(L-R): Dark Matter's Six (Roger Cross) and Lt. Anders (Jeff Teravainen). Photo copyright of Joe Mallozzi.
Most of us typically make friends with people we work with, and in the process we even sometimes end up finding a best friend. The latter is certainly true of Dark Matter’s Lieutenants Anders and Kal Varrick. As officers working for the Galactic Authority, they are paid to maintain law and order in a section of deep space where various corporate and political factions are vying to be top dog. Unbeknownst to their employers, Anders and Varrick also belong to the Procyon Insurrection, an underground rebel group that believe the GA is corrupt and is trying to expose them as such. Playing both sides of the fence was quite a draw for Canadian-born actor Jeff Teravainen.
“Like most auditions, my agent called me to ask if I was interested in this particular part and I said, ‘Yes, of course,’” recalls the actor with a chuckle. “I originally tried out for another role on Dark Matter but didn’t get it, which was disappointing because I was familiar with Joe Mallozzi’s [series co-creator/writer/executive producer] work on the Stargate franchise, and I really wanted to work on a project of his. So I just hoped I might get a shot at another role at some point. Then the Anders part came along, which was recurring, and I thought, ‘OK, this is definitely something I’d like to sink my teeth into.’ I worked really hard on the audition, and something that helped me was the fact that I sometimes coach with some amazingly talented actors, which involves us bouncing ideas off one another. In the end I booked the Anders role, which I was thrilled about, especially when the character subsequently resonated with a lot of viewers and ended up being expanded even more than I knew about when I first started.”
Anders and Varrick had not seen each other for quite a while when Dark Matter first premiered. The latter had been working deep undercover as Griffin Jones a.k.a. Six, one of a small crew of (mostly) criminals onboard the spaceship Raza. Having been suddenly awakened from suspended animation, he and his fellow crewmates discovered that their memories had been erased. They spent the show’s first season evading the law while trying to piece together the puzzle of their respective pasts. Anders was reunited with his old friend in episode eight, and then again in the season one finale, when Six revealed himself to be a GA agent and turned the rest of the Raza crew over to the authorities. Teravainen thoroughly enjoyed his introduction to this brand new Sci-Fi world for a number of reasons.
“Right off the bat, everyone was super cool and nice, which is such a wonderful thing because you never know what to expect when stepping onto an unfamiliar set,” says the actor. “Now, to be fair, 99% of the sets I’ve worked on have been just great and filled with good people. However, again, you’re never sure what everyone is going to be like and are careful not to step on anyone’s toes. With Dark Matter, Roger Cross [Six] and I seemed to immediately hit it off, and Joe Mallozzi, being the showrunner, was extremely approachable, which, again, isn’t always the case.
“When we shot my first episode, Joe came over to me during a break in filming and was trying to communicate a couple of things to me. First, he didn’t want Roger to know what we were talking about, so I was really careful about that, and it had to do with the fact that Joe wanted me to say one little line in a certain way. On top of that, Joe was trying to get me to do that without letting me know why. So there was a great deal of back and forth with that, and it was probably one of the hardest lines of my career. I just wanted to make sure I did a good job as well as made a good impression. Ultimately, what Anders is trying to do in this scene is allude to the fact that he and Six know each other, but not give that away. While it probably sounds like such a small and weird thing, it sort of established the relationship between Anders and Six when it came to the season one finale, and then going forward in the show.”
In Dark Matter’s season two opener Welcome to Your New Home, three of the Raza crew are imprisoned at the Hyperion-8 Maximum Security Facility. Six resumes his GA responsibilities, but his superiors are not totally convinced he can be trusted. Throughout it all, Anders offers unconditional support to his friend and wants to help Six integrate back into his old life. Unfortunately, Six begins to have doubts about betraying his crewmates to the GA, and, in the following episode, Kill Them All, helps organize his friends’ escape. Much to Anders’ disappointment, but perhaps not surprise, Six rejoins his crewmates onboard the Raza.
“Naturally, Joe Mallozzi knows this story better than anyone else because he knows in his mind what these characters are up to, but I see Anders as well as Six as being good guys who are in this for the right reasons,” explains Teravainen. “I think my character cares the world about Six, or whatever name he’s using at moment. After all, they’re buddies and best friends. There’s a scene we shot that ended up being cut where the two of them talked about going on vacation and things like that. Now, there’s an undercurrent of mystery with Anders where you never know the whole truth about him, at least not at once, so there could be a lot of things about him that end up contradicting what I’ve just told you. However, I still see him, again, as a loyal friend to Six and someone who cares about him. It was hard on Anders seeing Six deep undercover for so long and experiencing everything he did, including, obviously, Six and the rest of the Raza crew unwittingly becoming accomplices in the destruction of that space station.
“Acting-wise, every time I come back to do Dark Matter, I feel more and more like part of the family,” continues the actor. “I always joke that the cast and crew are like a tightknit family and I’m a cousin, but more like a close cousin, and they really treat me that way. I remember when we finished filming the first season finale. Everyone came in for a group hug, and Anthony Lemke [Three] looked at me and said, ‘Hey, you’re part of this. Get in here.’ They’re just a super bunch of people. One of the things that sticks out most in my mind about last year’s finale is the fact that no one knew that Six was the mole until the very last minute. Everything was top secret, including Anders’ involvement. So I had to sneak in for wardrobe fittings, and on the actual day of shooting, I was asked to stay in my trailer for most of the day. They kept bringing me comic books along with other stuff to read so I wouldn’t get bored.
“When it comes to this season, I especially love the scene where Anders confronts Kal in his quarters and more or less tells him that the Raza crew is going to be targeted. That was quite a bit longer than what people actually saw on the screen, but I just really enjoyed that scene because again, I played it as Anders loves this guy as a friend. Six has had to put up with so much garbage because of everything he’s been through, again believing he’s done the right thing, and it was just going to get worse for him if his friends died. So Anders really does feel for Six, and hopefully that came across in this particular scene.”
Born in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, and raised in the small town of Orono, Ontario, Teravanien made his first mark in the entertainment industry performing in the award-winning band The Life as its lead singer and bassist. “We never hit it big, but we did tour and made records as well as videos,” he says. “I’d always hoped that one day if I gained a little bit of fame, it would give me a chance to do some acting. That was something else I always dreamed of, but growing up, it just never seemed like a viable career option. After the music career petered out, I had to get a ‘real job,’ but then one day I got fired. By that point I’d done a few modelling jobs to make a little extra money as well as some commercials, so that’s when I finally decided to give this [acting] a go. That was 14 years ago. I went headfirst into this, and, thankfully it panned out, for which I’m extremely grateful.”
Along with a variety of made-for-TV movies, the actor’s other small screen credits include Mutant X, Angela’s Eyes, Nikita, Covert Affairs, Rookie Blue, Beauty and the Beast, Suits and 12 Monkeys. Teravainen has also voiced a number of characters in such video games as Resident Evil: Outbreak, Devil May Cry 2 and Far Cry 2. If you watched the season two finale of Dark Matter you no doubt saw Lt. Anders’ face just before the end credits began to role. That certainly bodes well for Teravainen’s return in season three. Meanwhile, you can look forward to seeing his work in another popular Syfy series later this year.
“I can’t say much about it, but I recently filmed The Expanse,” reveals Teravainen. “I was overjoyed when I landed the role, because I was going to play this very cool character on another show that I absolutely love.
“When I was a musician, it was my entire life. I loved it beyond belief, but even at the peak of our respective careers, we were always doing other jobs in order to make sure everything flowed. It’s just a tough business, and all that passion then transferred over to my acting as well as voiceover work. When I wake up in the morning, there’s always a chance that there could be an audition that day, or there’s a job I’ve already booked that I have to prep for. This [acting] really is something that gets me up out of bed with a smile on my face, and, truthfully, I still have days where I can’t believe I get to do this for a living.”
Steve Eramo
As noted above, photo courtesy/copyright of Joe Mallozzi, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!
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