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MONSTER CHILD IN A PROMISED LAND

She's caused mischief galore as Discord, but surprisingly, MEIGHAN DESMOND has her head firmly on her shoulders, as IAN RENTOUL discovers...

Discord was last seen going down with most of the rest of the Olympian Gods in the final episode of Xena's fifth season, Motherhood. Although the young actress behind the fun-loving immortal admits she hasn't yet had the chance to see how the episode turned out, she very much enjoyed her final hour in the Xenaverse. "It was great fun to film," she enthuses. "It's not every day you get to have your head cut off by Xena!"

Desmond's first appearance in a Pacific Renaissance production was in Young Hercules. "I actually auditioned for the female lead [Yvenna] in the Young Herc TV movie," she reveals, "But I didn't get it. But I guess the producers liked what they saw because a couple of weeks after telling me I hadn't got the part, they rang up with one they'd created especially for me."

"In any audition you're always asked to present your impression of a part, so I was asked to read for Yvenna to see what I could do with her. Once at an audition, you could be asked to make the character a bit stronger or a bit nicer, so that you can show what your range is and what you're good at. The funny thing was that I had a really strong feeling about the audition, so when I found out that I hadn't got the part I was really confused. So between not getting that job and hearing about the part of Discord, I thought that the opportunity had passed me by."

"Initially, Discord was going to be a servant girl and was only in about two scenes," Desmond recalls, "but her role eventually grew. I just thought that I was going to do this TV movie, and as far as I knew, that was going to be Discord's first and last appearance. But as it turned out, the character went down very well and got stronger and stronger with each episode. It's quite amazing how it happened, and eventually the character lasted for about three or four years."

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