{"id":791465,"date":"2026-07-09T22:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T22:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/791465\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T22:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T22:22:10","slug":"north-bay-actor-derica-lyn-lafrance-celebrates-national-theatre-run-for-blood-lines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/791465\/","title":{"rendered":"North Bay actor Derica Lyn Lafrance celebrates national theatre run for \u2018Blood Lines\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

North Bay actress Derica Lyn Lafrance, a member of Nipissing First Nation, is seeing her work reach audiences nationwide as the North Bay-shot film \u2018Blood Lines\u2019 plays in Cineplex theatres across Canada<\/p>\n

With her image sparkling upon silver screens across the country, actress Derica Lyn Lafrance has proven that childhood dreams can come true.<\/p>\n

Lafrance lives in North Bay and is a\u00a0member of Nipissing First Nation. For as long as she could remember, Lafrance wanted to act. She recalled visiting Toronto when she was around 16 and posing for a photo before the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) building. At that time, she knew in her heart that she would have a movie screen at TIFF one day, and last fall, that prophesy materialized.<\/p>\n

The movie is Blood Lines, which was shot in and around North Bay about two years ago. Directed by Gail Maurice, whose previous film Rosie, also premiered at TIFF, Blood Lines\u2019 plot revolves around an estranged M\u00e9tis mother and daughter who struggle to overcome their differences when their world comes crashing down when an alluring woman enters their lives.<\/p>\n

See:\u00a0Local actor hitting it big role after role<\/a><\/p>\n

Backed by Elevation Pictures, Blood Lines premiered at TIFF last September and recently played a two-week run at Cineplex theatres across Canada. Lafrance, whose first role was an appearance on Letterkenny, is thrilled with the success of Blood Lines. It\u2019s also a little surreal seeing a film she worked on two years ago now making such a big splash.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just so proud that this one\u2019s in theatres,\u201d she said. \u201cYou usually do a film and it might be for a pilot or something and you don\u2019t know if the show is going to get made, or you make a film and you just hope it gets in the festivals. But I know they were hoping for a TIFF premiere, and it happened, and then to play in theatres across Canada, it\u2019s wild.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her time at TIFF created some memories Lafrance will not forget. Elevation Pictures put her up in a grand\u00a0hotel, and she attended events throughout the week. On the day of the premiere, she and some of the other actors from Blood Lines took part in promotional interviews with the media.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to say we had about 25 interviews that day, and Lesley Hampton, a renowned Indigenous designer, styled us, so I got to wear one of her designs on the red carpet.”<\/p>\n

Lafrance turned some heads that night, even catching the eye of actor Ethan Hawke. \u201cWe\u2019re taking photos on the carpet and he starts telling us that we look great, and just hyping us up, and I was like, \u2018Is that Ethan Hawke?\u201d<\/p>\n

It was, and Lafrance starting conjuring images from Reality Bites, one of her favourite movies.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo our director asked Ethan to come get in the photo with us, and he did, and when he walks away he says, ‘You guys look great,’ and I was not keeping it together very well,\u201d she joked.<\/p>\n

After her unexpected encounter with Hawke, the premiere was incredible. The house was full and after the credits rolled, the cast and crew received a standing ovation. Lafrance then took part in a Q & A session and the entire night was one for the books.<\/p>\n

Lafrance continues to keep busy, and is considering\u00a0future roles. Asked if she\u2019s famous now, she had a laugh and said no, but appearing on screens across the country is leading to\u00a0that destination. If not famous yet, she\u2019s certainly becoming more well-known.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was released in theatres on June 26, and even before then, people from all over the place have been sending me pictures, saying \u2018hey, I\u2019m at the movies, and you\u2019re on the Cineplex pre-show!’ It\u2019s been crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lafrance also starred in EVEL, another film shot in and around North Bay by director Derek Diorio. That film, along with Blood Lines, screened at last fall\u2019s North Bay Film Festival. Blood Lines won the Audience Choice Award.\u00a0\u201cThat meant a lot to me,\u201d Lafrance said.<\/p>\n

See:\u00a0Local filmmaker Derek Diorio debuts EVEL at North Bay Film Festival<\/a><\/p>\n

Recently, she also filmed a pilot for series called Watcher, which was shot in Nipissing First Nation.<\/p>\n

As for Blood Lines, she’s proud of the film and her work on\u00a0it and is happy the film is resonating with audiences. \u201cMy character, Chani in Blood Lines, is adopted, and she’s searching for her birth family and just trying to find identity and connect with her roots that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd since it’s done its rounds at the festivals, and meeting people at the local theatre, I’ve had people approach me and say that they really resonated with my character because they’re adopted or they were searching for their birth family. And I just think that’s a beautiful example of how film and storytelling is a wonderful way to offer different perspectives, but also show people that they’re not alone and maybe somebody else understands what they’re going through.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think that kind of representation is\u00a0really important,\u201d Lafrance continued. \u201cI just feel so grateful that I was trusted to help tell the story and that people feel that I portrayed it well enough that they’re able to come and talk to me and share their stories with me and talk about why my character was important to them. That’s what it’s all about. I’m so grateful for just that alone.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"North Bay actress Derica Lyn Lafrance, a member of Nipissing First Nation, is seeing her work reach audiences…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":791466,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[49,48,361,75],"class_list":["post-791465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=791465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/791466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=791465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=791465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=791465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}