Esquire Presents Me in My Place with Laura Vandervoort

But First, a Joke*! (Up There, and Right Here...) A guy sees an empty seat at the Stanley Cup finals. He asks the guy seated next to it why, and he says, "It was my wife's, but she died." The guy asks, "Couldn't you have invited a friend?" The other guy says, "They're all at the funeral." About the Jokester: Twenty-seven-year-old Laura Vandervoort was born tough. As a kid, she survived a bout with meningitis. Soon after, the Toronto native lived through something even more harrowing: child acting. On Goosebumps, in which she played a girl trapped in a board game, the only instruction she was given was "You're worried. You're breathing." "We were 13 and didn't know how to pace ourselves," she says, "so we'd hyperventilate and black out." She went on to breathe normally in starring roles as Supergirl in Smallville and as alien royalty in the short-lived but highly praised sci-fi series V. And this summer, she appears alongside Mark Wahlberg in Ted (out July 13), about a man who lives with his talking teddy bear. When you watch her, you'll be forgiven for hyperventilating. *Esquire cannot guarantee that this joke will be funny to everyone. (But it's pretty good.)

I was born in Toronto, north York. And my family still lives there. Actually, at a couple of weeks old, I contracted meningitis — I was very sick for a few months of my life. They didn't think I was going to make it, and it was a whole — it was tough for my parents. But I did make it. (Click VIEW LARGER for more Laura, and here for photos of women you might actually know.)

Before I started acting, I had been doing martial arts most of my life. Martial arts and school was all I really knew; by the time I was 18, I had my second-degree black belt. So I was very, very serious and strict. And I was the same way in school. I didn't party. You know, straight A's. (Click VIEW LARGER for more Laura, and here for the Me in My Place app.)

At some point I realized I wanted to try acting, try something that was a little more freeing than what I'd been doing. And my parents let me when I was younger, and so I did martial arts and acting at the same time, and I started working a lot in Canada, doing kids series, like Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark? (Click VIEW LARGER for more Laura, and here for more exclusive photos of her on MeInMyPlace.com)

In school, they called me "Goosebumps." But that's girls being, you know, whatever. So I was okay. I'd go to the dojo and kick the shit out of the pads with my anger and move on. Then the acting took off a little bit: I ended up on a Canadian series called Instant Star for four years, while I was in school, and at university as well. I had to back off of the martial arts, because I wasn't able to teach at the dojo the amount that you're supposed to, because I was working. So I put all my focus into school, and then Instant Star, and then school kind of took a back burner, and eventually I got on Smallville and did the two shows at the same time. (Click VIEW LARGER for more Laura, and here for photos of women you might actually know.)

I ended up sticking around Smallville for a few years, and then right into V. My family's, you know — we moved out to L.A. when V ended, and I've been working on a few features since. It's a progressive thing. (Click VIEW LARGER for more Laura, and here for the Me in My Place app.)

My mom, it brings tears to her eyes. She's so funny. She's like, "You went from almost not being with us to being Supergirl. I'm so proud of you." I'm just like, oh my God. (Click VIEW LARGER for more Laura, and here for more exclusive photos of her on MeInMyPlace.com)

I obviously don't remember those days in the hospital — but, I mean, I was paralyzed, and they thought I'd be deaf and blind. They were supposed to give me a medication that might make me blind, but my parents said, "Could you wait till tomorrow? We just want to see if her temperature goes down." And then apparently my temperature went down, they didn't give me the medication. And now I can see. (Click VIEW LARGER for more Laura, and here for photos of women you might actually know.)

Growing up, I was such a tomboy. I hated that I was going to be a girl and, you know, grow into myself. So I didn't personally like being girly. Now I appreciate it, but I didn't want to do gymnastics, which is why I went right into the martial arts. A big part of that came from watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the movie. I loved Kristy Swanson. I was obsessed with her. Actually, recently, I went to the roast of Charlie Sheen and sat beside her, and I couldn't say a word to her. I just stared. (Click VIEW LARGER for more Laura, and here for the Me in My Place app.)

I actually wrote a letter to Joss Whedon, too, when the Buffy television show came out, about how I wanted to be her sister. He never got back to me, but I auditioned for him years later, and I told him. I'm like, "I wrote you a letter." He's like, "I think I remember that." (Click VIEW LARGER for more Laura, and here for more exclusive photos of her on MeInMyPlace.com)

I've lived in Canada throughout all of my shows. And literally just under a year ago, when V ended and I finished Ted and This Means War, I moved out here, to L.A. I'm committing to L.A. right now. And I think I'm slowly adjusting; it's getting easier. (Click VIEW LARGER for more Laura, and here for photos of women you might actually know.)

I recently discovered Thai last night. I'm not that interesting. The longer this interview goes on, the more I realize that I'm not that interesting. (Click VIEW LARGER for more Laura, and here for the Me in My Place app.)

Well, here's something people might not know. I just started drinking. I probably sound pathetic. I was never really into drinking before, until I met someone who introduced me to red wines. Now I really appreciate a good red wine. Something must have triggered that. Wait. L.A. triggered that. (Click VIEW LARGER for more Laura, and here for more exclusive photos of her on MeInMyPlace.com)