It is rare to hear someone as honest and expressive as Sook-Yin Lee. But for this musician, former MuchMusic VJ, current CBC broadcaster, actress, writer and director, developing her idiosyncratic voice has been a life’s work. Although Lee has been a storyteller from a very young age—recounting hours of elaborate plays and performances before captured audiences—she has not always been a fit for TV and radio.
At 15, she left her Vancouver family home and found a group of multi-disciplined artists who provided her “formative education”. They started bands like Bob’s Your Uncle, and Lee recalls how people plugged their ears while she sang and screamed atonally. “But,” she says, “I was very lucky to be growing up at a time when no one would ever think of playing someone else’s music. It was all original music, the more distinct, the better.” From then on, she felt encouraged to work with the raw quality of her voice to produce a sound of her own.
Lee learned to feel resonance and authenticity in that sound as she progressed in her songwriting. “You might think that a story is finished, but then you come back to it and think, ‘Oh my gosh, look how shallow I’ve gone!’ You can always challenge yourself to find the deeper truth. I don’t even know if I end up at the truth, but I end up at something that to me feels honest.” Now, as the host of CBC Radio 1’s Definitely Not the Opera, it is clear that Lee’s honesty resonates equally with her guests.
Over the last few years, Lee has more than dabbled in the roles of actress and filmmaker. Her interest in characters who wrestle with their inadequacies and their sexuality is characteristic of her work, notably in “The Brazilian”—the chapter Lee wrote, directed and performed in, for the film The Toronto Stories—and through her controversial leading role in John Cameron Mitchell’s Shortbus. In these films, Lee explores the depths of vulnerability and brokenness by literally exposing her own nakedness. In particular, she challenges the common perceptions of sexuality and defines them in her own terms. She says, “Often the media’s idea of sex is a fantasy of what we want to have, but it’s interesting that we don’t reflect more upon what it really is.”
Lee’s most recent accomplishment is her first feature film, Year of the Carnivore, which she wrote and directed. She also co-composed the score. The film returns to the theme of sexuality, and follows a young woman whose unsuccessful attempts at sex prompt her to blackmail men into giving her “lessons”.
Witnessing Lee work with her actors on-set is a humbling experience. While she may ask them to interpret difficult subject matter, during the filming of Year of the Carnivore, it was clear that Lee’s cast knew they could rely on her. She prioritized their performance above all else, continuously encouraging them to take risks, even occasionally at the expense of production. When Lee talked to her actors, it was almost impossible for the crew to interrupt. Even in the cramped quarters of an intimate set, and in the rush to get back on schedule, she stole time to run quick improvisation sessions before a take. Nothing seemed more important than making her actors feel prepared. “As a storyteller I am dependent on my actors,” Lee explains. “They’re expressing the story and so it’s really important for me to have clear communication with them.” If the actors held back from the discomfort and pain their characters experience, Lee pushed them to go deeper. “I remember there was one scene where I was literally yelling at the actors that I didn’t believe them. I had to challenge them until they broke through that barrier in their performance, and get to the place they needed to be.”
Lee is very thankful for these moments. After calling cut on a particularly difficult scene, she rushed out and embraced her lead actress. With tears falling from her face, she thanked her: “You nailed it.” And though she admits she demands a lot from her actors, she says, “I do it in a way that they always know I’ve got their back.” Sook-Yin Lee: frank, forthright, unique and unafraid. A great Canadian voice.
Photos: Bob Akester.
