Director, actor and musician Sook-Yin Lee may be a Vancouverite by blood, but she's called Toronto home for years, and her passion for the city saturates everything around her, from her most recent feature film, Paying For It, to how she immerses herself in it during her free time.

It could very well be argued (and so I will) that Sook-Yin Lee has been a foremost pillar of Canadian media for the better part of the past four decades.

Whether she first crossed your radar as the lead singer for Bob's Your Uncle, as a VJ on MuchMusic, her numerous acting roles in films and television or, more recently, her own directorial exploits, there's no denying that, in her own singular way, Sook-Yin embodies the best of Toronto, turns it into something tangible, and sends it back out.

Most recently, she does that with her film Paying For It, based on comic artist and friend Chester Brown's autobiographical graphic novel by the same name, which premiered at TIFF in 2024 and has been on a theatrical release tour across Canada ever since.

The film, which centres around Brown's and Sook-Yin's real-life relationship, is full of Toronto-centric idiosyncracies, Sook-Yin tells me, mainly because, in shooting the film, she had the opportunity to film where the events of the story really happened.

"I cast all the locations like I would an actor," Sook-Yin says, "so shooting in my house, where the real life events unfolded, asking Daniel Vila from from Market Video if I could use this space, Sammy [Lam's] Buddha's Vegan Restaurant on Dundas, the best food, the best guy, Sneaky Dee's. I shot in a brothel."

The city didn't just provide a backdrop for the film, though; it also offered up a number of crew members and creatives who aided in the creation of the film, both on-screen and off, as well as getting the film seen once it was completed.

"The way we made it was super grassroots, so we've been doing postering campaigns through word of mouth, through essentially my casting crew, just like getting on the bullhorn, telling their friends, and then those friends tell other friends," she tells me.

And it's worked. The film has embarked on a theatrical release tour across the country that's seemingly been endlessly extended ever since Sook-Yin and I sat down to chat in mid-February, and Sook-Yin herself has been present for many of the screenings.

When she does find herself with some downtime at home, though, Sook-Yin details to me exactly how she likes to spend it.

"Not janky in the least"

"I often have to have coffee at home when I first wake up," Sook-Yin tells me. Lately, she's been making it by mixing ground coffee from Moon Bean with "little ginseng bits" she buys from the Chinese herbal store just a block over.

"It makes a super deluxe coffee that is not janky in the least, but more like really soul-reviving and energizes your body and mind in a really nice, optimistic way," she tells me, and I'm immediately sold.

If she's not making her own, though, there's no shortage of cafes she'll head to for her java fix.

"I was surprised to find that, Film Cafe on Augusta, their coffee really packs a punch," she tells me, "and they're very great in terms of their consideration of the customer and your clientele. Very good people there."

Though Sook-Yin loves many neighbourhoods in the city, she has a soft spot for Kensington Market.

The King of Kensington

A longtime resident of Kensington Market, Sook-Yin tells me that much of her time is spent in and near the neighbourhood, though she does note that a favourite pastime of hers is embarking on destination nowhere walks around the city to discover new things.

"I think it was something that I embraced during a lockdown, just to preserve my sanity," she tells me.

Her creative collaborator and partner, Dylan Gamble, also helped. 

"He's from Niagara region, so he's a country kid who spent his growing up years walking great distances, and he has a true love of Toronto, and he showed me so many, so many great spaces," she tells me. "So we love to do this thing where we meander without a destination."

And the favourite neighbourhood Sook-Yin has discovered on her adventures thus far? "I love them all," she confidently states. "Yeah, I love so many of them," although she is, admittedly, partial to her beloved Kensington Market, and on any given Sunday, that's where you might find her.

No jerks on pool deck

When it comes to spending her time, Sook-Yin tells me that she has a particularly soft spot for the Scadding Court Community Centre, at whose pool she considers herself a regular.

"I go to the pool, and I'm so proud to be a Canadian, because there are no obnoxious people being jerks," she tells me. "They're just people chilling out, having a good time, kids having a good time, lifeguards playing excellent music, and you're just like, 'this is it. This is the life,' and you look around, you see the smoke stack in the distance, and it's just so sublime."

She's also a fan of the Department of Earth Sciences at U of T, she tells me, thanks to its "magical" outdoor alcove that, despite the building having the appearance of just another box in the city, is secretly hiding a micro-forest beyond its walls.

When it comes to food, Sook-Yin tells me that while she doesn't have an all-time favourite restaurant in the city, she's partial to a diverse array of cuisines, from Indian to Tibetan and Portuguese, but she does hold a special place in her heart for Buddha's Vegan Restaurant.

"Sammy [Lam] is a true Buddhist," she tells me. "He exemplifies equanimity and equality. I've seen him treat high rollers and houseless people exactly the same with the same generosity of spirit. I love him so much. He's really an inspiration."

Relaxation and community vibes are key on a Sunday for Sook-Yin.

Grab your popcorn, eh?

Beyond just flying the flag of her own film, though, Sook-Yin Lee is also using this opportunity to platform the importance of maintaining our independent arts scene in Toronto and the country at large; particularly in the case of independent cinema.

Moreover, she says, supporting Canadian film shouldn't have to be — and, indeed, isn't — as much of a choice as many of us make it seem.

"In Toronto, the best cinematic experience, is coming from the micro movie circuit," she says, nodding specifically at the Revue and Hot Docs cinemas. "There is a hunger for non-mainstream American stuff, people digging back into the history of cinema and supporting weird local things like The Pee Pee Poo Poo Man or, you know, endless, great independent cinema.

"You know, in the past, there's been a kind of funny thing where it's been almost a mercy to watch Canadian stuff," Sook-Yin says, "like people had to do it like they were eating medicine [...] but now, I mean, there are people just wielding their own cameras, making their own stuff, cutting movies on iMovie, making good stuff, and then it's attracting people, and they're kind of blowing the industry out of the water. And I love to see that."

You can find out when and where Paying For It is screening by visiting the film's website and keeping up with Sook-Yin on social media.