Dakota Daulby loves to get out of Vancouver once in a while and visit his grandparents in 108 Mile Ranch.
It's so quiet and peaceful, says the 19-year-old actor.
That's what Lonia and Dave Craig, 108 Mile residents for close to eight years now, like about it, too. Like their grandson, Daulby, they enjoy a lot of the same outdoor activities many folks around the South Cariboo do. Things like snowmobiling in the winter and fishing in the summer.
They also get a kick out of their grandson's on-screen performances when he sends them DVDs of different projects he's in. Currently, Daulby plays a recurring character named “Kent” on a TV show called Falling Skies, a science fiction drama into its fourth season. Steven Spielberg is an executive producer on the show and Daulby works alongside actors like Noah Wyle (ER), Moon Bloodgood (Terminator Salvation) and Will Patton (Armageddon). He's also in a movie, soon to be released, called Sitting on the Edge of Marlene (2014).
Daulby also has writing and directorial aspirations. He studies at New Image College of Fine Arts, a private academy for acting in Vancouver.
Daulby says he's thankful and lucky to be where he is with respect to his career in the film industry. It's something he always wanted to do – something his grandma can attest to.
“We used to see him out in the yard, talking away to himself, thinking, 'Oh, boy. What's wrong with this child'?'' she explains, laughing.
“I don't know what it was. He was always studying or becoming a different person. Someone always has to go over lines with him. We all become a character in his latest show or adventure or what have you. He's been like that for quite a few years.”
She adds it's sort of a bizarre feeling watching some of his performances now, especially when he's portraying “nasty” characters.
“It's hard to look at him in these roles and have him portray somebody else when you know he's not like that. Then you think, 'Wow. He's doing that really well'.”
Daulby says he gets that sort of reaction from friends, too. Before he did it professionally, acting started as something like an escape for him when he was younger. It allowed him to become “someone you're not, he explains.
“Portraying something that's not ourselves, getting out of your comfort zone, that's something every actor dreams off. That's what we love to do.”
The film business is a hard one to get into, he adds. But for young people looking to break-in, he says, “if you're true to yourself and you're kind and you're an easy person to work with, above all, things fall in place eventually. You just have to trust yourself.”
Lonia says her grandson has worked hard to get to where he's at.
“As a family, we're right there behind him. I hope his dreams come true.”