NEW YORK?A Filipino-Canadian actress, Jane McLean, is in the cast of the much-awaited film adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger?s best-selling novel, ?The Time Traveler?s Wife.?

Jane, who was born in the Philippines but raised in Toronto, plays Charisse, the best friend of Clare (Rachel McAdams). Eric Bana is Henry, the time traveler married to Clare. Ron Livingston, who was Jack Berger in the ?Sex and the City? TV series, essays Jane?s husband in the movie.

Described as a story about a love that transcends time, ?The Time Traveler?s Wife? is directed by Robert Schwentke from a screenplay by Bruce Joel Rubin (?Ghost?). Brad Pitt is one of the film?s producers.

Passion

Now based in Los Angeles, Jane also appears onstage and on TV. She played Tammy in several episodes of the acclaimed series, ?Dexter.? She stars in ?Running Mates,? a comedy set to be released next year. A performer since she was young, Jane worked in the financial services industry, but eventually gave in to her true passion?acting.

In our interviews with the film?s leads at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, both Eric and Rachel praised Jane. Rachel said of her fellow actress from Toronto: ?Jane was great as Charisse. She has such a warm and caring quality to her that my character, Clare, needs in her life. Clare needs someone who is really supportive.

?Charisse and Gomez (played by Livingston) were going through the same things that my character and Henry (Eric Bana) were experiencing at the same time?trying to get pregnant. There was a scene that was unfortunately cut, where Jane and Ron?s characters are having children, and Clare and Henry are not. Jane has this very motherly, tender quality to her, and everything you would want in a best friend. Jane is the only friend that Clare has.?

Eric Bana shared, ?Jane, Ron and the others made for a great supporting cast. They were tremendous actors. Our director, Robert, was very careful about how he assembled the cast, including the young girls who are sisters in real life. We didn?t have a heap of scenes with them, unfortunately, but they were fantastic.?

New surroundings

In an interview with Tribute?s Toni-Marie Ippolito, Jane was asked what time period in her life she would go back to if she could time-travel. She was quoted as saying, ?I would love to go back to the Philippines. I was born there. I came to Canada when I wasn?t even a year old, so how fun would it be to go back to that time when you were a baby and you didn?t have a worry in the world? So, I think it would be great to go back and see through the eyes of a child, and open my eyes to new surroundings.?

E-mail rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com, and read his blog, ?The Nepales Report,? on http://blogs.inquirer.net/ nepalesreport.