Arts·Q with Tom Power

After Schitt's Creek, Sarah Levy turns to selling haunted homes

The Canadian actor talks to Q guest host Talia Schlanger about starring in the Canadian paranormal drama SurrealEstate

The Canadian actor stars in the Canadian paranormal drama SurrealEstate

Sarah Levy in front of a brown background.
A headshot of Sarah Levy. (Matt Martin)
Sarah Levy has been thinking about what the word "home" really means. For her character Susan Ireland on the spooky Canadian TV series SurrealEstate, a home is a house where someone's soul lives. Literally: Susan is a real estate agent who removes ghosts from haunted houses so that she can sell them. But for Levy, a home isn't about a specific location. She says home can be anywhere in the world, as long as she's with the people she loves.

"It's just, it's where your family is," Levy tells Q guest host Talia Schlanger in an interview. "Wherever your family is, that's kind of where you can create what home is for you. And it turns out you don't need all your things."

Sarah Levy has a close-knit, comedic family. Her dad is Eugene Levy, her brother is Dan Levy, and all three of them were on the Emmy Award-winning show Schitt's Creek. Nonetheless, she says the main origin of her sense of humour is her mother. 

"We learned a lot from my dad, but we learned way more from my mom," Levy says. "And I think that he would agree with that. Just in life even.

"But her sense of comedy is so dry. And it rides a really wonderful line.… we've learned how to just cut through the crap and get to the core of things."Although she enjoyed being on Schitt's Creek with her father and brother, Levy is happy to step into the spotlight on her own. She has a leading role as a telekinetic ghostbuster on SurrealEstate, which airs on CTV Sci-Fi Channel and Syfy.

WATCH | Preview of SurrealEstate's Season 3 premiere: 

"Our shooting schedule is so rigorous. The days are so long. And we move really fast, and we shoot a lot of pages," Levy explains. "It's incredibly challenging in the best way.… It is so immense and it was a huge learning curve. But I had, and I still have the most fun doing it."

Sarah Levy's schedule isn't just busy with work: she also gave birth to her son right before she started the second season of SurrealEstate. But Levy says she still feels at home, even while shooting on location.

"My parents, being the most wonderful parents and grandparents in the universe, came with us to Newfoundland and essentially raised him for the time that I was working," Levy says. "My son is obsessed with both my parents.... My dad is so good at the imagination aspect of things, like really gets down on his level. And it's such a joy to be able to watch both of them."


The full interview with Sarah Levy is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. Listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts.


Interview with Sarah Levy produced by Niza Lyapa Nondo.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Julianna Romanyk is an Associate Producer for CBC Radio and a freelance arts journalist. Her radio special “Comedy Underdogs”, a documentary about the Canadian comedy industry, is available on CBC Listen. She also wrote 150+ articles for Exclaim! Magazine.