This interview was conducted in large part by our good friend, Tracey Watson, tbsaver, just a few weeks before her death. She was absolutely thrilled to have had the chance to meet Meredith and conduct this interview.

One of the most difficult things for those of us at L-word.com to moderate on our discussion boards is the negative comments our site visitors make about the characters and actors. While we may disagree with many negative postings, rarely do we close topics. References to violence and the like will get these threads closed or just straight out, uncalled for vitriol will, as well. However, site visitors to this or any other site need to know that the actors read these pages, and you'll hear from Meredith McGeachie that comments can be very hurtful.

Meredith McGeachie Interview - Part 1

Meredith: I was utterly terrified, coming in (to the convention). Literally I did not know what they were going .. because Tonya causes such a reaction, you know? I really was scared, but I thought what the heck. Why not? Rachel (Shelley) is here. I am really good friends with all the girls, so it gives me a chance to hang out with her and them ..So it has been awesome. I have actually had a great time

L-Word.com: You actually say in the Q&A section, "I have been really surprised at the intelligent questions."

Meredith: It is fantastic.

L-Word.com: Because we actually asked on the way inside what kind of questions they would ask ... Because they are either very personal or ..

Meredith: I mean you get a few of them. But even when they do that, they say this and that to me, they are so respectful about the way that they do it. Like it is really fine. "Can I ask you a personal question." They will ask you for your number or something but they know they are not going to get it. So, I am really impressed myself. I am so grateful.

L-Word.com: Have you ever been on our web site (L-word.com) and taken a look?

Meredith: I have.

L-Word.com: And then run scared?

Meredith: I think the web site is fantastic. Erin told me at one point that there was a Tonya thing so just to go and look and I did and I was like, "Wow."

L-Word.com: A lot of us have tried to figure out Tonya -- whether she just saw Dana being a cash bucket for her or whether she cared for her. The amount of people so far though this weekend have said, "I have to go and re-watch because of having heard your take on the character."

Meredith: I have people say like .. it is incredible their response. Because like I said the only fan response I have ever read was all of the hate mongering, right, on the L-Word

web site. So I looked at it once and I was like this is not good for me. This is not healthy for me. I am not going to look at this again. I hear a lot of, "You are so much more beautiful in person." And I am like, this was not supposed to be part of the deal. I am not supposed to be the one that you are supposed to want to be with it. That's the whole point.

L-Word.com: Just a personal question just to interrupt you. Have you lost a lot of weight?

Meredith: Not a lot of weight. I lost a little bit of weight because I had done this movie (Punch) where I had to bulk up and be a boxer. So I had to gain 25 pounds...

L-Word.com: But you are a lot skinnier than I expected you..

Meredith: I had to gain a whole bunch of weight to do that movie. I really bulked up for that. And then I did so much damage when I did that movie that I could not exercise for a while. So now that I can I am just back to sort of like kind of getting back to my normal. In Canada, with independent films, you don't get a trainer to help you do both directions. They help you get to where they need you to be and then they say, "See you later." So, I probably lost some weight, yeah. But also part of that is that they dress you however they want to dress you to make you look as, you know, unattractive, sort of like what is Dana thinking. They create a character. I am probably in better shape that I was when we shot most of that stuff, maybe. But that would be why.

L-Word.com: Tell us how you actually got the part of Tonya?

Meredith: I actually auditioned for a part that Sarah Strange played ... I cannot remember what ...something to do with Mia's college roommate or something like that. And then the brought me back. It was only a couple of episodes before, one or two episodes before. And then they brought me back to audition for this, and I did, and like I said I think that I threw them because I think they had a different idea in their head of how it was going to go. And then I had to go to Toronto and on the way to the airport, I had Michelle picked me up, drove me to my second audition, which was with Erin and Rose Troche and Ilene Chaiken, and Rose Lam too, maybe?, in this tiny little room in the production, the dinky little room in the production office, on route to the airport. When I got to the airport I called and said I am not going to go up if I got the job, and they said, "Oh go." They are not going to make a decision yet and they are not willing to.. and of course I literally landed and they were like, "Can we FedEx it (the contract) to your hotel?" Sure.

L-Word.com: Good timing.

Meredith: Yeah, actually.

L-Word.com: We like to get into how much passion you are putting into the character? Were you really disappointed when they finally wrote Tonya out?

Meredith: No, because I always knew.. they could not continue that same story line.

L-Word.com: Melissa Rivers?!

Meredith: Yeah. Like I said, no I don't know if you guys were there yesterday, but I really did not want anyone to feel gypped, and I worked with Jeremy and Erin as much as we could to make that as un-gypped. We cannot change that. It is funny, but everyone invested so much into that relationship, and it was really important to me that they got something out of it. Because we all know what it is like to be in a relationship that is not working or either the person trying to desperately make it work or the person who is too chicken to get out. We all know what that feels like, and it does not feel good. So it is nice... It is like you are a race car driver, right, and you practice, you take around a character and you go, this is kind of where it does not work and there is a bit of a bump, speed bump here, and you let people know. And they know they needed it to be funny and it was funny, and we did what we could. I did the best that I could with what we had.

L-Word.com: I think for a lot of fans we would have liked to end it at the end of Dana's speech because that was such a beautiful moment. That threw us for Tonya as well because we started to see evidence that Tonya loved Dana. I think that that is why so many people have never quite been able to understand Tonya leaving Dana for anyone...especially in a comedic way.

Meredith: The thing is.. I would have loved to be able to show people what it is like to really end a relationship, and that was the part I was sad about. Yeah. I was sad about that. But I felt like they just kept writing me stuff, and I was always so grateful. I know people hated me but I really did feel like they loved to hate me, except for on the web site, then I was like, "Oh well, maybe not. Okay." But I only saw just once, and that was enough.

L-Word.com: Although there was this sort of love to hate thing, so many people commented that you acted brilliantly. So many people say Meredith is such a brilliant actress because you were so funny, as well.

Meredith: I am really grateful to hear that. I can't believe the outpouring of support I had this weekend. It is really lovely.

L-Word.com: I think the thing is that you have come across as being very passionate about not only the character but the show, and certainly I was listening to some stuff you were saying during the Meet & Greet on Friday that it is about time we had these kind of shows out there. And I think a lot of people appreciate that, and it comes across so well when you are talking to people.

Meredith: Oh, good. I am glad.

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