Two Central Alberta actors are getting broader exposure by appearing on two different televised crime shows in April.
Sylvan Lake’s Rivera Reese will appear in the April 11 episode of NBC’s Law & Order — Organized Crime.
And Evan Rein, who grew up in the Eckville area, will play a cop in the limited Hulu series Under the Bridge, which premieres on April 17. This eight-episode series is based on the 1997 bullying murder of 14-year-old Reena Virk in Victoria, B.C.
Reese, a former Red Deer College theatre and motion picture arts student, has been building her career on stage and film since moving to New York in 2012. She previously played super villain Nebula in a Marvel touring show, and has a role in the upcoming Peacock series Long Bright River.
Landing on the popular Law & Order spin-off could be her most visible career break to date. Rivera’s dad, retired RDC instructor Larry Reese, said he knows the show is popular because of the number of ‘likes’ he’s received on Facebook since posting about his daughter’s pending appearance in the April 11 Semper Fi episode.
“I’ve had 350 and it’s still going strong,” he added on Thursday.
While Rivera was filming and could not be reached this week, her dad relayed that she’s thrilled to get this TV experience. Rivera had sent a videotaped audition monologue to the show with modest expectations of landing a role, so she was beyond happy to be offered the part.
Being on a series can mean having to memorize last-minute script changes while you’re in the make-up chair, said Larry. “You’ve got to un-learn lines and learn new lines…. it can be pretty gruelling… I’m so proud and happy for Riv.”
In Under the Bridge, former Cornerstone Youth Theatre actor Rein got to act with Elvis Presley’s granddaughter Riley Keough (Daisy Jones and the Six) and Oscar-nominated actor Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon).
It’s not the first series for the graduate of Langara College in Vancouver, who’s landed parts on Heartland, Nancy Drew, Valley of the Boom, and Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, among other shows.
Recently he played the guitar, sang and acted in a Beatles-themed As You Like It production that was performed at the Washington D.C. Shakespearean festival in December and for Theatre Calgary earlier this month.
Rein previously said one of his favourite roles was playing the conflicted lead in the indie film Blue Hour, made by Central Albertan Jesse Pickett’s Muskrat Pass Productions.