Some people who work in the theatre often end up going from job to job, which can happen in musical theatre in Canada and the U.S. It’s a small community and you often tend to get work within that circle, but my agent really pushed me to try something new. I actually received another job offer at the same time as the one for Dark Matter came along. It was a difficult choice, but my agent said, ‘You’ve already done that [other] part before. Try something different and branch out.’
“I’d never auditioned for television before, but then I began booking television auditions and Dark Matter was only my third one. I put together an audition tape for two different characters – Two and Four – and sent the tape off to the show’s producers. I got a callback for Two and was flown to Toronto [where the series is filmed] to read in-person. There was a lot of great energy coming from everyone in the room, including Joe Mallozzi [series co-creator/executive producer/writer] and Vanessa Piazza [executive producer]. I’d also spoken with Joe on the phone before my callback, and he gave me a little bit of insight on the [audition] sides that I had been sent as well as his vision for the Two character, which was all very helpful.
Two (Melissa O'Neil) and One (Marc Bendavid). Photo copyright of Prodigy Pictures/Syfy.
“As far as Two goes, she’s not so far removed from who I feel I am, aside from all the ass-kicking and killing she does. Her essential moral core of who she is, or at least who Two believes she is before discovering her true identity, is very much in-line with who I think I am. So in that way, the character is not too great of a leap, and I think that may be why Joe, Vanessa and the rest of the [creative] team saw something in me. It amazes me that they took a chance on someone who never worked in television before to take on a role like Two, but I am truly humbled by it. I’m having such a good time coming to set every day and figuring out who this woman is and how to help tell her story as best I can.”
After waking from stasis in Dark Matter’s opening episode, Two and her five crewmates assign themselves numerical designations (of One through Six) until their memories return. The ship’s android (Zoie Palmer) repairs a portion of corrupted computer files and provides Two and the others with the information they are after. Except for Five (Jodelle Ferland), they are mercenaries with long and violent criminal records. While shocked by these revelations, they put that aside to help a group of miners fend off a hostile takeover by a local corporation. With One (Marc Bendavid), Three (Anthony Lemke), Four (Alex Mallari, Jr.) and Six (Roger Cross) trapped on the miner’s planet, Two is left to deal with the corporation's headstrong representative. She passes her first test of command with flying colors, but it is just the initial step forward on what is sure to be a rocky road.
“Since that opening episode, I think Two has for the most part come into her own,” notes O’Neil. “At the beginning, people challenge my character, but her sense of authority has been unwavering and the rest of the characters have come to see her in a different light. Something happens at one point in our story arc where the others start to accept Two’s leadership. It probably has a lot to do with what the dynamics were amongst them before their memories were wiped and something that is ingrained or intuitive in them. Two does experience a bit of a setback in mid-season that reveals certain things about her that she doesn’t quite understand. So there’s a period of time where she’s rather uncertain and unsteady, and even when she does get answers to some of the many questions that she has, I’m not sure if she lands totally surefooted. That’s exciting, though, because it gives the character so many different places to go.
Two (Melissa O'Neil) in episode four of Dark Matter. Photo copyright of Prodigy Pictures/Syfy.
“We have an incredibly talented group of writers and the scripts have been wildly entertaining. Our writers are all men, though, and as a woman it’s been interesting to see how they write a powerful female character. Starting out, I wanted to be very careful about the tone that Two took when she was asserting her authority with members of the crew. It was important to me that Two not be seen as a bitch. There can sometimes be that a double-standard for women in the media and in television, where a man can be powerful, but if a woman is seen as powerful, it’s so easy to just flip the coin and call her a bitch, and that’s not who Two is at all. Her moral compass is what guides her choices, and every time that she is definitive about a choice that she makes, it’s because she genuinely believes that it’s the best choice for all involved. Towards the end of this season, we see her moral compass shift and she starts to make some questionable decisions. For the most part, though, at the beginning and through to the middle of the season, she always has the crew’s best interests at heart, and it’s important that it looks that way onscreen as well, because that’s how it’s written.
“I have to say that I especially like two-handed scenes where it’s just me and another person interacting and engaging. One of my favorite scenes was shot by [director] Ron Murphy in our mess hall set, which is kind of like our characters’ conference hall and where they have a lot of their meetings. Ron is incredible and I absolutely respect him as a director. He did this one-shot take, which I’m a big fan of in movies and on television. It’s the closest thing to a theatre experience because it’s just one moving scene, there’s choreography, people need to be at a certain spot at a certain time, and lines have to be spoken one right after the other in order to maintain rhythm and pace. In the scene that Ron directed, he’d done all the choreography, so he knew exactly where he wanted people to walk, move and engage. It was a ‘dance’ for the entire set that day and a tremendous amount of fun,” enthuses the actress.
Along with all the character-driven moments, Dark Matter has plenty of action, and Two is definitely not one to shy away from a situation that requires her to get down and dirty. “My character is a masterful fighter, and as a person who’s generally not a masterful fighter, I wanted to make sure that I was ready for that,” says O’Neil with a smile.
Two (Melissa O'Neill) - definitely not a wallflower! Photo copyright of Prodigy Pictures/Syfy.
“Before filming began on the show, I started doing some physical training, but I already came into this job with some body awareness. I’ve been practicing yoga for some time and as a kid I did martial arts as well as sports. I think for the most part when it comes to stunt fighting, having a real fighters’ background is a big asset, but what’s also important is, again, having a sense of body awareness and a spatial awareness of who you’re fighting against, so that everyone comes out of it safe as you work together to help tell the story”
The Canadian-born O’Neil is the youngest and first female winner of Canadian Idol, which led to a platinum selling single, a certified gold album, and a Juno nomination for Best New Artist. Just prior to booking her role in Dark Matter, the actress was appearing on Broadway in Les Miserables, and recently received the Dora Mavor Moore award for “best performance from a female in a leading role (musical)” for her performance as Eponine in Les Miserables. In addition to performing onstage at Canada’s prestigious Stratford Festival, her various other theatre credits include Jesus Chris Superstar and Dirty Dancing. Although performing onstage and in front of a camera are quite different, the former has provided O’Neill with some very useful acting tools that she has been able to bring to her work on Dark Matter.
“Theatre is a terrific environment to hone your storytelling skills as well as fine tune your performance, both of which I’m very grateful for and that I use in my prep process for this medium [of television],” says the actress. “Also, when you have a live audience, they are the last member of the cast, if you will. You can rehearse a show as much as you want, but you have no idea how that night will turn out until your final company member is in the house, and that’s the audience. There’s nothing quite like theatre, and I love the challenge and joy of finding nuances and subtle differences that you can bring to your performance in order to help keep the piece ‘alive and breathing’ night after night.
“I love what I do and I’m grateful I get to do this for a living. I’m very passionate about people, and I think if you’re passionate about people, you can be a wonderful storyteller in whatever medium you choose to do it in.”
Steve Eramo
Dark Matter airs Fridays @ 10:00 p.m. EST on Syfy (U.S.) and on Canada's SPACE Channel. The series is also airing around the globe - check the local listings in your particular country. As noted above, all photos copyright of Prodigy Pictures and Syfy, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!
