MAYA………….Kyra Justine Levy……………..a few questions answered………….

Map: WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO I NTHE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS?

KL: The last 2 and a half years of my life have been focusing most of my time on what I REALLY love to do, and that is to sing and write lyrics. Two and a half years ago I met the Frenchman of my dreams in the Dominican Republic. We wrote 9 songs in 6 weeks and then he followed me back to Toronto to put our band together and record our CD. My

band is called PSYCHO KEY, the CD is called `Wicked Dream’. It is my baby. I worked on it for 9 months!!! And I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the help of the Playing With Time Foundation. Now, I am working VERY hard to promote PSYCHO KEY and share my music with the world. If anybody is interested in getting a copy of my CD, it can be purchased through the Internet at: www.indiepool.com (then look for psycho key under artists)

So that’s it. PSYCHO KEY is basically my life now.

I also work p/t at City TV doing Hospitality and Front Reception. I love it. Am I still acting? Well, acting will always be one of my passions, but unfortunately I haven’t done anything on-camera for quite a while. The reason being, actually, because I am now focusing more on the Voice-Over industry which I adore just as much (but I do miss being in front of the camera). My voice is currently on a Sunny Delight commercial which is on in Canada and in the States and it airs quite a lot. I also did two small parts on cartoons, which was SO much fun.

MAP: How old are you ?

KL:

AGE: 25 years

BIRTHDAY: July 3, 1973

MARITAL STATUS: common-law

CHILDREN: 0

SCHOOL: Graduated from Ryerson University in `94 with a BAA in Radio & TV Arts

DEGRASSI FRIENDS IN REAL LIFE: Lucy (Anais) & Caitlin (Stacie)

DEGRASSI CO-ACTORS I’VE RUN INTO LATELY: Dwayne, Snake, & Liz and two weeks ago, Bronco, yes, it is him in the Levi’s ad!!!), & Christian Campbell (Neve’s brother who was an extra on Degrassi ).

MAP: HOW WERE YOU CHOSEN?

KL: I’ll try to make a long story short, a friend of mind hesitantly gave me the info sheet for auditioning for DJH. They had come to her school (Arlington), I spent the night typing up a resume and the proper info, I found a picture, and my mom took it in the next day.

I then got called in to audition (a monologue piece they filmed), I think I got called in for 2 more auditions before I was accepted into the workshops. The Degrassi workshops lasted 2/3 weeks, I can’t remember exactly, and at the end of each week, they would cut people out of it and downsize the group, and finally after the workshops were completed, they told us to expect a

Call at a certain time on a certain date,,, then BBBBRRRIIINNNNNGGGG, my whole family was jumping up and down with tears of joy.

MAP: WHEN I WAS HIRED

KL: The second season of Degrassi Junior High

MAP: DID I REPLACE AVRIANNA?

KL: I never even met her. But, after I was hired, I got a call and they asked me if I would mind playing a character in a wheelchair. I was just so excited to be on the show, I said I didn’t mind at all. I suppose they wanted to have a disabled character. PWT was always really big on showing the reality, that is why they also had a very large multi-cultural diversity of people on the show.

MAP: DO YOU REALLY HAVE SPINA BIFIDA. I HAVE HEARD YOU HAVE CHARIE-MARIE TOOTH SYNDROME, AS MENTIONED IN LINDA CRABTREE'S CHARIE-MARIE TOOTH SYNDROME NEWSLETTER

KL: In real life, unlike Maya who had Spina Bifida, I have a neurological, hereditary disease called Charcot-Marie-Tooth (the 3 last names of the people who discovered it. It is a form of muscular dystrophy. I wear feet braces on my lower legs That stop just below my knees, but thank God, I do not need a wheelchair.

MAP: IF YOU COULD EXPAND YOUR CHARACTER, HOW WOULD YOU DO IT?

KL: Well I can’t really think of exact scenarios, but obviously I would want to make Maya a leading role like Joey Jeremiah was!!! But seriously, Maya, even though the character was never really fully developed, was a big role model to a lot of people – especially kids in wheelchairs or who have disabilities. There was one episode where Maya was shown dancing for a quick moment in her wheelchair. Well it is precious moments like that that inspire and motivate a lot of kids, not only kids with disabilities. So, I would want a lot more moments like that, where Maya is actively doing things, anything and everything, that show other kids that they, too can do whatever they put their minds

(within some limits, of course). I would also have loved to have had a love interest on the show – that’s always fun!!! And I think it’s important to send out the message that disabled people can be just as sexy and beautiful as physically able-bodied human beings.

MAP: WAS MAYA DEVELOPPED ENOUGH?

KL: No, I don’t feel she was. There was so much more they could have done with the character. They started to touch on her and the disability issue more in the episode with the `Have-not club’, but I was disappointed that they didn’t take that any further.

MAP: WHY DIDN'T YOU HAVE SPEAKING LINES UNTIL THE 4TH SEASON?

KL: I dunno.

MAP: HOW DO PEOPLE REACT WHEN THEY SEE THAT YOU DID NOT USE A WHEELCHAIR IN
REAL LIFE?

KL: Well, they don’t always make the connection right away and it bugs them, cause they know they recognize me from something!

MAP: OTHER JEWISH ACTORS ON THE SHOW?

KL: I’m sure there are. I just can’t think of who right now. I know that Lucy is part Jewish.

KL: love to all Degrassi fans… KYRA (MAYA)