Her name is Lela Woodland, and she is a new teacher who has come to work in the community of Lower Nicola.

Never heard of her?

That’s because that’s the description of the role local resident Delilah Dick played in the upcoming movie Shana: The Wolf’s Music, a locally-shot Swiss film which will soon be in theatres.

Dick, a social worker at the Nooaitch band, said her acting career began by chance.

In 2011, director Nino Jacusso visited Merritt Secondary School looking for actors, Dick said.

At the time, she was a support worker at the high school and was encouraging students to look into the opportunity.

However, when she noticed Jacusso was looking for someone to play a violin teacher, Dick said she decided to take a look herself.

“I spoke with Nino and did a bit of an interview, then I didn’t hear anything else after that,” Dick said.

But the following summer, there was another call for auditions for the film and Dick once again went to see the director.

This time, she got a call back for a script read, and soon enough Dick had her first acting role.

She told the Herald she’d never acted before, but wanted to try it because it was a new and unique experience for her.

“I believe life’s full of adventures and why not take the opportunity if it’s presented to you?” Dick said.

The acting process wasn’t easy but was easier than she expected, Dick said, noting she was able to make her lines flow well and only ever had to do about nine takes at the most.

Dick said she acted a lot with Sunshine O’Donovan – a fellow local actor who is the lead in the film.

She said the two of them got to know each other quite well on set, but it took time as O’Donovan was shy with her at first.

Eventually, the two would have fun together on set, she said.

“We would joke around and do karate chops, ninja moves, and play tag, things like that,” Dick said.

She also said most of the acting in the film involved her simply being herself on camera, with, of course, some direction from Jacusso.

The film was shot without any professional actors. However, Dick pointed out there was one character in the movie with experience in film: a 10-year-old wolf named Brit, who has been in movies such as Twilight and Into the Wild.

Despite her role as a violin teacher in the film, Dick doesn’t know how to play the instrument, so she had to fake it.

“I’ve never picked up a violin before in my life. It was brand-spanking new,” Dick said. “We actually had a violin coach, who is Sunshine O’Donovan’s brother, and he was the one who helped me to learn to hold the bow.”

She said she practiced about an hour every night which resulted in her not having to have a stand-in for her hand.

“My husband was very supportive, but his poor ears, I’m sure,” Dick said with a laugh.

Dick said she’d like to try her hand at more movies or television as she enjoyed the process she experienced with her first film role.

“It was just a really awesome experience, and I’m thinking, ‘OK, if this is what making movies is about, heck, I’m there — I’ll do it again,” Dick said.