Character's Bio: Rachel Lynde

Rachel is the local gossip and the self-appointed moral guardian to the town of Avonlea. Her character originally appeared in the Anne of Green Gables trilogy, at the end of which she had moved in with her best friend, Marilla Cuthbert. She continues to live at Green Gables until Marilla’s death at the end of the third season of Road to Avonlea. Eventually, Rachel will suffer a stroke and is forced to move in with Hetty King, with whom she doesn’t always see eye to eye. Now that Rachel is at Rose Cottage, she and Hetty will raise the twins that Marilla had previously cared for with Rachel - Davy and Dora Keith.

Actor's Bio: Patricia Hamilton

A dynamo with limitless energy, Patricia Hamilton performed the role of the self-righteous Rachel Lynde in "Anne of Green Gables". She continued to delight audiences with this character in Road to Avonlea, and recently in Kevin Sullivan's animated film Anne: Journey to Green Gables and Anne: The Animated Series on PBS. Over the course of her career she has worked with the American Shakespeare Festival, the National Shakespeare Festival and the Stratford Festival. She was the recipient of a Dora Mavor Moore Award for her role in I Am Yours with the Tarragon Theatre. Her film and television credits include Night Heat, A Bridge to Silence, Echoes in Darkness, Fight for Life and The Last Detail. Her role in A Bird in the House garnered her a 1975 Canadian Film Award. Hamilton has served as the Head of Drama at the Banff School of Fine Arts. She is also the founder and producer of Masterclass Theatre, and was honoured with a Brenda Donohue Award for Distinguished Contribution to the Toronto Theatre in 1987.

Character's Bio: Simon Tremayne

Simon Tremayne is the manager of the White Sands Hotel. He hires Felix as his personal assistant and, through a series of happy mistakes, is eventually reunited with his half-brother, the Duke of Arranagh, who visits the hotel. Later, though neither Hetty nor Simon would have predicted it, the two of them eventually strike up a friendship that ultimately leads to discussions of marriage. However, the couple soon realize that they make better friends than fiancées.

Actor's Bio: Ian D. Clark

Ian D. Clark brings his extensive experience on the stage and screen to his portrayal of Simon Tremayne, the fastidious inn keeper of the White Sands Hotel. No stranger to television audiences, Mr. Clark has starred in numerous episodic series and several television movies, including Paradise Falls and Little Men, as well as guest starring roles in The Associates, Doc, Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Twice in a Lifetime and Wind at my Back. A star on many of Canada's leading stages, Mr. Clark has performed all across the country, including three seasons at the Shaw Festival, various productions for Stage West, both in Calgary and Edmonton, and the lead role in The Foreigner at the Royal Alexander Theatre in Toronto.

Character's Bio: Nanny Banks

Nanny Banks is Sara Stanley’s governess who looked after Sara when she lived in Montreal with her father, Blair Stanley. However, when Blair is caught up in an embezzlement scandal, Nanny Banks travels with Sara to Avonlea, where tensions arise between her and Hetty over who should care for the young girl. Nanny Banks plots to escape back to Montreal with Sara, but is caught by Hetty. She returns to Montreal alone, but is later visited by Hetty and Sara when she becomes gravely ill. After Sara’s father dies unexpectedly during their visit, all three women return to Avonlea. However, Hetty and Nanny Banks continue to bicker over what’s best for Sara and it isn’t until the child they love seems to have disappeared that the two women begin to mend their differences.

Actor's Bio: Frances Hyland

Frances Hyland was an award-winning actress, perhaps best known for her role as “Nanny Banks” on the series Road to Avonlea. Born in Shaunavon, Saskatchewan in 1927, Frances first took acting and elocution lessons as a teenager to try to overcome her shy and introverted nature. Since then, her acting and directing career spanned five decades, and included directing and starring in a number of Stratford and Shaw festivals. In 1977, she was awarded the Joseph Jefferson Award for Actress in a Principal Role in a Play for her work in Long Day’s Journey into Night, which she performed at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois. Frances was also awarded the Office of the Order of Canada in 1970 for her contribution to the performing arts. Sadly, the actress passed away in 2004 at the age of 77.

Character's Bio: Countess Polenska

The Countess Polenska is a majestic European countess who visits the White Sands Hotel for the marriage of her son to a Canadian girl - who she believes is from a wealthy family. However, Maggie MacPhee, the mother of the bride, is terrified that the countess will call off the wedding when she realizes that their family is not rich. Little does she know that the Countess herself is near penniless. Once the two women are introduced, they immediately become friends, admit to their financial situations, and agree to keep their poverty a secret so the wedding can continue.

Actor's Bio: Faye Dunaway

Critically acclaimed actress Faye Dunaway studied theatre arts at the University of Boston and later joined the Lincoln Center Repertory Company. Between 1962 and 1967 she appeared in a number of stage productions, including A Man for All Seasons and After the Fall, in which she played a character based on Marilyn Monroe. Dunaway was virtually unknown when she accepted the role of the notorious gangster Bonnie Parker opposite Warren Beatty in the 1967 crime saga, Bonnie and Clyde. The picture was an unqualified success, one of the most influential films of the era and she had become a star seemingly overnight, earning a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance. Other film credits include The Thomas Crown Affair, Chinatown, The Towering Inferno, Three Days of the Condor, The First Deadly Sin, Mommie Dearest and Don Juan DeMarco.

Elva Mai Hoover: Mrs. Lawson

Maja Ardal: Mrs. Potts

Heather Brown: Izzy Pettibone

Barbara Hamilton: Mrs. Bugle

Ian D. Clark: Simon Tremayne

Roger Dunn: Bert Potts

John Friesen: Archie Gillis

David Fox: Clive Pettibone

Joel Blake: Andrew King

Kyle Labine: Davey Keith

Linsday Murrell: Dora Keith

Character's Bio: Sara Stanley

Eleven-year-old Sara Stanley is used to a luxurious lifestyle in her hometown of Montreal. Her mother, Ruth King, died of TB when Sara was only a baby. When Sara’s father runs into trouble, Sara is sent to live with her mother’s family - siblings Hetty, Alec, Roger and Olivia. When she arrives, Sara’s nanny is sent back to Montreal, and Sara must adjust to a simpler lifestyle in Avonlea while living at Rose Cottage with Hetty and Olivia. Throughout seasons 3, 4, and 5, Sara takes it upon herself to act as the Avonlea matchmaker. By season 6, her Aunt Hetty and her nanny, Louisa, begin planning her future without her. Sara, however, has other plans. She dreams of becoming a writer and attending a very prestigious school in Paris – alone. Hetty and Louisa agree to let her go, and Sara leaves Avonlea only to return in the final season for her cousin Felicity’s wedding to Gus Pike.

Actor's Bio: Sarah Polley

Sara Polley became a veteran of film and television while still in her teens, and grew up on Road to Avonlea - as did her character, Sara Stanley. Like her character, Sara is an intelligent, fiercely independent woman, and brought many talents and natural charm to the show. Sarah made her screen debut at age four, playing a street waif in the feature One Magic Christmas, starting Jan Rubes. She won North American critical acclaim at the age of nine for her performance in the PBS family series Ramona, and went on to win international recognition for her lead role in Terry Gilliam’s big screen fantasy adventure, The Adventures of Baron Manchausen. Polley’s portrayal of the only surviving child in a school bus crash in Atom Egoyan’s celebrated feature The Sweet Hereafter earned her a Genie nomination as best actress. Other credits include principal roles in feature films The Last Night, The Weight of Water, Exotica, Green Monkey, The Big Town and Pretty Kill. Most recently, Sara has demonstrated her abilities behind the camera as writer and director of the Canadian based feature Away From Her, which earned many nominations and won various awards. Her most recent film was the sci-fi thriller, Splice, starring Adrien Brody.

Kevin Sullivan: Executive Producer, Writer, Director

Kevin Sullivan is the President of Sullivan Entertainment Inc. which he and his partner, Trudy Grant, founded in 1979. Internationally recognized as one of the leading producers of high quality entertainment and renowned for his directorial ease with children and top performers, Mr. Sullivan has achieved myriad accolades and awards over the past two decades. His ability to consistently produce top-notch entertainment as well as to attract big name stars has enhanced the image of Sullivan Entertainment throughout the world.

Under Mr. Sullivan’s guidance Sullivan Entertainment has developed a distinctive brand of story-telling. Lavish productions that are emotionally compelling and entertaining have become the hallmark of the company Mr. Sullivan founded more than 20 years ago.

Trudy Grant: Co-Executive Producer

Trudy Grant is the President of Sullivan Entertainment International, which she founded in 1981. Through her leadership, the company has emerged as a major player in the world marketplace and particularly in the television arena.

Her involvement in distribution prompted her to form Sullivan Entertainment International to better administer the Sullivan product. The company’s penetration into many of the world’s less accessible markets makes it one of the few companies that can truly be considered international, having developed key relationships with buyers and financiers for various co-productions. One of Ms. Grant’s main achievements is the sale of the mini-series “Anne of Green Gables” to more than 120 countries around the globe.

Ms. Grant has evolved into the guiding light behind the company’s financial success. By strategically maximizing financial opportunities, Ms. Grant has built a very successful international business around the Sullivan brand.

Raymond Storey: Writer

Raymond Storey is a writer and producer who has written for a number of Sullivan titles, including Butterbox Babies, Sleeping Dogs Lie and An Avonlea Christmas. He was also the associate-producer of a number of episodes for the award-winning series, Wind at My Back. In addition, Raymond's recent credits include Search and Rescue and Iron Road.

Heather Conkie: Writer

Heather Conkie’s credits include the Canadian television show Heartland, and the Emmy Award-winning made-for-TV movie Beethoven Lives Upstairs. She has also been credited as a producer, actress and composer.

John Welsman: Composer

John Welsman has won four Gemini Awards in recognition of his compositions for Road to Avonlea, and has been nominated an additional six times for his work on the programs Borrowed Hearts, Marie Curie: More Than Meets the Eye, Stolen Miracle and Kevin Sullivan’s By Way of the Stars. Some of Welsman’s countless other credits include War of the Worlds, Lantern Hill and more recently, My Friend Rabbit, Nurse Fighter Boy and The Mighty Jungle.

Allan King: Direction

Allan King began his career by making documentaries for the CBC. There are a long list of credits to his name, which include Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone and Dying at Grace – just three of the many titles over the course of a career that spanned six decades. The Canadian director died on June 15th, 2009, leaving behind his wife and four children.

Nancey Pankiw: Art Director

Road to Avonlea is not the only Sullivan Entertainment production to which Nancey Pankiw has brought her expertise in art direction. The award-winning production designer also worked on Lantern Hill, Wind at my Back, Butterbox Babies and By Way of the Stars. Some of Nancey’s other credits include the feature films The Fly, Dick, Chicago, Urban Legends: Final Cut, Cold Creek Manor, and the series Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy and Salem Witch Trials - for which she won a Directors Guild of Canada award for production design.

Don Gillis: Composer

Don is a three-time Gemini Award nominee who has contributed his musical talents to several of Kevin Sullivan’s productions, including Wind at my Back, A Wind at my Back Christmas, Road to Avonlea and An Avonlea Christmas. He was nominated for a Gemini for his compositions for two Road to Avonlea seasons in 1994 and 1995, as well as for the TV series Danger Bay. In addition, Gillis was the musical director of episodes of The Jim Henson Hour and was the musical director of Fraggle Rock – also created by Jim Henson.

Madeleine Stewart: Costume Designer

Madeleine’s authentic costume designs for the cast of Road to Avonlea have not gone unnoticed. In 1995, her work on the episode “Strictly Melodrama” earned her an Emmy award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Costume Design for a Series. She was also nominated the following year for the episode “What a Tangled Web We Weave” and received two Gemini Award nominations for her designs in 1995 and 1996. Since then, Madeleine has worked as a costume designer for Earth: Final Conflict, The Murdoch Mysteries, Painted Angels and Custody.

While at medical school in Halifax, Felicity meets Gus unexpectedly. Together, they discover a strange street woman, Eliza, who Gus soon believes to be his mother. Risking her career, Felicity follows Gus back to Avonlea with Eliza to unlock the clues of his past. They are shocked to find that Eliza is indeed Gus’s mother, who everyone assumed to have died when Gus was a child. Gus leaves Felicity to take Eliza to the Caribbean and find out more about her dark past – but not before he asks Felicity to marry him.
Special Guest Star: Janet-Laine Green

Avonlea is in high spirits as the White Sands Hotel is to host an Avonlea Festival and Bachelor Auction. Love and humor are in the air as the women bid on the bachelors of Avonlea. Clive Pettibone and Muriel Stacy begin to fall in love; Felix and Izzy’s romance blossoms; and Aunt Hetty is unexpectedly matched with her business partner, Simon Tremayne.

Cecily is quarantined at a New York sanitarium while she suffers from tuberculosis. She becomes increasingly pessimistic about her treatment until she meets a young boy – a poor New York orphan named Louie. They become close friends and get into a series of trouble. Eventually, Alec and Janet are called out to the Sanitarium because of Cecily’s troublesome behaviour and are told that Cecily will be discharged if her behaviour does not improve.

It’s a warm Avonlea reunion when Sara returns home to the Island with Nanny Louisa. When Louisa promptly announces her plan to take Sara on a tour of Europe, Hetty is shocked, as she has already planned to surprise Sara with a cross-Canada train trip. But Sara wants neither. Her only desire is to study in Paris. Caught between the two people most dear to her, Sara must find a way to tell both Hetty and Nanny Louisa her dream before it is too late. Though elbow deep in her own problems, Sara is not too busy to help bring Izzy and Felix together before she leaves Avonlea.
Special Guest Stars: Sarah Polley, Frances Hyland

Rachel Lynde suffers a sudden stroke and is sent out West to recover with her son, Robert. Left behind in Avonlea, Davey and Dora are sent to live with Hetty at Rose Cottage. But trouble erupts as Davey becomes increasingly rebellious. Hetty struggles to find the root of his problems and Davey eventually reveals that he feels responsible for Rachel’s stroke.

Davey refuses to return to school. Hoping to change his mind, Hetty uses reverse psychology and agrees to allow Davey to join the workforce. She recruits Jasper Dale to be part of her scheme and asks him to give Davey a job – and teach him the real meaning of work. However, Jasper and Davey become fast friends and Hetty’s plan backfires when Davey announces that he loves his job assisting Jasper at the Dale Cannery.

Always searching for a new money-making scheme, Felix – with the help of Izzy Pettibone – wants to start his own fox farm. Learning that he needs an adult co-signer for his bank loan, Felix shrugs aside his arrangement with Izzy to enlist Nat Lester as his new business partner. Although Felix works hard to make their enterprise a success, Nat lives the high life on borrowed money, squandering away the business loan. When the cunning foxes escape, Felix and Nat are face with debt neither is able to repay. Felix must find a way to clear his debt and somehow mend his friendship with Izzy.

Aunt Eliza takes Daniel on a vacation, leaving time for a “second honeymoon” for Janet and Alec. However, Alec is busy tending the farm and to the secret Loyal Order of the Knights of Prince Edward Island. With Felicity and Daniel away, and Felix working overtime at the White Sands Hotel, Janet falls victim to empty nest syndrome. Spurred on by an add promising extra income, Janet agrees to work at home for the ACME Company – without telling Alec. The trials of commerce turn to farce when Janet comes head to head with the shrewd owner of the ACME Company.

Izzy is upset when she learns that her father plans to marry Muriel Stacey.

Having recovered from her stroke, Rachel Lynde journeys back from her son’s home in Saskatoon. But Rachel’s return to Avonlea is marred when she suffers a second debilitating stroke on the train ride home, leaving her unable to speak. Once in Avonlea, Hetty is determined to nurse her lifelong friend back to health. When Rachel’s sons learn of her second stroke, they cable Hetty that they are coming to Avonlea to take their mother away for good. Knowing that Rachel is the only one that can convince her sons to allow her to stay, Hetty, Davey, Dora and Pierre Lapierre struggle to teach Rachel to speak again before her sons arrive.

Pierre Lapierre has been writing to his mother that he owns the White Sands Hotel. But when she comes to visit, he finally admits the truth about being the chef. Still, they must keep up this charade when an impoverished Polish countess (Faye Dunaway) comes to the hotel for her son’s wedding to Pierre’s sister, Adele. Pierre and his mother worry that the Countess will call off the wedding when she learns they are not wealthy.
Special Guest Stars: Faye Dunaway and Maureen Stapleton

Felicity, now in Avonlea, takes on an apprenticeship with Dr. Snow. Following the doctor from one medical emergency to another, Felicity begins to see what the practice of medicine is really about – not just the virtuous curing of the sick, but also the brutal treatment for often life-threatening injuries. When Felicity is unable to help a dying friend, she must search deep within herself to determine whether she indeed has the mettle required to make life and death decisions on a daily basis.

The King Family is elated when they learn that Cecily’s tuberculosis is dormant and that she is well enough to come home. When Alec goes to pick Cecily up at the sanitarium, his joy is tempered by the doctor’s warning that the disease has not been eradicated forever. In the meantime, Felicity must learn to cope with all of Avonlea secretly mocking her for having dropped out of medical school. Even Felicity’s mother is disappointed at her apparent failure. When Cecily returns home it becomes apparent that neither her parents nor the community believe that she has actually recovered. Soon, both King girls become fed up with being the town’s outcasts. In a fit of anger, Felicity and Cecily plan to run away and meet up with Gus in Jamaica.