‘Set design by God’ can’t hurt TV’s Destiny

By Liam Lacey  (The Globe and Mail )

June 26, 1993

Nancy Sakovich, who plays the only woman warden, has been, until now, better known as a face than a name. Even in the world of fashion, her face is outstanding, and her series of television commercials for Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce created a sensation in the advertising world last year.
 
In her early 20s, Sakovich had a successful fashion-magazine career in Europe before returning to Toronto a few years ago. Modelling was “not that thrilling,” but she says acting was “an instant passion.”
 
“I started developing more of a persona on TV ads, and as I moved up to the 30-second spots, I sort of broke the model image. Models have a reputation for being only able to pose; when they found out I could walk and talk as well, I started getting more interesting jobs.”
 
Acting isn’t completely new to her – she had been a successful TheatreSports competitor in high-school, and she now has several roles in TV series to her credit (Material World and Katts and Dog).
 
But the part of wildlife biologist Julie Fryman (“bold, driven, alluring”) is her biggest role yet. While it may be somewhat difficult to accept the idea of Sakovich as a sheltered, socially insecure academic, she insists the role is not that much of a stretch: “I took environmental studies at university, so this is an area I know something about. I don’t think of Julie as someone who’s running away from anywhere, so much as she’s running toward something; exploring her relationship to nature is a way of learning who she is, of helping her grow up.”