Accompanied by her two conveniently portable toy poodles, she spent the summer in hometown Vancouver playing the lead in the Canadian independent film The Wicked Season, a dramatic switch from her small but head-turning comedic role as a temptress in the Josh Hartnett romantic comedy 40 Days and 40 Nights.

A former model, Vaugier made a remarkably smooth transition to acting: in six months, she landed the lead in the 1996 Showtime TV movie The Halfback of Notre Dame. Soon afterward, she played a girl with multiple personalities in Hysteria, which also starred Amanda Plummer, Michael Maloney and Patrick McGoohan.

“It was a huge learning curve,” recalls Vaugier. “I was very fresh on the scene and I dove into this part and put a lot of trust into the people I was working with, who took me under their wing.”

Vancouver was also the shooting location for the WB sitcom My Guide to Becoming a Rock Star, in which Vaugier starred, along with Oliver Hudson, Kate’s sibling, as a keyboardist and DJ. The show was dropped shortly after premièring in March.

“We were up against Friends and Survivor,” Vaugier laughs, her poodles yapping away.

Signing a yearlong holding deal with The WB helped take the edge off her disappointment.

“Maybe there won’t be anything [for me] this year, but it allows me to do other [feature] projects in the meantime. Film is where I ultimately want to end up, but television is a great way to get a lot of exposure and experience. As long as you choose good projects you are passionate about, you can’t go wrong.”

No, she can’t. Get ready!

Written by: Jennie Punter
Photography: Malcolm Tweedy