Karen Ballantyne

Karen Ballantyne grew up in the Northwest Territories and the Yukon spending over 20 years in Canada's far north. As most northerners will admit, the outdoors in winter and summer is very much a part of life and for Karen a major part of growing up. She first discovered her passion for acting while in Whitehorse, Yukon. Her first acting experience was during the eighth grade in a minor role in a school play, which led to her second role as the Blue Caterpillar the following year in her school's production of Alice in Wonderland. After finishing high school, Karen took some time to travel around New Zealand, earn a BSc in Environmental Science and subsequently to work in the environmental field in the Yukon. In the summer of 2009, a feature film began production in the Yukon which renewed her curiosity toward acting. It was a chance encounter with the production that ultimately pushed Karen to take an "Introduction to Theatre" class at Yukon College. The class reignited her passion for acting, while presenting a dilemma in her career path. The result was two temporary leaves of absence from her environmental job before ultimately resigning and making the move to Vancouver, Canada in order to follow her dream of being a professional actor. Since moving to Vancouver, Karen has been cast in fourteen independent short films, in variety of roles, including: a nun, a Russian spy, and a misguided single mother. Ancient Lights was her first full-length feature film in which she plays one of the lead antagonist roles, as a murderous sea witch, The Lorelei. Karen fulfilled two capacities for the short film, The Mary Contest, one as an actor and the other as an Associate Producer. The film has just recently been screened at several film festivals: John Paul II International Film Festival in Miami, Florida; The Black Hills Film Festival in South Dakota; was the winner for Best Short Family Drama at the Bare Bones International Film Festival in Muskogee, Oklahoma; and received an Award of Excellence Winner at the Canada International Film Festival.