Newmarket high school student Alessa Marie-Dione wants to step into the limelight and show what can be possible in the performing arts locally.
After being a background extra for several big streaming shows, Marie-Dione has put herself more to the front of the frame over the past year with a couple of roles in video games and a lead role in a pilot for a new horror web series.
The 16-year-old said she fully intends to make acting her career and build on her early roles, while attending Newmarket High School.
“I know Newmarket is a giant sports town,” she said. “I want to show you can break that barrier. You can go into arts.”
Marie-Dione got her start as a background extra at shows filming around Toronto. That got her onto sets for shows like Netflix’s The Hardy Boys and 13: The Musical, as well as Amazon’s The Boys.
“I just did that because I did want to start out in the film industry,” she said. “I did want to start out doing more directing, but slowly through doing this background work, I have more of a drive for being in front of the camera and acting and showing off my skills to everyone.”
That led her to sign on with Toronto-based Stars Academy Talent in 2022. She said the agency took a chance on her and got her opportunities despite a lack of experience.
She landed a leading role in a pilot for a horror series called Solstice Stories, which premiered at the Blood in the Snow Film Festival in Toronto in November. She recalled doing a callback audition for it via Zoom while on a camping trip, at a small library in Tobermory.
“It was definitely a roller coaster,” she said, adding that she got the role in part because camping is part of the setting for the series.
She attended a premiere for the pilot in November and said it was incredible seeing herself on a big screen.
“It was like a dream. It was a very once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see, and I was so excited,” she said.
The series is set to continue in a digital form, and Marie-Dione said she hopes for the part to continue for a long while.
Beyond that, the young actress expects to have her voice work appear in a mobile video game launching in this summer. The name of the project was not disclosed to her, but she said it is an action game from a Japanese developer.
Although she is targeting live acting over voice, she did not want to miss a chance for a role.
“It’s a good opportunity. I’m going to take anything I can get,” she said. “I was so nervous, but everyone was really comforting.”
Marie-Dione said this is a path to which she is dedicated, spending plenty of time in acting and musical theatre classes.
“My future hopes for this is just to book anything I can get and get myself out there and into this world of acting,” she said. “This is something that I really want to progress with in my life and make my life.”
She said she feels pride in what she has been able to take on in less than a year under a talent agency, even if only for small acting parts.
“I know I have a lot more in store with the new year. I am excited to see what I can do.”
