Who's the Actress Playing the Source Joan in Black Mirror's Joan is Awful?
Did you struggle to place her?
Black Mirror's season 6 has just dropped, and it's already a hit. The popular British TV series debuted in 2011 and has undergone many transformations since. It even migrated from Channel 4, where it originally aired, to Netflix, which produced seasons 3 through 6.
Notably, Black Mirror is an anthology series, meaning it doesn't have an overarching plot or the same cast of characters. Instead, it is a collection of short films whose only common thread is that they are all set in a future that is even more dystopian than our present yet still has many similarities to our own reality.
Since there is no regular cast, different episodes feature completely different actors, including some A-listers. For instance, episode 1 of the sixth season, Joan Is Awful, stars big-ticket names such as Salma Hayek, Annie Murphy, and Michael Cera. The former two played different versions of the titular character, whose 'source' was portrayed by Kayla Lorette. If this name sounds familiar, here's where you might know it from.
Kayla Lorette is a prolific Canadian actress who has participated in a plethora of projects during her extensive career. Although Kayla's backstory is largely a mystery, her first credited role dates back to 1978 when she played Carol in Canadian Reflections on CBC. The late 2000s marked the real dawn of her career. From 2009 to 2011, Kayla worked on That's So Weird!
2014 saw Kayla collaborate with Kim Cattrall on Sensitive Skin. Kayla also appeared on Schitt's Creek alongside Annie Murphy. During that period of her life, Kayla was also working on Space Riders: Division Earth, where she played Orson Ooze.Furthermore, Kayla Lorette appeared in four episodes of Kim's Convenience and eight episodes of New Eden.
However, the actress's most impressive works have been as a voice actor in animated series. She co-wrote and did voice-overs for various projects, including Cupcake & Dino: General Services, Ollie's Pack, Doomlands, and Gary and His Demons.
And last but not least, Kayla Lorette is really big in Canada. She won The Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award in 2019 and hosted the 7th Canadian Screen Awards the same year. We're probably going to be hearing more about her.