Stephanie Izsak is an award-winning actor, writer, and director with over 20 years of experience on stage, mic, and in film and TV. Stephanie has amassed numerous film and TV credits and continues to hold down the law in her fourth season as Central City's sweetest cop, Officer Daisy Korber on the CW’s ‘The Flash’. In this exclusive interview, Izsak will be discussing her new role as Lena in the Netflix Comedy series Blockbuster and her involvement in Animal Justice, Canada’s only national animal law advocacy organization. Continue reading to find out more about Izsak’s career, future projects, and how you can join the fight to help give animals better lives.

Where are you based?
Vancouver, British Columbia.

You are an award-winning actor, a writer, and director. What inspired you to get into this line of work? Do you have a first love?
I started doing plays when I was 11 or 12, and it just suited me. I was high energy, really precocious and theater was an atmosphere that felt exciting and alive. I remember thinking how impossible it seemed that performing could be a job. From there I always saw it as my arena, I was the actor in the family. I loved TV and movies as well, anything performative. There wasn’t a lot of questioning it. That came later!

You have over 20 years of experience on stage, mic, and in film and TV. What has been the highlight of your career so far?
It would be hard to choose one thing. I’m still at the stage in my career where I’m just so happy and excited to work! I will say that the projects I’ve written myself and directed, those are fulfilling on a whole other level… and more stressful! But Blockbuster has been really, really exciting and so much fun.

You are appearing as Lena in the new Netflix comedy series Blockbuster, starring alongside Randall Park and Melissa Fumero. Could you tell us more about this show and your character Lena?
The show is about the last Blockbuster in the world. It's a workplace comedy essentially, and the world Vanessa Ramos and the other writers have created is so quirky and charming and hilarious. My character is Lena. She’s a bit of an outsider and comes home to work at her mom’s bait and tackle store in the same strip mall as the Blockbuster where she meets Timmy (Randall Park). One thing then leads to another…

The second film you wrote and directed, “Consumer” explores the challenges to identity, self-esteem, and body image faced by teens in the age of social media. What inspired this story? What made you want to share it?
This is a story very near to my heart. It is so tough to grow up in our modern world, especially as a young woman and since the advent of the internet. I’ve struggled with body dysmorphia and orthorexia and honestly, I got off easy. These issues are so pervasive and so destructive, yet in a sense we’re all sort of just letting it happen… kids now have to deal with not only homework and their regular insecurities, but they’re also their own brand managers. It’s insane. I was compelled to make a film that took the idea of diet culture to the extreme as a way of saying "Look! We’re turning our young people into monsters." I think it needs to be talked about so much more than it is.

What would you like the viewers to take away from this film?
The film is fast and funny. More than anything I want people to enjoy watching it, but my hope is that it gives parents and anyone who looks to the internet to solve their issues pause. Mental health is finally becoming mainstream, and I hope the film adds to that conversation.

What advice do you have for kids who are struggling with self love in the social media era?
It’s tough, because I often think about what someone could have said to me in my early 20s to make me feel more empowered. I think the most important thing is that we’re told from a very young age that our worth comes from within. I’m also a huge believer in mentorship and therapy, and all of the things that help you get closer with the real ‘you’. Nothing on the internet can diminish your worth. Nothing. That can be a hard concept to wrap your head around when you’re young and everything feels so heightened. Sometimes I think that kids just have to go through it and discover that when they’re ready. I’m still discovering it! Yeah…its a tough world we’ve built, but I’m cautiously optimistic that young people are getting smarter and authenticity is becoming the cool thing.

‘Parabola', is your next screenplay in the wings. Can you tell us a bit about this film?
Yes! This was actually the first film I wrote over the pandemic. It’s about a young women who is in recovery, newly widowed and experiences episodes of sleep paralysis. It’s an examination of grief and healing and how we view alternative forms of healing. It’s a psychological sci-fi horror, which is a mouthful! I’m really proud of it and can’t wait to make it. We have big plans for the sleep paralysis sections of the film — my creative team and I are cooking up a lot of practical special effects that will be bigger than anything we’ve ever done.

We hear you are hard at work on your first feature film 'White Meat', which explores society's comfortable relationship with violence through a grifter woman who finds employment on a hog farm. This sounds very intense. Can you tell us a bit more about this film and when and where we can see it?
I do a lot of advocacy work for animal welfare and one of the things that I keep coming up against is how both as the individual and as a society we are so accepting of pain and suffering. And I don’t only mean the animals. The people who work on these huge factory farms cause horrific pain and suffering to another living thing day in and day out. I wonder what that does to their mental health. We’ve built economies on this pain. It’s baffling and something that I think, if we zoom out on it and actually examine what’s happening, we don’t feel is acceptable. And yet we accept it. So the film will look at that. It’s still in the development phase.

It seems like you enjoy tackling tricky issues in the films you create. Why is this important to you?
It’s what excites me. I love working on Blockbuster, in my role on The Flash, and all of the work I do in film and TV, I absolutely love it. But where the cracks are in our society and looking at how we function and struggle, that’s always what I come back to when thinking about what stories I want to dedicate myself to telling. But trust me, I am so grateful not everyone thinks this way because we need TV and film that transports us out of how tough life can be. Give me some popcorn and a romcom any day.

In addition to being a talented artist, we love that you are passionate about animal rights! Will we be seeing any films about this in the future?
White Meat! I’d also love to do a documentary on the state of factory farms in Canada. If anyone out there wants to talk about that, I’m here!

You work closely with Animal Justice, Canada’s only national animal law advocacy organization. Can you tell us about this organization and what you do with them?
I’ve been working with Animals Justice for a few years. I found them because of the ‘Animal Justice Academy’ that they host once a year. It's six weeks of online education about every aspect of animal welfare activism, from petitioning local grocers to carry more meatless options to meeting with local government to advocate for better laws and policies. The Animal Justice team has been behind so many incredible and successful campaigns in Canada. They were instrumental in getting the cetacean ban in place for all Canadian aquariums, are actively fighting the export of live horses to China, and just released a shocking investigation into roadside zoos in support of the Jane Goodall Act, which is going to vote in the Canadian government soon. I am so in awe of the work they do. With their help I’ve started meeting with my local government representatives to discuss Ag-Gag laws, which are laws that seek to criminalize advocacy work on factory farms. We’re currently fighting Bill C-275, an Ag-Gag legislature which would make undercover investigative work on farms more punishable than animal cruelty. It’s so backwards.

How did you get involved with this organization and why is this important to you?
I encourage everyone to check out the Animal Justice Academy! Thats how I found them. Animal welfare has just always been in my heart. I also think that we’re waking up to the fact that we don’t need to make other living things suffer to have good lives. I like to think that, globally, our understanding is spreading. We can do better.

Animals don’t have the ability to fight for themselves. In an ideal world, how would you like to see animals treated? Would you get rid of factory farms altogether?
100%. Our reliance on the meat industry is destructive on every level — to the environment, to our bodies and obviously the animals suffer the most. I’m not naive enough to think that we’re headed towards a vegan world tomorrow, but the reason factory farms are so awful is because they’re designed to do things quickly and cheaply. If the entire system was reimagined, much like farming is in a broader sense, then we could do better and give the animals better lives.

It has been a rough few years, how have you been staying positive?
Lots of podcasts, snuggles with my cat, exercise and a mildly unhealthy obsession with skincare. It seems like the news cycle is worse than ever, but for me I can’t focus on that. I can do my part to support the things I believe in, and then get on with it. If you’re down on the world, go get inspired. That’s part of why I love being an actor and why there’s so much content being made right now. We need beautiful things to remind us why we’re here.

What is your motto in life?
I don’t really have one, although I’ve always loved the Meryl Streep quote, “I want to feel my life while I’m in it.” To me it means trying to stay in the moment and make the most of the time we’ve got.

To learn more about Stephanie Izsak and the organizations she works with, please follow the platforms/websites below:
Instagram:
@animaljustice
@consumerthefilm
@stephanieizsak

Website:
Animal Justice
The Excelsior 4

Stephanie Izsak - A Hero for Animal Justice