Billy Merasty brings lightness to Winnipeg-shot drama Aberdeen

These days, if you see Billy Merasty on a Winnipeg street, you're most likely to recognize him as Roger Laughingstick, the low-key zany DJ spinning platters that matter for the fictional Grouse Lake First Nation of the CTV Comedy series Acting Good.

In that context, it may come as a surprise to see him in the feature drama Aberdeen in the role of Alfred, the loyal two-spirit friend of the titular character (played by Gail Maurice).

In the film — which premiered earlier this year at the Toronto International Film Festival and is now screening elsewhere, including a run at Cinema City Northgate in Winnipeg, where the movie was shot — Aberdeen is a woman of barely controlled fury who attempts to navigate government bureaucracy in an effort to claim her grandchildren from the foster care system.

Whenever possible, the street-smart Alfred is there to cool Aberdeen's fire.

Merasty's portrayal likewise lightens the film's dark and gritty atmosphere with moments of lightness and humour.

Its co-directors, Ryan Cooper (who based the story on his own experiences on the streets of Winnipeg) and Eva Thomas, say they relied on Merasty to lighten the overall heaviness of the drama.

"He brings a light," Thomas said. "He sparkles."

Cooper credits Merasty with using his innate charm to keep the film in balance.

"I wanted to create pockets of humour that would break up the trauma we were all going through," said Cooper, who hails from Peguis First Nation in Manitoba's Interlake.

From Brochet to hit TV show

The first thing to know about Merasty is that, if you do happen to see him on a Winnipeg street, he is likely working. For the better part of 41 years, the Cree actor's home base has been Toronto, although he is quick to announce northern Manitoba as the place of his birth.

"I was born and raised on the land in Brochet, Man., at the northern tip of Reindeer Lake," Merasty, 64, said in a phone interview from his Toronto home. He was the ninth of 14 siblings.

"When I was 18, I just finished high school and I left and I came to Toronto, where I had two uncles, Uncle Tomson and Uncle René," he says, referring to celebrated playwright Tomson Highway and his likewise celebrated brother, the late dancer-choreographer René Highway.

In Toronto, he established himself as a theatre actor and one-shot playwright (with Fireweed, produced in 1992 in Toronto and Vancouver).

"Toronto has always been good to me," Merasty said. "I tried to live in Winnipeg three times, but it just never worked out for me. But I've worked in Winnipeg many times, in theatre, film and TV."

He is especially grateful to have found work in Manitoba on the series Acting Good.

"It saved me. It saved my career," Merasty said. "I was 61 when I was contacted, and by then I thought my career was basically over and I wasn't able to win any work through the audition process."

He got the call to audition for Roger Laughingstick "after about eight years of disappointment," he said.

"And the first thing that came to my head was: 'Oh no, not another role to lose.' I was in that space."

Of course, he got the role, and Acting Good has become the top-rated show on CTV's Comedy Channel.

"It has rejuvenated my career at a point when a lot of artists retire," he said, adding that his stage experience comes in handy when taking on Roger Laughingstick's verbose tendencies.

"In theatre, when I got started, you'd have to memorize two hours of work," he said. "That experience lends itself to TV, especially a role like Roger, where he does a lot of monologues and says a lot of fancy titles and fancy band names.

"Those can be tongue-twisters, and it can take a long time to get through that with my Cree tongue," he said, laughing. "But it's so fun."

Aberdeen's story 'complex and very infuriating'

Taking on the role of Alfred in Aberdeen presented different challenges, but playing a two-spirit character was not one of them.

"I've always been openly gay in my career and in my life," Merasty said.

He acknowledged Aberdeen is tonally a far cry from the goofy fun of Acting Good.

"It's quite serious, very heavy and complex and very infuriating," Merasty said.

Merasty allows that the role may represent a side of co-director Cooper, who is also proudly two-spirit. The character of Alfred reflects "the lived experience of a gay Native man in Winnipeg, and that came through in the script in very profound and truthful writing," said Merasty.

"It's rare that I jump into skirts and high heels and makeup," Merasty said. "But I understand the whole notion of being … of two spirits, male and female," he said.

"And I would like to say that I have depended on both of them, not only in my life, but in my career, having to do certain roles that I'm required to go in full drag and other roles that are more of the male world.

"I like playing around with both."

Merasty said he would like to dedicate his character in the film "to that sector of Winnipeg individuals who are two-spirited, to those who have to negotiate the streets of Winnipeg."

"[They] are tough and inventive and really cool and friendly, and they've got big hearts because they know the rejection," he said. "That happens a lot on the streets of Winnipeg."