She might be the busiest actor in Toronto. But Sophia Walker loves the hustle

Last fall, she delivered a spellbinding, no-holds-barred performance in “Slave Play,” Jeremy O. Harris’s incendiary dramatic treatise about race in America. She then recently wrapped up a run at Coal Mine Theatre in “Eureka Day,” about a private school grappling with progressive ideals, a raging debate about vaccination mandates and an outbreak of mumps.

Next month, Walker is set to play the title character in the Canadian premiere of “Clyde’s,” a comedy about a sandwich shop run by ex-convicts looking for a second chance. And then in the summer, the Canadian actor is off to the Shaw Festival, where she’ll take on the lead role in “Ohio State Murders” as well as a yet-be-announced part in an untitled new work by the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. 

For those counting, that’s five big roles in five major productions all in the span of a year. It’s been a hustle. But Walker, who might be the busiest working actor in the city right now, is loving every bit of it.

“It’s been such a blessing,” she said in a recent interview with the Star, in between performances on a two-show day at Coal Mine Theatre. “I’m someone who’s fairly spiritual and I just feel that I’ve started to align with where I’m supposed to be, that the timing feels so right for these plays I just so happen to be saying ‘yes’ to.”

With a schedule as jam-packed as Walker’s — when she’s concluded one production she’s usually straight into rehearsals for the next — it could be easy for a performer to treat each role as just another gig. But Walker possesses the rare ability to make every part feel singular.

One of the finest dramatic actors working in Toronto today, Walker is known especially in recent years for tackling Herculean roles, women confident in their own skin and unafraid to give voice to their innermost feelings. No matter the part, she lends a sense of gravitas to each. So much so that when Walker’s characters speak, the audience always listens.

Her role in “Slave Play” has been her more significant to date. As Kaneisha, a Black woman in an interracial relationship who’s participating in “antebellum sexual performance therapy” to reignite her love life with her white partner, Walker was tremendous. Even in her stillness, you could feel Kaneisha’s internalized hurt. Later in the play, when her character unleashed a guttural scream that rips through the theatre, it was as if a dam has burst, setting free all those emotions.

Walker, who hails from Toronto, cites “Slave Play” as one of the most formative productions she’s worked on. “I started really terrified, and then I eventually moved into a place of real ownership,” she said of the production. “We were talking about stuff that I had held on to for so long. When you are a minority in rooms all the time, you carry stuff with you. So to finally be in a place where you can let all of that out — it was liberating.” 

Jordan Laffrenier, who directed that production of “Slave Play,” described Walker as an actor who can “meet every moment with incredible honesty.” He added: “She has a willingness to dive so deep into a character and an ability to humanize the character in a way that helped make the production soar.” 

Walker’s success is a product of her hard work. She keeps to a regimented schedule when she’s performing. Before a show, she’ll take her toy poodle Teddy for a walk and go the gym. Usually, she’s the first person at the theatre, arriving two- to two-and-a-half hours before showtime. She’ll then go through a strict routine of physical and vocal warm-ups. 

“She just has such a strong work ethic,” said director Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu, who directed Walker in “Flex,” about a girls’ basketball team. “She’s not the kind of person who would ever wing anything.” 

Walker’s discipline extends to the prep work she does even before rehearsals begin. When Walker first receives her script for a show, sometimes up to a year in advance, she likes to record herself reading every line and stage direction. Then, like an audiobook, she’s listen to that recording whenever she walks Teddy. 

“I just need time for it to start to percolate,” she explained. “And it’s the time I give myself prior to the rehearsals that helps enrich how far I can get in the rehearsal.”

In person, Walker exudes warmth, often wearing a wide-eyed grin that stretches across her face. She’s thoughtful, even philosophical, in her answers, especially when speaking about her career. But she’s also incredibly humble, too, frequently citing the indelible mark left on her by directors and teachers early in her career. 

Indeed, Walker’s career as an actor almost occurred by happenstance. As a child, she thought she’d became an athlete. She was a star on the track, racing the 100 metre, 200 metre and relay sprints.

Her first experience on stage came late in elementary school, in a student production of the musical “Really Rosie,” featuring music by Carole King. “I didn’t know anything about how to audition, so I sang ‘O Canada,’” she recalled with a chuckle. “And they said that I had a voice.”

Encouraged by her music teacher, Walker then auditioned for Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts, an arts-focused high school in North York, where she specialized in acting. But it was only by Walker’s final year of high school when she decided that she wanted to act professionally. Then, after receiving a theatre degree from Toronto Metropolitan University, Walker was accepted to the Stratford Festival’s Birmingham Conservatory, a training program for emerging actors. 

She ended up staying at Stratford for nine years. (She would later return for several additional seasons.) There, her most significant roles include Sybil in Noël Coward’s “Private Lives,” Calpurnia in “To Kill a Mockingbird” and Vera, a nurse at an AIDS hospice, in Nick Green’s “Casey and Diana.”

But it took Walker leaving Stratford and returning to Toronto for her to come into her own, booking some of the most significant roles of her career that have pushed her as an artist. 

“For a long time, I was trying to be the actor that everybody else wanted me to be, or what I thought I needed to be,” she said. “But when you’re in the city, hustling and trying to figure it out, I think that gave me permission to start to listen to what really mattered to me.”

As for what’s next after this busy season of theatre, Walker’s dream is to someday be on Broadway or appear in a musical. (Outside of school, she’s never done a musical.) She’d also love to tour and bring shows around the world. But she’s also trying to stay present amid these current streak of shows. 

“I’m so grateful for these characters that I get to play,” she reflected. “The reason I want to keep doing what I’m doing is that I really am learning so much about myself. And there’s no other job that gives you the space, the time, the permission to look at all these sides of yourself.”

“Clyde’s” runs from April 11 to 26 at the Bluma Appel Theatre, 27 Front St. E. See canadianstage.com or call 416-368-3110 for tickets and more information.