Title: She Knows The Score
Publisher: Toronto Sun
Publishing Release Date: October 10, 2002
Byline: Liz Braun
Related Link: http://www.canoe.ca/JamMoviesArtistsS/skarsten_rachel.html

The goalie got a shut-out when the Leaside Wild Cats clawed the North York Storm to a final score of 3-zip earlier this week.

And if you watched the debut of a new show called Birds Of Prey on TV last night, you've seen that goalie -- she's Rachel Skarsten, a local high school student who also happens to be a musician, an actor and one heckuva hockey player.

Recently, Skarsten got out of school long enough to help promote her new movie, Virginia's Run. It opens tomorrow. Virginia's Run is the story of a family coping without a mother. It's also a coming-of-age tale about an adolescent girl (Lindze Letherman), whose love of horses helps her find courage and hope, and the older sister (Skarsten), who must cope with a troubled romance. Gabriel Byrne and Joanne Whalley co-star. Although the two movies are very different, Virginia's Run is being compared to My Big Fat Greek Wedding for being a similarly straight-up, feel-good, family type film.

Skarsten has appeared in the TV series Angels In The Infield and a TV movie called Jewel that also starred Farrah Fawcett. She has guest-starred on various other episodic shows and will next appear in the film Fear Of The Dark. She was nominated for a Young Artist Award for her performance in Little Men -- and we want to cover this ground quickly, because acting is the least of what she does.

NOT A FAN OF LOS ANGELES

"Acting is just a small component," says Skarsten modestly, "but it's the one that's been publicized." Laughing, she says, "I have to try extra hard because people see that I'm blonde and I'm an actress and they assume, 'Hey -- she must be stupid.' It's my new goal to start reading more."

The teenager says she fears the loss of anonymity and identity that being an actor brings. "I'm now identified by my job," she says, ruefully. She doesn't much like Los Angeles, either, though work takes her there. Time-wise, it's demanding. "And I don't want to get caught up in that. I like to be accommodating, but as far as family and school go, that's not negotiable. I need to get home and breathe the air and see my friends and sleep in my own bed and give my dog a shampoo.

"In Toronto I'm a person. In L.A. I'm just a product."

Are her friends impressed with her acting career? Nah, says Skarsten. "They just get a kick out of the hot guys I get to work with and the free stuff I get."

Skarsten has a scene in Virginia's Run in which she plays the cello. It looks as if she's really playing, too.

"I am playing," she says. "I've been playing since Grade 6. It's such a great instrument." As previously noted, she plays hockey, too. And she sings. And she speaks a couple of languages. And she's very involved in deciding which university to attend next fall. Tuition, says Skarsten, is where her acting money will go. She's not much of a shopper. "The odd pair of jeans keeps me satisfied."

Skarsten's father, a doctor, died when she was 10. Her mother, the obvious source of the tall and attractive gene, accompanied Skarsten on interview day and tells this story about her daughter: Seems Miss Skarsten was told to lose weight by a producer who felt her face looked too full on camera. Seems Rachel's response was a polite 'no.'

"Because I don't live on-camera," she patiently explained to the producer. "I live in real life."