Episode 057: Teryl Rothery -- Actor, Stargate SG-1, Cedar Cove, Best in Show, The Good Doctor

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What we cover: “A fall doesn't have to be perceived as a fall. It can be a trip. Or a stumble." – Teryl Rothery

This week’s Guest Titan is flipping amazing. I first met Teryl Rothery, about 18 years ago – I’ll tell you how I know it was a long time ago – I was an ad copywriter at an agency here in Vancouver, and I’d written some radio scripts for a national telco. And the product we were advertising was – wait for it – the Yellow Pages. Like, the hard copy, yellow pages phone books. One of the voice actors, we hired for the scripts was Teryl Rothery. That’s how long ago I met Teryl – we were still in the days of advertising the arrival of phone books at our doorsteps, letting people know that they were on their way. And I am going to post that radio spot in the show notes – because why not?! Go to MJDionne.com, click on the podcaster tab, and you’ll see Teryl’s show notes banner there. Easy!

In between Seasons One and Two, I took the summer off from recording Tea with a Titan episodes. And it’s a good feeling to know you miss something, because I missed it. And I am so happy to be back. But one of the things I’m committed to doing is shortening my introductions, so that we can get right to the meat – or the tofu – of the episode. Which in today’s case, is my chat with Teryl. In a nutshell, to set the stage, Teryl played the role of Dr Janet Frasier for 7 seasons of Stargate SG-1. She was Grace Sherman alongside Andie MacDowell for 3 seasons of Cedar Cove, and truth told, her filmography on Wikipedia is – and I tell her this in our conversation – exhausting: X-Files, The Outer Limits, Super Natural, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, Best in Show with Christopher Guest, Arrow, and, she’s also part of ABC’s new medical drama, The Good Doctor – which premiers on September 25th, 2017. Which very well could be yesterday, if you’re listening to this on the day we post.

Teryl is instantly likeable, but more than that, she’s just got a wisdom to her that I’ve always admired. Acting is a profession that has a built-in level of “the unknown” to it – and no matter the field or path we each pursue, wrapping our heads around being okay with uncertainty is a skill that would do us all a fair bit of good.

The reason I started this series, is so that my two daughters, Majella (who we call JouJou) and Burgess (who we call Birdie) will have an inventory of inspiring conversations with paradigm-busters to draw upon for those times in their lives when they feel stuck. Each conversations give me the gift of at least one perspective shift – a new way of looking at the situation. And I want to thank Teryl for reminding me that a “fall” doesn’t have to be perceived as a “fall”. We can perceive it as a trip, or a stumble. How liberating is that?!

MJDionne.com