Jacob Whiteduck-Lavoie

Perhaps the most significant full-circle moment for Jacob is his acting career being precipitated by a Facebook ad his mom sent him. He tells me that if it weren’t for that one seemingly inconsequential ad, he would have never become an actor. And while that may very well be true, who is to say that acting wouldn’t have kept knocking on his door, waiting for him to listen? In Amazon Prime’s upcoming series, Sterling Point, it certainly seems like Purpose doesn’t give up. After the death of her estranged grandfather, New York-native Annie Jacobson finds a box filled with letters locked away, each offering the key to an entirely different view on family, home, and herself. She inherits a remote island in Canada called Sterling Point, where she meets Jacob’s character, Ellis, alongside the rest of the locals, as Annie’s presence also changes their familiar view from the pier.

Created, written, and directed by Megan Park, the series is beautifully poignant in a way that would make the truth, if worded even slightly differently, fall short. The characters in Sterling Point drop an anchor together, see what they find, and invite us to do the same. The series poses the question, “When does childhood end?” and after talking to Jacob, maybe it doesn’t for most people. Or maybe it ends with the first tax filing, but I prefer the more poetic option.

All episodes of Sterling Point release on Prime Video on August 5, 2026.

How have you been this week?
I've been amazing. How about you?

I've been pretty good. I wanted to start by telling you how much I genuinely love Sterling Point. I'm not just saying that because you're here. I love it. I've told everyone in my life that they have to watch it with me when it comes out.
I'm so excited for it to come out. I'm really glad you like it. I really hope everyone connects with the characters and loves this show.

They definitely will. After watching it, I can be so sure about that. I love how realistic the dialogue is. It genuinely shocked me because I haven't really seen anything that captures Gen Z dialogue in an unforced way. Characters talk over each other, and it is so natural. I read that there was a lot of improv on set.
Megan Park gave us a lot of freedom. Obviously there was a script, but she said, “I know you probably all know your lines, but just feel absolutely free to go off script. I want this show to be as authentic and realistic as possible.” We're Gen Z, so she told us that we naturally knew how to make the younger audience connect. We were able to go off script or say the line differently. Oftentimes we would look over at Megan, and she would just have her thumb up. It took pressure off my shoulders because I was pretty nervous getting into the project, my first big role in English. But as soon as I got on set, I was like, “Oh, this is just going to be really fun.”

Every actor is so different. I think some people go on set knowing they could improvise, and that makes them feel free. Other people might feel a bit panicked by that. As you said, this is your first English language role, which adds an extra layer to your improv comfort level. Were there any nerves around that?
Oh, 100%. Most of the improv was honestly led by my co-stars. I was probably a tiny bit more nervous getting into the project. Ella [Rubin] is fantastic. She’s such a great actor, and she led most of our scenes. She was just so easy and fun to work with. She would surprise me sometimes. I rocked and rolled with it, you know?

Do you have a specific moment when you were surprised by another actor’s delivery and it changed the way you reacted as your character?
One scene that sticks out is Ellis's introduction at the airport. It was so crowded at the airport, and I had never shot there before. There was so much noise, and it was a little distracting. It was insane. Whenever I’d say my line, “Annie?” Ella would say something different every time, and I’d roll with it. I think they kept the take when we didn’t really improv. But she would always throw me off and say something silly. Ella is so good with comedic timing. It is so natural for her. We did a lot of that even in the first few weeks of shooting.

I know that the costume designer used some of the cast’s own clothes. I am not sure if the costume designer used any of your clothes, but I do wonder if it was more difficult in this role to differentiate Ellis from yourself as Jacob? Because I think a lot of actors use costume to transport them into their character’s world.
As soon as I got the offer, it felt like it was meant to be. I grew up in rural Quebec surrounded by the woods. I grew up fishing on the lakes. I moved to the city since, but I am a nature boy at heart, so becoming Ellis felt meant to be. I connected. The description said he wears a lot of workwear and Carhartt. He throws on whatever. He has distressed shirts with holes. He doesn’t follow trends. He wears his dad’s old clothes, you know what I mean? It definitely felt very authentic. For the callback in Toronto, they were like, “Bring a Carhartt piece if you have one.” I did not have one, so I went straight to Facebook Marketplace. [laughs] I just went straight to a guy's place and bought one. I remember bringing a whole duffel bag of clothes, and they didn't even tell me to change. I’m into fashion, but I'm not super eccentric. I felt like I was ten again, rocking whatever shoes and not caring what I was wearing.

If you were to meet Ellis as Jacob, what do you think would be the first thing you would think about him? Because as a viewer, I had so many initial thoughts about Ellis just from body language.
I would notice his cap and workwear first. Obviously you don’t judge people by what they wear, but as a first impression, you can get an idea of who a person is by the clothes they wear. Not even a word would come out of his mouth, and I'd be like, "Yeah, this guy's a fisher. He's on boats all day, 100%. No doubt in my mind, he's not an LA boy.” I would think that he’s more on the introverted side. I don’t know how our conversation would go, but I think we'd connect on a bunch of things. But my first impression would be, “This dude definitely doesn’t make TikToks.” [laughs]

When I watched it the second time through, because yes, I did watch it a second time immediately, I noticed how guarded Ellis feels. He is also protective. He is the one not drinking at a party, walking Annie home, and taking care of Sully. Out of the group, he’s maybe not granted as much of a privilege to be messy.
Yeah, 100%. He definitely has a protective side. I think Ellis is a mirror image of his dad. Jeffrey Dean Morgan's character is very protective. They didn't grow up super wealthy, and they’ve had their shop for quite some time. They've built their family and relationships, and that is what they care about. There’s a clash of two worlds in the show where we see the city people coming down to Sterling Point. There are big differences.

One of my favourite scenes from the series is when Maple and Ramona are talking about how every emotion is kind of like “Hanger” (hunger/anger). It's that idea that every emotion is covered up by something else. You mentioned that clash of two worlds, and we really see that with Ellis and Rory. On the surface, it reads as jealousy, but in reality, the tension is in what worlds they both represent. What do you think are some of Ellis’s emotional cover-ups?
He's very hard to read. You talked about that scene with Maple - I freaking love that scene. Ellis is very good at hiding his emotions. We see the clash between Rory and Ellis throughout the show, and it goes beyond Rory being the wealthy guy and Ellis not being as wealthy. Ellis is a genius at emotional cover-ups. Ellis is very introverted, but his care for his family and friends comes first. Ellis and Rory's relationship is very tense. It extends to their families. Ellis has very good intentions and wants the best for Annie at the end of the day. There are so many parallels that Megan wrote into the show, and I feel so honoured to be a part of it. It’s insane; she is a genius.

You mentioned that the tension in the show also extends to their families, old dynamics and secrets. I love that there isn’t necessarily good versus bad. For example, as a viewer, you don’t dislike Rory as a person. But there is so much happening around him that does reflect on him. There is that movie night scene, which I won’t spoil, but Ellis almost brushes it off, which tells you a lot about his history and how he is used to being treated.
In real life, that scene was fun to shoot because we were all together and Siddharth [Sharma] kept making me break with his line. I think Ellis is just fed up at that point. He's used to it, but doesn’t want to show that side to Annie. But inside, I think he feels like he’s walking on eggshells.

We see that Annie's safe space is a closet where she could ground herself. Do you have any space that relaxes you?
Yeah, I do, actually. It's funny you say that because I have a specific morning routine. I just moved into my new place in October, but for the past couple of years, I’ve been bouncing around everywhere. I don’t really have a home anymore because my parents moved out of my childhood home, and I’ve been living alone since I was eighteen. It's very hard to ground yourself in new environments. But I have a morning routine in my living room where I sit on the ground, lie down, and do my morning stretches. It sounds really silly, but it isn’t. I feel like it really grounds me and prepares me for the day. I stretch and do meditation exercises. I also try not to pick up my phone as soon as I wake up, and that has helped me a lot these past few months. It's easy to reach out for your phone as soon as you wake up, but now I lie on the floor, and my mind isn’t racing. You'd have to try for yourself. I do it for a good five to ten minutes.

I don't think that's silly at all. I’ve also been trying not to go on my phone first thing in the morning because I have noticed that when I do, it is like waking up in a panic. It’s a strangely difficult habit to break.
You should definitely try it. It also works if you take off your shoes when you’re outside. The first hour of waking definitely determines how my day is going to go.

I think TikTok calls it “Floor Time”, which is, like you said, just laying flat on the floor. People will be like, “I need my floor time.” [laughs]
Oh, my God. I love my floor time, especially when I'm coming back from a long day. I can't wait to take my shoes and socks off. Then I can have my little me time.

I have a childhood question next because I also loved the conversation between Annie and Maple when Maple worries about her childhood ending. It made me think of a moment when I felt the same way in my childhood. I was so afraid at the thought of turning thirteen. Did you experience that similar fear of childhood ending?
Oh, definitely. I feel like everyone goes through that at one point. There's one moment that comes to mind. I was probably twelve or thirteen. My dad was talking about paperwork. I was so overwhelmed and was like, “Oh, my God, I don’t want to be an adult! There are so many things to think about. I have to get insurance.” I don’t know why I was thinking about that at my age, but I was like, “Oh, my God, there's insurance for everything.” I just realised there would be too much to handle alone. I had that realisation that I wouldn’t be a kid my whole life. I got really stressed and thought, “Can somebody do it for me?” [laughs] I just wanted to be a kid and stay in school with my friends my whole life. I still think about that moment to this day.

I think that feeling doesn’t really go away.
No, it definitely doesn't. Adult life is so stressful in general. I try my best to ground myself, but it's definitely stressful out there. I don't like to think about it too much. I try to keep my mind off those things, especially when I am off work. I ground myself a lot in nature during those times. We were talking about being on the floor, but nature is definitely another one. A stroll in the woods definitely helps me in those moments when the news is in our faces every day. It gets overwhelming.

A big part of the show is how each person ties their identity to where they're from. How much do you personally tie your identity to where you're from?
I grew up in rural parts of Quebec, and my mom still lives on the rez (reservation). I moved out of there when I was ten. When I was younger, I didn't really think about that, or it didn't really matter to me. Now I realise that where and how you grew up impacts the rest of your life. You get taller, but at heart, you are still that person you were as a little kid. My parents divorced before I was even one year old, so I would always jump from my dad’s to my mom’s. It was definitely a different life compared to living in the city now. When I go back to visit my mom, I feel so at home. I said earlier that I didn't really have a home anymore, but when I'm back on the rez, that’s the ultimate grounding moment. When I'm on the rez, it's like, “Oh, right. This is me.” I have realised that life is just a big full circle moment. When you have that realisation, you embrace it. I am proud of [my identity].

I used to think that my identity didn't really matter. When I started acting, I was only getting Indigenous roles. I was like, “Am I only going to be doing Indigenous roles for the rest of my life? I want to do something else.” I ended up booking some other roles, but I remember thinking, “Why do I have to be different?” When you’re a kid, all you want to do is fit in. I was always comparing. I would think, “I want to be like this guy.” But now, I realise I need to be proud of where I am from.

I also think it’s something you notice more as you travel or meet people from different cultures. You notice how much of your home is always travelling with you. I know the catalyst for your career was a Facebook ad your mom saw. You were originally reluctant to act, so what happened between being reluctant and now being an actor?
I had no experience at all when my mom sent me that Facebook post. I didn't even have any theatre experience. It was my first time reading a scene and having to do it at an audition. It was definitely scary. I was a very shy and introverted kid, so it just didn't feel like me, you know? Growing up, I always loved acting in film, and I would always watch “behind the scenes” CDs. I was like, “Wow. This is how they make a movie.” It's so interesting. I've grown and matured, and I just learned to love the job. I got thrown into it at first, and there was definitely a moment when I thought, “Do I really want to do this? This is stressful." At the time, I wasn’t super comfortable in front of a camera yet, so that's probably why. But as I got older and fell in love with the job, I ignored that feeling because the job goes beyond the camera. It’s about connecting with other cast members and the characters. It is a very human job.

I'm so, so glad my mom sent me that Facebook post because I probably wouldn't even be here talking to you about this job. I talked about full circle moments, but that's the biggest full circle moment ever - if I hadn’t moved out of the rez and my childhood home, I probably wouldn’t be acting right now because there’s not as much opportunity over there. I would have a very different life.

When I was a kid, it was harder for me to step out of my comfort zone, and I was putting a lot of pressure on myself. Deep down, I was saying, “I’m not meant to do this. I’m not good.” Those thoughts also happen when you see yourself on camera for the first time. I was fourteen during my first job ever, which was old enough to criticise myself. I have gotten better about that.

I can imagine it being really difficult to silence that inner critic, because I think that is something else that doesn’t truly go away.
I am still my biggest critic and put a lot of pressure on myself, but I have gotten used to it. I've changed a lot, but I still have a hard time watching myself. When someone else watches you, they aren’t going to notice the small details you see. I try to be easy on myself, but it's hard as an actor to watch a scene and go, “I fucking nailed that!” I guess that comes with the job.

I also think it comes with just being a person. I think it’s natural to have that critical inner voice. I never trust when someone thinks they have done everything perfectly all the time. [laughs]
No, then something's wrong with you!

I actually can't wait to watch the show a third time with everyone I've told to watch it.
Thank you so much!