Born in Athens, Greece and raised in Lake Louise, Alberta, actor Michael Antonakos is the voice of Alexios in Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed® Odyssey, the latest game in the blockbuster series released last month. From theater, to film and television, to voice acting and motion capture– Michael has done it all! His voice can also be heard in Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, Dead Rising 4, Mass Effect Andromeda and many more. Read about his journey into acting below.

Hi Micheal, thank you for doing this interview with Defective Geeks! Tell us about Assassin’s Creed® Odyssey and your character, Alexios. What is it like being the voice of a video game franchise that so many people love?

You’re very welcome! Thank you for chatting with me.

Well, it’s a hell of a game to say the least. It all takes place in Ancient Greece around 431BCE, the beginning of Western Civilization, and the height of the Peloponnesian war between Athens and Sparta. You (the player) get choose to be a male (Alexios) or female (Kasandra), a mercenary (Ancient Greek: misthios) who can fight for both sides, while on a quest to unite their family and uncover a malign cult called the Order of The Ancients.

It was pretty cool to be a part of this incredible franchise. It comes with a lot of weight to it, but I’ve been very honored to be a part of such a massive game.

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Shira Taylor created SExT: Sex Education by Theatre back in 2014 for her dissertation during her time at the University of Toronto, in order to explore the use of theatre for sex education aimed at young students. The play, SExt, has been performed by youth peer educators at Canada’s largest theatre festivals to thousands of students in schools and indigenous reserves across Ontario and Saskatchewan. She has also worked with teachers to implement sex education in an art-based, culturally-inclusive and impactful ways.

“Bodak Consent”– a Bodak Yellow (Cardi B) parody– was created through SexT’s partnership with the Canadian Foundation of AIDS Research (CANFAR). Read the interview below with Shira to find out more!

Thank you so much for talking to Defective Geeks and answering our questions today. Can you tell us about SExT: Sex Education by Theatre, how it was founded and why you wanted to start it in the first place? What are the programs’ main goals?

Five years ago, I walked into one of Canada’s most diverse and over-populated high schools, located in an immigration destination of Toronto, with the idea of having sex education more comprehensive, relevant, and impactful by emboldening youth to sing, rap, and dance about everything from chlamydia to homophobia to racism. This visit led me to create the peer education program, SExT: Sex Education by Theatre, as my PhD Thesis (Public Health, University of Toronto) to empower youth from communities where talking about sex is cultural taboo to take center stage. Our main goal is to support young people to reflect on, challenge, and communicate their realities and celebrate their unique identities through performance art. Youth are invited to tackle current issues head-on in a non-judgmental environment that promotes education, discussion, creativity, and personal discovery.

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Using a catchy dance beat, Bree Taylor’s new song, You Played It All, is about dating and relationships in today’s modern world and was inspired from Bree’s personal experience. She spoke to Defective Geeks about her rise as a musician, what it meant to overcome negativity in her life and embracing her passion with 100% confidence. Read more about her journey and her new song below!

Bree Taylor’s new single, You Played It All, from her first EP Unbreakable is out now, available on Spotify, iTunes and GooglePlay.

Hello, Bree! Thank you for taking the time and answering my questions. First of all, how long have you been singing and what has it been like pursuing music as a career? Who are your personal inspirations?

I have been singing since I was a kid. I always loved singing, writing and being creative and I was always surrounded by music growing up so wanting this as a career has always been on my mind and in my heart– it just took me a long time to really get the confidence to go after it. I was a very shy and introverted kid because of bullying in school which was the opposite of who I was at heart. I felt like I had to suppress myself. I was told I wasn’t good enough and couldn’t sing and it discouraged me from performing and affected me in having that confidence to pursue it as a career. It took me growing as a person and going through life events to really set me back on this path and realize that this is my purpose and what I am meant to do. I owe a lot of it to my relationship with God. I truly feel that this is my God given purpose and when I trust and have faith, I find that that is when magic happens with my music.

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Taras Lavren was bitten by the acting bug at a young age and has taken on that passion to grow a career in acting and filmmaking. He received his first big break when he landed a role in The CW’s Reign, and currently plays Nate in Netflix’s Anne With An E. Read his interview below to find out more!

Hello, Taras, thank you so much for talking to Defective Geeks! Tell us what it’s like to be involved in such an acclaimed show, ‘Anne With An E’, and how you got the role to play Nate.

It’s pretty wild being on such a huge show as Anne with an E, I’m still blown away by how large of an audience and fanbase it has outside of Canada, let alone here! So the way I booked the gig, is actually hilarious because I never once stepped into an audition room. I had sent a tape into casting right before I left on vacation to Mexico in 2017 and then about three days into my trip I got an e-mail saying I had a callback in like two days! Not knowing what to do, I messaged casting and after some careful deliberation they agreed that I could just submit a second tape from where I was. So I’m in a hotel room with my girlfriend in Mexico, and with a stack of corona cases we borrowed as a tripod for the camera, we somehow managed to submit the second tape over dodgy wi-fi. Two days later, (on our last day) I got an e-mail that I booked the part! I’ve never had a luckier vacation, I still think it’s probably for the best as I probably would’ve completely bombed it if I had to go in the room!

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Karrnnel is one of the most original and decorated musicians, known for his authentic compositions of fiddle music around the world. With 300 songs composed under his belt, he will be releasing his brand new solo double album Crazy Old Man and SKMB this upcoming Fall season on September 13. Want to know more about how he established himself as a unique musician? Read the interview below!

How did you get into music and fiddle music? When did you know you wanted to become a musician? What kind of revelations did you have along the way during your career?

Everything music for me comes from my family. Long before I was around, my dad was a musician (accordion, fiddle, guitar) and had a prairie dance band for years called the Melody Ranch Boys. Because of this, there was a lot of music in my family on both sides along with musical friends always coming over to visit and jam. Add this to the fact that both of my sisters started playing fiddle, and that was the recipe– music in the family and musical heroes in both my sisters. I was hooked.

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Hi Allison, thank you so much for talking to Defective Geeks! We are also a female centric website! Please tell us more about Howl & Roar Records and what inspired you to start this record label.

Thank you so much for inviting me!

When I started hosting and curating a weekly radio show celebrating women in comedy, I realized that women just aren’t releasing content at the same rate as their male counterparts. Even proportionally speaking. So, I thought back to all the challenges and issues I faced when I recorded my album and realized that with all the contacts I have made in my 5+ years in radio, plus my 17 years as a comedian, I am in a unique position to make it easy for people to record. As well, here in Canada we really devalue our artists unless they find success elsewhere, so I wanted to create a place where comics felt valued.

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Michelle Alexander is a Toronto based actress, known for her chilling role in the Canadian horror series, Darknet. Inspired from a young age to pursue a career in acting, Michelle has never stopped pursuing her passion since. You can see her in other shows such as Orphan Black and Shadowhunters. Get to know where she came from and what inspires her– read the interview below!

Tell us about yourself. How did you get into acting and who/what were your inspirations? When did you know you were going to pursue a creative career?

Alright, buckle up, here we go! I am a born and bred Vancouver Islander, I grew up in a small town called Mill Bay–I mean small. We have two fast food restaurants and one traffic light. I come from a family of five whose careers include: a high school principal, an elementary librarian, a rocket scientist and an entrepreneur. AKA, I’m the one and only artist. When I was in preschool we were asked to do one of those MadLib type activities where you fill in the blanks and declare your future, probably so you can chuckle at how wrong you were when you’re in your 20’s. Anyway, at four years old, under ‘When I grow up I want to be a…’ I wrote actor and never looked back.

I started acting “professionally” when I was nine years old in a children’s touring theatre troupe that performed dramatizations of novels in elementary schools. My first role was Becky Thatcher in Tom Sawyer and the moment I stepped out on stage (aka, the gymnasium floor) I knew I was hooked.

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Sherren Lee produced and directed The Things You Think I’m Thinking, a short film about a black male burn-survivor and amputee who goes on a date with a regularly-abled man. The film explores the main character’s demons and how he faces intimacy 10 years after his accident. This award winning film will be making the rounds at different festivals this summer. Get to know the woman behind the scenes and read the interview below!

Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions, Sherren! ​Tell us a little about yourself. How did you get into filmmaking? When did you know you wanted to get involved in making movies?

I grew up wanting to act and participating in all the school plays. In university, I directed a play for the first time and have not acted since. It had never clicked in my head that directing could be something I can do, but as soon as I had a taste of it, I knew it was what I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing. I didn’t go to film school, so when I graduated from McGill with a Bachelor of Commerce, I only looked for film and television work, proceeded to work in production for seven years while creating my own independent work on the side. I didn’t give myself an alternative.

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