Hot Canadians: Shenae Grimes

Shenae Grimes is our new reigning hot Canadian, as our last May candidate fell apart mid-article. He should really learn to keep it together.

Shenae Grimes is gorgeous. Here's what I assume is a personal photo and it makes me kind of love her.



She is really very normal-girl gorgeous but still manages to be unique and interesting, and she truly has a star quality, I believe. She is from Toronto and is only 18, young even for the Degrassi cast (before the new characters were added she was the youngest).

Shenae Grimes is Darcy on Degrassi. Darcy... until very recently... was so fucking awful. Not PLAYED awfully by any means, so no flack to Shenae. But Darcy was a very frustratingly self-righteous bible thumping cheerleader and everything she was involved with became incredibly convoluted and hypocritical to the point where you could just dive through the tv and shake her. this is what she looks like in the credits:



Here's a rundown: Darcy's first appearance was as the girl who Toby paid 5 bucks to kiss Rick because Rick felt bad that he was getting slaughtered in their bet that they could get more girls to kiss them in a day (Rick lost because everyone hated him because he put Terry in a coma). I am 99% sure that was her first speaking role, though she may have had a line as a cheerleader previously. Anyways. She slowly worked her way in later after Rick shot Jimmy and subsequently shot himself and then Spinner admitted that he had told Rick that Jimmy had pulled the prank that led to the shooting and then all of Spinner's friends hated him and so he was completely alone and befriended Darcy, the only person in a while to be nice to him. They were clearly flirting and then she invited him to Friendship Club, the Christian club. Spinner found their welcoming attitude and lack of judgement over his previous discretions comforting, and so he became something of a member and he and Darcy started dating. She was a virgin, he wasn't (duh, Paige). There was some drama here and there, mostly Spinner being something of a dick and Darcy overreacting because she took everything as a moral outrage because she had no defined personality. Also she was (during this and sometimes after) incredibly self-righteous and judgmental, (the best example being her refusing to let Mia onto the cheerleading squad, despite her being perfect for it, because she was a teen mother). Then her identity crisis started to take over and she started posting racy pictures of herself on the internet, which progressed to nearly porn-like levels when Peter's "friend" Adams, a reader of her blog, offered money for more pictures and she agreed because cheerleading wanted sluttier shorts, and Peter, who sucks, took the pictures. Then Adams, the online stalker, turned out to not be Peter's friend but just a perv and he showed up at her house and there was this whole to-do. Before that, Peter, who sucks, showed Danny and Derek the pictures,and Spinner found out, and they broke up. Then he slept with Paige, then she took him back, then she found out he slept with Paige, then they broke up, then she went to bible camp for the summer and then... they're friends.

So.

Then, somehow, I sort of forget because it was pretty gradual, her and Peter started dating. Hmmmm I really can't remember the specific tipping point. But she was still really internally conflicted about the whole picture thing and sort of got depressed and then she got drunk while at a party at some resort or something and then she got drugged and raped. WHOA. Peter and her broke up because she didn't remember so he just thought that she got drunk and lost her virginity to someone else, and once she remembered she was too ashamed to talk about it, but she finally did and he was pretty supportive... but in the midst of all this she completely lost it and was totally bitchy to everyone, and worst of all, totally started blatantly flirting with Mr. Simpson, and then when he gave her a low grade she said that he had been flirtatious with her and essentially ruined his life because even though she came clean and got cleared... once that kind of thing is out there there's always the slight question, you know? it's really heartbreaking. Anyways. Then she went on this retreat with the kid who killed JT's friend and Peter and some other bad kids, and she finally realized it's not her fault.

SO.

Now her and Peter are dating and she is sort of becoming friends with Spinner's new girlfriend Jane, who I'm not sure if I care for yet, and she's finally humbled and a genuinely good person.

Got it?
Good.

So, she's also been cast as the lead character in the new 90210 (which I am skeptically excited about). That's kind of huge, both because that show is going to generate a TON of hype despite how good it ends up being and will raise her recognizability significantly, and because as far as a I know no other Degrassi kid has yet had a starring role in another show (or even a major role on a non-N show). Pretty major. Her character has been described as "the Brenda", and is named Annie Mills. This is the character that Hilary Duff was going to play (hypothetically). The show centers around 3 generations of her family. The only well known adult cast on the show is Lori Loughlin which means... she might be playing her mom? Loughlin looks way too young for that to me (although she isn't), but okay.

Here's a picture of her at some CW party...



Shenae Grimes is, clearly, kind of awesome. Shenae sang a part of a Christmas record by some band called Fucked Up, with Nelly Furtado and others. Apparently in the song, Shenae wishes Toronto-ans a "Merry fucking whatever!"... which is lovable.

So there you go. Shenae Grimes: Up-and-coming Canadian, and a friend to you and me. And, hopefully, the gays.