Local connection to new hit ABC series
Shannon LeClair -Times Reporter
Rookie Blue has been on the air for three weeks and already the show has been dubbed the #1 scripted show on ABC in six years for the summer slot. It’s also taken first place for the year on any network on any scripted show.
The instant hit is 100 per cent Canadian, from its actors to the directors and producers. One of the Rookies, Chad Diaz, known to his friends as Travis Milne, has ties to Strathmore. His grandfather Hans Flatla was a veterinarian in town for 11 years and was well known in the vet industry, and his mother Patricia O’Conner used to live in Strathmore at one time.
“My mom was really influential in my acting career. She was the first to laugh at my jokes and really gave me the encouragement I needed to go for it. When I told her I was going to theatre school she was excited for it,” said Milne.
Milne recalls being 17 and his drama teacher Joan Metchooyeah telling him he should apply to drama school, which he shrugged off.
“I was like oh yeah, ok whatever, I was going to go to the University of Alberta to become a sports therapist because I was a really big jock, every sport I could do, I played,” said Milne.
He went to Senior Bowl, which is like Alberta try outs for the best Alberta football players, and on the same weekend he auditioned for theatre school in Red Deer at Red Deer College, RDC.
“I went there for two years, I took the theatre diploma course and after that I did another two years of film training and got my Applied Degree of Film Acting as well at RDC,” said Milne. After being in the industry for a few years, things started to get tough and Milne started to rethink his career path, especially if he wanted to eat.
“I had worked for two years in Vancouver and toughed it out and said I had to do something to make money. I was planning to go back to school to get a power engineering certificate and then I auditioned, it was the last audition I was ever going to do before going back to trade school.”
He had never wanted to fall into the stereotype of the aspiring actor working as a waiter or bartender, and so he would find labour jobs like landscaping and carpentry.
“There’s something in working with your hands that is unlike anything else, there’s nothing better then being able to step away and look at what you’ve accomplished,” said Milne.
He treats his acting like a tradesman would treat his work. “I take it very seriously and I think that entertainment is a vital part of our society and what we need to keep us going. People love to laugh and need to be swept away in a story.”
The producers of Rookie Blue had seen Milne’s work in the Canadian independent film Leslie, My Name Is Evil, and they liked him so much they sought him out. After the audition it took nearly three weeks of waiting before Milne found out he had been given the part of Chad Diaz.
“The weeks of waiting were excruciating but once I found out it was like the greatest feeling I’ve ever felt. It was like winning the lottery plus a huge weight off my shoulders,” said Milne. While filming, Milne lives in Toronto, but during the off time, he splits his time between Vancouver and Los Angeles. He signed a six-year contract with ABC and if all goes well he said he might move to Toronto.
“If I could make a T-shirt of Chris Diaz it would be Mr. Manual. He’s like, Mr. by the book,” said Milne. “Everyone on the show is phenomenal, so kind, so sweet. I couldn’t say who is my favourite character on the show is.” His favourite episode is coming up in about six episodes and though he couldn’t say what will be happening, he did say it has Parkour, which originated in France, in it. Parkour is when people jump, vault and climb over buildings and such, without the aide of harnesses or bungees.
“I can’t tell you anything else, but it has that in it and it was so much fun be on set and to watch that guy do his thing and that will be coming in about six episodes,” said Milne.
He is currently on his way back to Toronto from Vancouver, and is stopping to see family along the way. The call came in July 12 that ABC and Global have decided to start filming a second season after only three weeks on the air.