‘A therapy outlet’: Justin Rain shares how acting helped him heal and how he’s giving back

It was there that he started to dabble in the world of acting and quickly found out it was a way for him to cope with the demons of his past.

“I started making friends with people specifically out of the Native Friendship Centre in East Vancouver and I found out there was a theatre group that had meet-ups every Thursday in the basement of the centre and I got invited there one day,” he said. “So, I went down there, and I was inspired by what I was seeing. A group of actors that were completely ok with their past and traumas and their journey and using pieces of their trauma and their past through a creative outlet which was acting.”

At first, he said, he wasn’t comfortable with sharing about his past, particularly his battle with drugs.

“I overdosed three times in high school, and I was still kind of in recovery mode and getting things together when I went out west and making friends in that theatre company, things just kind of led to another and I started taking it a lot more seriously.”

After he was able to express himself through acting and theatre, he sought out therapy through counsellors, which helped him grow in his recovery.

He admitted that he never truly expressed himself growing up, he only hid what was going on inside and refused to face it.

“It almost killed me, and I find a lot of kids today are going through the exact same thing and it’s so important for somebody to just plant the seed or the idea of taking that pain and whatever’s going on for you at home or at school through something creative like drawing, painting, singing, dancing, sports.”

Rain eventually decided to pursue acting full-time and enrolled in film school and from there, he hit the ground running and opportunities opened.

“My first major show was Blackstone, which is on APTN. Then it just dominated into a whole bunch of other works I’ve done like Heartland, Arctic Air, the third Twilight film, Fear The Walking Dead.”

His most recent work came with the science fiction show Resident Alien with Alan Tudyk, where he plays the character of Elliott.

As the conversation continues, Rain smiles at what he has accomplished in his 17 years of acting but knows there is still more he can do to give back.

He’s been able to do that through public speaking engagements at different schools, First Nations communities, conferences, and wellness centres. He not only talks about his past struggles with substance use but also about how a creative outlet like acting and theatre helped him heal.

“It was a therapy outlet,” he said. “I was just doing theatre, sports and acting and workshops and classes to vent my emotion and my trauma for the purpose of that creative outlet and I guess in a lot of ways it saves me because it kept my mind quiet.”

“I was very vocal about living life and sobriety and the importance of that. Once I took that turn and communities from all over the place just started reaching out. They were familiar with me from the TV show (Blackstone), which was very popular when it came out. I started public speaking, another thing I never really thought I would pursue or get pulled into.”

Finally, Rain talked about his hometown of Prince Albert. Despite pursuing acting in Vancouver and living in the Hamilton area with his wife and two dogs, he is still proud to call Prince Albert home, something he never thought he’d say when he first moved to Vancouver.

“What’s really fun is visiting the schools here and the faculty is excited that I’m actually from here and I’ve done what I’ve done in my career,” he said. “It’s good for the kids to see that they can go out and achieve what they want to do outside of this place.”

“I love Prince Albert, I always will. It’s always a part of me and always will be.”

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derek.craddock@pattisonmedia.com

by Derek Craddock

‘A therapy outlet’: Justin Rain shares how acting helped him heal and how he’s giving back

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