While those in her orbit would have no limit to the words they could use to describe Megan Murphy, with “hilarious” undoubtedly landing high on the list, she has difficulty branding herself with just one title.
That’s because she has left a mark on Peterborough in more ways than one: as an actress, an on-air radio personality, a writer, a public speaker, an emcee, a director, an improv comedian, a storyteller, an award-winning filmmaker, a Pathway of Fame recipient — need we go on?
If that isn’t enough reason to love her, what if we told she’s just simply a cool person to be around, with lots of wise words. Here are just a few of the many life lessons you can learn from the artist herself.
1. The crummy things are more fun when we add a little creative spark to it.
Something you may not know about Murphy is that she grew up being obsessed with Anne of Green Gables. And that is an understatement.
“Growing up, I thought I was her,” Murphy laughs. “Everything was a little bit more dramatic. If it was a beautiful day, it was the ‘most beautiful day’ and, if it wasn’t, it was the ‘depths of despair’.”
As a creative child, she would team up with her sisters and friends to put on full-production plays (with special effects lighting from her bedside lamp and all) and invite her parents to sit in the audience.
When she wasn’t setting up productions, she used theatre and stories to make regular life just a little more fun, creating songs and skits while she and her sisters were cleaning and doing chores.
“I knew if I could make things fun, everybody does more for me,” she jokes. “The crummy things you have to do in life are more fun when we add a little creative spark to it.”
2. When you’re more in personal alignment, then it’s easier for the universe to conspire in your favour.
Though early on Murphy hadn’t thought the arts to be a viable career option, while studying at St. Peter’s Secondary School, she credits “amazing” teachers and mentors that directed her (literally and figuratively) towards the arts, including Jane and Charlie Werger and Patricia Young. She was even awarded the TD Canada Trust scholarship for Outstanding Community Leadership upon graduation.
But after applying and auditioning for various fine arts programs around the province, Murphy found herself torn between a few different schools. So she left the decision to the universe: she sealed an acceptance letter for two schools, laid them beside her bed, and sent off the first letter that her foot landed on when she got out of bed in the morning. That’s how she ended up in school for fine arts at York University.
“It’s really a metaphor for how many things in life we overthink,” she says.
Twenty years later, she would listen to the universe once again when she stumbled upon her late father’s journal of his 1,400-kilometre cycling journey across Ireland in 1973. Having recently lost her mother and ended a romantic relationship, she was feeling lost and knew it was a sign to do the journey herself — on the same bike.
And then she made a movie about it. Murphy’s Law, which tells her story of the experience, won Best Documentary at Ireland’s Fingal Film Festival in 2016.
“When I’m more aligned with myself and in congruence with myself, I feel like the universe conspires to help me more,” she says. “Tthere have been definite times where that has been pretty indicated in my life.”
“Then there are definite times and years where I wasn’t listening enough to myself, let alone the universe, so no doors opened easily. I think when you’re more in personal alignment, then it’s easier for the universe to conspire in your favour.”
3. The arts are something that can bring people together.
While figuring out her role in the world as a fresh graduate living in Toronto, Murphy teamed up with some industry friends to start a theatre company called Column 13. She already had an agent and booked some gigs (including an episode of Flashpoint), but didn’t always appreciate the competition involved in being an actress.
“I’m actually far more collaborative, which is what I love about theatre — it’s what I love about all the arts,” she says. “The reasons I went into theatre are about expression and storytelling, unravelling the mystery of what it means to be a human being and collaborating with other people, raising each other up.”
She continues to work in collaboration with other local artists including good friends comedian Linda Kash and musician Kate Suhr, and organizations like 4th Line Theatre in Millbrook.
“The arts are something that can bring people together,” Murphy says. “There’s transformation that happens through the arts and a way to change our minds. It’s one of the places where we can still have conversations that are difficult to have and it’s a palpable way to have them.”
4. Share your story. It doesn’t own you anymore.
At 30 years old, Murphy attended the Documentary Film Institute at Seneca College because she wanted to “tell stories that mattered.”
“People are so much more interesting than the stuff we can make up and most of the stuff we make up is based on real people,” she says. “I am so interested and curious about what it means to be a person, and the complicated and nuanced and conflicting things we do as human beings.”
VIDEO: “Murphy’s Law” trailer
To encourage others to let her share their story, she knew she had to share hers too, leading her to turn her journey across Ireland into Murphy’s Law, which premiered in 2016 to two sold-out audiences at Showplace Performance Centre in Peterborough. A Q&A after the film screenings allowed her to see how telling her story affected others feeling lost in their own place of hardship.
“My story was just an in for people to be able to process what they were going through and what a gift that is,” says Murphy. “It is raw and humbling, but there’s an empowerment in your story not owning you, and I think that’s what I learned and what I would encourage others. Share your story. It doesn’t own you anymore.”
5. The energy of other human beings cannot be duplicated.
Though Murphy jokingly admits there may have been a part of her that was motivated to become an actress for the roaring applause, much of it has to do with her desire to be in rooms full of people who are connecting with one another.
“It’s much more soulful for me now, and about the alchemy that takes place when humans are in a space together,” she says, noting that it became more apparent during the pandemic when that connection was lost.
“There was this kinetic magic when we were all back in spaces together, and I would get goosebumps of the energy of other human beings that cannot be duplicated with AI or Zoom. There’s something that exists in the space between us and yet I knew we would take it for granted again because that’s part of what makes us interesting.”
For this reason, she formed The Verandah Society with musician Kate Suhr during pandemic summers. After coming across a story written by her uncle about how children in the 1930s would sit on verandahs in summer evenings and share stories, she recognized the same thing was happening because of pandemic restrictions. So she and Suhr brought songs and storytelling to backyards and porches in the region.
“It was such a special thing to meet people in their own place, which never happens,” Murphy says. “They always come to us but suddenly we were coming to them, and you see these little bubbled groups of people and how hungry we were for that kind of connection and meaning. I loved it.”
6. Say ‘yes’ to anything — and figure it out along the way.
From working on contracts for her uncle, an international engineer, to becoming a morning radio co-host with 93.3 MyFM, 107.9 Classic Rock. and Oldies 96.7, to doing improv even though it “terrifies” her, Murphy has made many decisions in her life by simply saying “Sure, how hard can that be?”
Now, she’s doing it once again. Though she has had several short stories and memoirs published in Reader’s Digest, her current writing project is all new for her: a full-length play.
“Turns out, it’s really, really hard to write a play,” she jokes.
The play — called “Wild Irish Geese” — is about Peter Robinson and the over 2,000 Irish immigrants (including Murphy’s ancestors) who settled in the region in 1825. She is writing it for the 2025 season at 4th Line Theatre — the 200th anniversary of the Robinson settlement.
After that, she plans to pen a book of personal essays in a style like David Sedaris and Nora Ephron. Though it might be all new for her, Murphy is doing what she has done so many times before: saying “yes” and figuring it out along the way.
Murphy is currently for hire as an emcee, public speaker, performer, and ideation consultant to help organizations tell their story through video. She’s even taken a few online medical classes, if you’re in need of some medical advice.
To contact Megan Murphy, email murphy.megananne@gmail.com.
