Amanda Brugel

Pointe Claire in Montreal's West Island is a tiny sleepy town. Many people who don't know about the place mistakenly think that it is the West Island extends westward from Montreal. In fact, this is not the case. West Island includes everything westward of Lachine. Lachine. Amanda Brugel's birthplace has been frequently mentioned, but her brief time in the city was not. Brugel grew up in Courtice near Oshawa Ontario. At the beginning of her life she hoped to become a performer but an unexpected expansion of her body made it impossible. In an interview with Toronto Star, she confessed that "In heels, I'm 6 feet, 1 inch." When I grew out of male companions at that point, I gave up. Former dancers often turn to acting and in the instance of Brugel, it was a suggestion from her teacher in drama. Her teacher encouraged her to try out as Anne in the school's annual production. She auditioned and ended up playing the role of the main character in Anne of Green Gables. It was the Fine Arts Talent Scholarship led her to York University, where she was a theatre student and earned a Bachelors of Fine Arts in 2000. Since then, she's appeared in over 60 productions both smaller and large. The most notable was the time she was cast as Rita on The Handmaid's Tale. Brugel made an appearance on only a handful of moments in the very first season of The Handmaid's Tale. She was the only Canadian participant.