The Prime years offer a chance to check off items on your bucket list.
Wise-cracking retired military corporal Yvonne Davidson always wanted to try acting and stand-up comedy but wasn't sure where or how to begin.
"I was always too chicken," she said.
A chance meeting with a mall Santa led to her first acting job.
That gave her the confidence to pursue roles as an extra in movies shot in northeastern Ontario and to audition for CityTv's "Canada's Got Talent."
Davidson, who just turned 69, has created an alter ego named Naughty Nana Duz (whatever she wants), a gal who just wants to have fun. Nana's Cape Breton accent and opinions on just about everything has an impressive social media following.
She got two minutes of fame on Canada Has Talent in March 2022.
How did she get started?
After she and her husband, Doug, retired to Sudbury – Doug served with the Peel Regional Police – she met Dale Pepin, a Theatre Cambrian director. He was playing Santa at the New Sudbury Centre and she was taking kids' photographs.
He invited Davidson to audition for a dinner theatre production in "Sex Please, We're Sixty."
She got the part of Mrs. Standcliffe and she discovered she loved being on stage.
She joined the Theatre Cambrian company and performed in numerous productions which included a supporting role in Noel Coward's "Private Lives."
Davidson signed up for acting training and she encouraged her husband to take some classes as well.
The timing was right for both of them. Film companies, enticed by tax incentive to shoot movies in northeastern Ontario and Muskoka, created opportunities for extra work and minor roles.
She has worked on numerous movies including "Christmas at Cartwright's" (2014), which was shot in Sudbury and is considered one of the best Hallmark Christmas films ever made.
Davidson played a Jewish nursing home resident in "Remember" (2015). It starred Christopher Plummer and Martin Landeau and was shot in Sault Ste. Marie.
A member of ACTRA, Davidson also worked on Two Lovers and a Bear (2016), which was partly shot in Timmins. It was screened at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.
She and her husband appear as diners in a restaurant scene in the 2014 thriller "The Captive" with Ryan Reynolds.
"We were on set with Ryan Reynolds, Kevin Durand and Christine Horne for eight and half hours,” she said. “We were sitting there and (pretending) to read the paper. To see Reynolds acting was amazing."
Born in Hamilton, Davidson joined the Canadian Armed Forces when she was 19. She was an air defence (radar) technician from 1977 to 1991. Her first posting was at Canadian Forces Station Falconbridge.
"I was 22 years old and wondered where had they put me. Black rock and no trees," she remembered.
After several moves, she was transferred to North Bay where she met her husband who spent 18 years in the military. The couple have two children, Kait and Jack.
The Davidsons lived in Brampton before moving back north in 2001 to be closer to Doug's family.
"Then I went back to high school at Sudbury Secondary with my two kids to complete my high school diploma,” she said.
At one point, she was in the same law class as her daughter at Sudbury Secondary School.
"Kait transferred out," she quipped.
She caught the acting bug and put her plans to attend university on hold.
Naughty Nana Duz started out as a Halloween costume.
"Everyone thought it was hilarious. So I went to the Open Mic night at Little Montreal's. I came in second that night and went home with 20 bucks. I was thrilled," said Davidson, who also does a pretty good Donald Trump impression.
In November 2021, she sent an audition tape to Canada's Got Talent that resulted in an invitation to the Fallsview Casino in Niagara Falls where the show is taped. She was not a finalist but she did make a short appearance on the show.
"Howie (Mandel) and Lilly Singh gave me so much advice and I took every word of it," she said.
Since that appearance, Davidson has been working on her material and developing her act.
She has posted nearly 700 videos to YouTube for her 20,000 followers to enjoy.
Where does Nana get her inspiration? She follows the news.
Vicki Gilhula is a freelance writer. Prime is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.
