Leah Cairns

Life and career

Cairns was born in North Vancouver, British Columbia, and grew up in Kamloops, with dreams of becoming a professional dancer, which were dashed when she broke her back in a car accident at 16. When her dance team went to an international competition in her graduating year, rather than sit at home, she decided to visit to Costa Rica and then began a backpacking trek that took her to 36 countries and took eight years. Prior to returning to Canada, she took an improvisation class at an ashram in India.

Cairns has appeared in CTV's anthology series Robson Arms, in Citytv's Godiva's, where she was nominated for a 2006 Leo Award (British Columbia's version of the Emmys) for Best Supporting Performance by a Female in a Dramatic Series, and opposite Al Pacino in the feature 88 Minutes. She also appeared in the vampire thriller Blood Angels (aka Thralls). During her season 3 BSG hiatus, she signed on to play the role of Emily Hollander on the ABC Family series Kyle XY. Cairns is also a cast member of Sanctuary, created by Damian Kindler of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. It is billed as "the first broadcast quality, HD drama series designed specifically for the internet". Eight webisodes have been filmed so far. She also appeared in the TV show Supernatural in season 2, episode 8 "Crossroad Blues" as a minor character, and in Christopher Nolan's film Interstellar.