Megan Elizabeth Laura Diana Follows ( ; born March 14, 1968) is a Canadian actress and director. She is known for her role as Anne Shirley in the 1985 Canadian television miniseries Anne of Green Gables and its two sequels. From 2013 to 2017, she starred as Catherine de' Medici, Queen of France, in the television drama series Reign.
Early life
The daughter of actors Ted Follows and Dawn Greenhalgh, Follows's three siblings are all in the entertainment industry. Her elder sister Edwina is a writer, while her brother Laurence and sister Samantha Follows (who is married to American actor Sean O'Bryan) are also actors.
Career
Beginnings
Her first acting job came at nine when she landed a spot in a commercial for Bell Canada. She was directed to make an impudent gesture out of a school bus window – like sticking out her tongue - but ended up making a rather obscene adult gesture instead. She found steady work in Canada, appearing in a few TV series such as Matt and Jenny, The Baxters, and The Littlest Hobo, in which she guest-starred with her entire family in a three-part episode. She also starred in the short films The Olden Days Coat (1981) and Boys and Girls (1983), the latter of which won an Academy Award for Best Short Subject.
Anne of Green Gables
Follows' breakthrough occurred when she was cast as Anne Shirley in the 1985 miniseries Anne of Green Gables (as well as its two sequels). The part of "Anne" was a coveted role that she won over 3,000 other young girls when director, producer, and writer Kevin Sullivan chose her despite early worries during the audition process that she might be too old for the part. The miniseries, wholly produced in Canada, became successful worldwide and remains the highest-rated drama in Canadian television history.
Her performances earned her two Gemini awards as best actress for the first two miniseries, Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel, She did not reprise the role for the fourth film, Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning, and Barbara Hershey took over the role.
Television
Follows has made many appearances on both Canadian and U.S. television. In 1989, she starred in an episode of The Ray Bradbury Theater, "The Dwarf". In 1991, she starred with actors David Soul and David Morse in the made-for-television movie Cry in the Wild: The Taking of Peggy Ann in the titular role. The plot is based on the true story of the abduction of Peggy Ann Bradnick by an ex-convict and ex-mental patient William Diller Hollenbaugh which took place in Shade Gap, Pennsylvania on May 11, 1966. It aired on NBC on May 6, 1991. In 1995, as Megan Porter Follows (as she was then known, by her married name) starred in The Outer Limits episode "The Choice" (along with Thora Birch) and as the title character in the 1995 "Home Care" episode of Murder She Wrote, starring Angela Lansbury. In Canada, she appeared in a popular made-for-TV movie, Hockey Night, around the time she appeared in Anne of Green Gables. She played Cathy, a young girl who played hockey on a previously all-male team. Other Canadian television appearances include leading roles in the period drama Under the Piano She appeared in several episodes of the CBC comedy-drama television series, Heartland as Ty Borden's mother, as well as directed episodes of the series.
In 2005, she guest-starred in the Canadian ensemble drama Robson Arms as one of the tenants of the Robson Arms apartment complex. She also appeared in the hospital drama Open Heart as a nurse fighting a physician of malpractice, and in Shania: A Life in Eight Albums, as Sharon Twain. Most recently, she starred as Booky's mother in the three movie adaptations of Bernice Thurman Hunter's "Booky" series: Booky Makes Her Mark, Booky and the Secret Santa, and Booky's Crush.
Among her earliest American television appearances were roles in The Facts of Life (as a cousin of Jo Polniaczek in Episode 23 of Season 3 that was intended as a backdoor pilot for a proposed spin-off) in 1982, and in the short-lived series Domestic Life as Martin Mull's character's daughter in 1984. She appeared in two TV movies, Sin of Innocence and Shattered ... If Your Kid's On Drugs (both 1986). In 1993–94, she was part of the ensemble in the CBS television series Second Chances. Since 2000, she has appeared on Law & Order, ER,
In 2018, it was announced that Follows would be the lead director on Held, a psychological web series produced by marblemedia. She has a recurring role as the mother of the titular character on Wynonna Earp. In 2020, it was announced that Follows would direct She Came Back, which was released in 2024 starring Amybeth McNulty.
Film
Follows has appeared in some feature films. She co-starred with Corey Haim and Gary Busey in the 1985 film adaptation of Stephen King's novella, Silver Bullet. In 1990, she was the voice of Clara from the cartoon Christmas film The Nutcracker Prince.
Recent years have seen the return of Follows on stage as a regular of the Toronto-based Soulpepper Theatre Company. In 2005, she had the leading role of May in their production of Fool for Love by Sam Shepard. The second was Soulpepper's remount of Top Girls.
She returned to the stage in 2010 in Mirvish Productions's revival of Churchill's Cloud 9. In 2011, she returned to the stage to star in the Canadian premiere of Melissa James Gibson's This at the Vancouver Playhouse directed by Amiel Gladstone and, in 2012, she starred in the lead role of "Penelope" at the Nightwood Theatre's production of The Penelopiad.
Personal life
In 1991, Follows married Christopher David Porter, a Canadian gaffer and photographer she met on the set of Deep Sleep. They have two children, Lyla Anne Porter (b. 1991) and Russell Porter (b. 1994). The couple divorced in 1996. Follows was subsequently in a long-term relationship with actor Stuart Hughes; they broke up around 2010.
Humanitarian work
Follows has served as a spokeswoman for the relief organization World Vision Canada. She travelled to both Rwanda and Tanzania as a spokeswoman and a photographer. She also participated in the 2005 benefit concert Canada for Asia held to support the relief efforts for Asia after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.
She travelled to Cambodia in 2007 with the director Heather Connell to film Small Voices: Stories of Cambodia's Children, a documentary about how the children of Cambodia living on the street and garbage dumps face their living conditions amid poverty and abuse and how they view their future.
Follows is a member of the Canadian charity Artists Against Racism.
Filmography
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
! class="unsortable" |
|-
| 1985
| Silver Bullet
| Jane Coslaw
|
|
|-
| 1990
| data-sort-value="Nutcracker Prince, The" | The Nutcracker Prince
| Clara Stahlbaum
| Voice
|
|}
Television
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
! class="unsortable" |
|-
| 1978-79
| data-sort-value="Gift to Last, A" | A Gift to Last
|
| Uncredited
|
|-
| Hockey Night
| Cathy Yarrow
| TV movie
|
|-
| 1985
| Anne of Green Gables
| Anne Shirley
| TV movie
|
|-
| rowspan="2"|1991
| data-sort-value="Chase, The" | The Chase
| Gloria Whipple
| TV movie
|
|-
| rowspan="3"|1995
| data-sort-value="Outer Limits, The" | The Outer Limits
| Karen Ross
| Episode: The Choice
|
|-
| Murder, She Wrote
| Lila Nolan
| Episode: Home Care, credited as Megan Porter Follows
|
|-
| Christmas Child
| Meg Davenport
| TV movie
|
|-
| Brothers & Sisters
| Maggie Stephens
| Episode: Missing
|
|-
| 2021
| data-sort-value="Republic of Sarah, The" | The Republic of Sarah
| Ellen Cooper
| 7 episodes
|
|-
| 2026
| The Way Home
| Tessa
|
|
|}
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Association
! Category
! Work
! Result
!
|-
| 1986
| rowspan=2|Gemini Awards
| rowspan=2| Best Performance by a Lead Actress in a Single Dramatic Program or Miniseries
| Anne of Green Gables
|
| style="text-align:center;" |
|-
| 2015
| rowspan=4|Canadian Screen Awards
| rowspan=2|Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series
| rowspan=3|Reign
| style="text-align:center;" |
|-
| 2016
| style="text-align:center;" |
|-
| 2017
| Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role
| style="text-align:center;" |
|-
| 2025
| Best Lead Performance in a Web Program or Series
| My Dead Mom
|
|
|}