GateWorld: I was talking with Martin Gero the other day, and Martin always talks about he was originally thinking about being an actor, but he found that the life he would be leading is so chaotic and unpredictable and moment for moment that he just had nothing to do with it, and you just seem to be thriving on that kind of energy. What is it about that that you like?
I mean, I cannot live unless the three months of my life are planned out ahead of me including rent, otherwise I am not satisfied and I don’t feel safe. How do you live moment for moment and how do you gain energy from that in what you do?
Kate Hewlett: The thing is I’ve always been disorganized. I was just born that way, and I was disorganized even as a little kid. My dad still makes fun of me. I would always have ten plastic bags with me instead of a school bag, and I would have one shoe at school and one shoe at home. I was the only kid in ballet class that would forget their tights and would have to wear big woolly socks in the recital.
I’ve always been like that. My locker was famous for how terrible it was. So honestly, I don’t think there’s any way I could have order in my life. So I love that. I love order, and I love feeling organized, and I love it when my apartment’s clean, but it never is.
GW: So it’s just that eternal goal that never quite completely gets achieved?
KH: Exactly! And then traveling and jobs and all that stuff. It’s great because it means that there’s some kind of distraction. I’ll be stressed out about my life and then something will come up and I’ll fly off to Germany.
It’s really wonderful. I love that. I love what’s not coming next. The money thing is a bit terrifying, but as far as predictability there is something that I like about not knowing what’s next.
GW: Really?
KH: I think otherwise I would be a teacher.
GW: Really? Is that what you would have done otherwise?
KH: Yeah. My dad, still every single time I see my dad, he says, “When are you going to become a teacher?” “Dad?! [Laughter] Thanks …”
GW: Like elementary or history? Was that one of your other passions or, “Oh, I hope that lil’ Katie will do this. I hope she’ll be a lawyer or a doctor.”
KH: You know, it’s funny. I went back and forth. When I was in high school I went back and forth between wanting to be an actor and wanting to be a teacher. I applied for teacher’s college. I’ve now applied a couple of times and gotten in and not gone. I used to tutor all the time. I used to teach Italian to a couple of Grade 5 girls. I used to teach drama camp and drama classes. Stuff like that.
GW: It’s something you’re really passionate about.
KH: Yeah, I really enjoy teaching, but I just can’t imagine leaving acting completely. Sometimes I think about it, and lately I’ve been thinking about it a lot. It would be really nice to have a normal life and feel like an adult, and wake up in the morning and go somewhere, and then come home at the end of the day and have a paycheck. There are these things called paychecks that I’ve heard of.
GW: Yeah, they’re quite nice. They’re quaint.
KH: Yeah! And not have to put aside part of my income for tax and all that kind of stuff. It would be really nice, and I think that teaching is really important and really noble, and I do enjoy it. I think about it a lot, but I keep going back to acting for now.
GW: Well there are few jobs more important than teaching. You can’t balk at it.
KH: No, it’s a really incredible job. And if you are someone who enjoys it then you’ll be good at it.
GW: It’s one of those things. They don’t get paid enough. This is an important job in almost any type of subject. This is a very important job. But it’s sad that, unless you have tenure, good ole tenure, some people just can’t do it.
KH: Yeah, it’s true, isn’t it? It seems like a great income to me because I’m an actor but it’s true, it’s not very much money. And it’s a labor of love, really.
GW: Exactly. It really is. You have to find a spot in it that you just adore, or you have to find a group of students that you can’t do without and carry yourself that way.
KH: I went to a girl’s school, actually, for most of my life. Well, all. I went from kindergarten to Grade 13. The same school. And I loved it to pieces, so I always imagined when I was younger that I would teach there, but that changed.
GW: Did David go to an all boys school?
KH: He did! [Laughter]
GW: That explains why he’s so awkward with women!
KH: And why I’m so awkward with men. It’s true! [Laughter]
He actually did go for a long time, but he wasn’t a big fan of the whole private school thing. He wasn’t a big fan of school, actually. He’s really, really smart but he’s not a school person. I was a school person. I got really good grades but I didn’t actually learn very much because I just memorized things. But yeah, in his last year he left and went to a public school because he wanted a more normal environment, I think.
I’m glad I went there, though. I have to say. As a woman I’m thrilled that I never had to worry about — there was none of that in the classroom. There was no flirtation …
GW: Yeah, no cat calls.
KH: No, and no worrying about putting your hand up. I went to Queens University and I got there on my first day, and I was sitting in this psychology class full of, I think, 200 people. The teacher asked a question, and I put my hand up and I was looking around. I think maybe 25 people had their hands up. I was the only one who was female.
I was like, “What is going on here?” I never thought about it. I never considered that my voice wasn’t as important. It was really interesting going to university after that and seeing the dynamic. I was in a co-ed residence as well, so I did get the experience afterwards. … I didn’t mean that the way that it sounded! [Laughter] The headlines …
GW: Oh, man. “Kate Hewlett gets experience in co-ed!”
KH: “The slutty days!” [Laughter] No, it was great actually being in a co-ed dorm. I made a lot of male friends and it was the first time that I was in that kind of environment. But I did theater at school. The boys school and the girls school would do theater together, so we actually had a pretty good group of people.