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.

Hot Canadians: Cassie Steele

Hooray! My first Degrassi cast member!!!


Cassie Steele, if any of you POSSIBLY don't know in which case you hate good television, is Manny on Degrassi. She fucking rocks. I will do my best to summarize her tv life for you, but it's from memory so don't hate if I leave something out. Also, I'm sorry if it gets a little long, if you don't want the background skip to the next paragraph.

Manny is best friend with Emma since forever, she used to be kind of nerdy because she was really little and, well, Emma was nerdy, and she hung out with JT and Toby and Liberty... this is the central underclass group of friends. She has very overbearing parents, or I guess just her dad but her mom never helps. She has been in love with Craig since he showed up in the early seasons as a transfer student with an abusive father (we'll get to that in Jake Epstein's eventual post... hot.). She decided to rebel in I believe 9th grade and started dressing super hot, because she is, culminating in the thong incident. Then everyone wanted her, she wanted Craig. She had a brief flirtation with Spinner, I believe before she started hooking up with Craig by seducing him once, and then again at a rave, and they started regularly cheating on his current GF, Ashley. Craig told Manny had broken up with Ashley after a while, even though he hadn't, abd then he was then when she found out he was lying, he told her the same thing again... and was lying again. Craig is sort of a douche. BUT THEN Manny was pregnant, and Craig got really excited because he's kind of nuts and desperate for affection because of the whole dad thing and him being bipolar, and so he wanted to keep it and like start a family, but she didn't and got an abortion because, well, they're 16.Then (I think) she had a brief flirtation with Spinner, causing a major rift with him and Paige. Those last 4 things may be all out of order, I've never watched it straight through. Oh, but after the Craig thing, everyone for NO GOOD REASON just started thinking Manny was a huge slut and being really mean to her... because as she says to JT when he wants to ask her to the dance but almost doesn't because Spinner says she's a slut, Craig was the one cheating on HIS girlfriend, but no one ever talks about that,do they? I'm pretty sure I just directly quoted Degrassi from memory. NICE. But she goes with JT and they kind of date for a second but then break up because he gets really insecure after she sees his penis in the hot tub (JT is not well endowed it's a running joke.) Then there's a little break in Manny drama, but the next season when she's gotten all hot and shit she starts seriously pursuing her dream of being an actress, but an agent calls her fat and the wrong body type (partially because entertainment is cruel, partially because of the HEINOUS outfit she wears, and partially because that agent is a moron), and so Manny gets upset and wants to get a boob job but her parents find out and kick her out of the house and she gets really drunk and shows peter (the new guy who Emma likes but who wants Manny, who Manny won't go out with because Emma likes him so now he's pissed and, as we find out he is a SLIME) her boobs at a party and he films it and sends it to the whole school. She moves in with Emma and lives there for a while. This chronology may be really screwed up. Anyways... later she is still with Craig and he is a musician and he comes back and is on coke and she tries it and is HILARIOUS but then realizes that he loves drugs more than her and she totally faces him and it's her most awesome episode ever. THEN after JT dies she starts trying to help mend the fences between Degrassi and Lakehurst and kind of dates Damien who is their student council president, but it doesn't go anywhere because of the whole school war and whatnot, plus this season him not wanting the schools to unify. Oh yeah and throughout the whole early part she's a cheerleader, the choreographer and obviously the best one, who has a huge like nemesis relationship with Paige, the head cheerleader, hence the hitting on Spinner and breaking her leg kind of intentionally when Kevin Smith was visiting. Oh and now she's super punk and cool and just turned 18 and brought Jay as her date and FINALLY convinced her dad to let her act. GOT ALL THAT? Jeez. I am going to have to do this for every character. I'm so pumped.

ANYWAYS so that's what I have for you about Manny right now, but we're here to talk about Cassie, who seems just really awesome. She's far more interesting and hardcore seeming than the show she's on would have you predict, she has a pierced nose and her hair is ever changing. Also, she's a singer, and I have to say pretty good. Here's a video of her doing one of her songs, look how cute she is!



I was facebook friends with her for like a month before the degrassi people all went private or deleted... I'm not sure they realize how much people love them... but anyways she had lots of picture she takes at her computer, which I think is endearing... here's one:
that's her room in the background... she is surprising. Her music career seems to be really going somewhere which is very cool... I always go on her myspace to request that she do a show in Los Angeles, but it seems like those kids rarely leave Toronto except for events in New York... but someday it'll happen.

So the vital stats: she was born in 1989 making her way too young to want to hang out with her this bad. She's been on Degrassi since it started. She's a regular guest star on The Best Years, and is great and completely different that Manny, and it's nice to see that range in her. She's obviously gorgeous. Pretty much she kicks the most ass on Degrassi (even though I am reluctant to declare her my favorite character, as I'm a little obsessed with some of the others as well.)

You should download her music, watch degrassi, and find out all "aboot" Cassie Steele. See what I did there.