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Karlee Rose in a scene from ‘EFC’.

Photo courtesy Arezou Firouzeh

Karlee Rose is a homegrown talent.

Photo courtesy Jaclyn Vogl

Vancouver actor hits big in an MMA movie

By Jim Gordon and Leeta Liepins

Published 12:45 PDT, Fri May 23, 2025

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Our City Tonight recently sat down with accomplished Vancouver actor, Karlee Rose, who currently resides in Toronto. We were excited to talk to her about the powerful new movie she stars in called EFC.

OCT: Welcome back to Vancouver. It’s great to see you. Your recent movie is a female-driven MMA drama. In fact, congratulations as this new movie is already getting awards. When we first started talking about having you on the show, you were travelling all over Europe, attending film festivals, and receiving awards. Now that you are back, and the film has won many awards, and you have won awards*, let’s talk about this movie EFC.

KR: Yes, we have been on tour with the festival circuit and I think to date we have won 34 global awards. That is pretty exciting and the most recent one was in Sicily where we took home the best director award. In the film, I play an MMA fighter and the character’s name is Cassidy Jones. She is the undefeated champion of the EFC and she’s just about to defend her title against her number one rival when a shocking turn of events changes everything. The film takes you inside the world of MMA.

OCT: We were saying that this movie is perfectly timed because women’s sports have never enjoyed such popularity and with such solid feedback. You can look at last year when the NCAA women’s basketball outdrew the men in viewership. Women’s hockey is doing well as is women’s basketball, soccer, and this sport of MMA is also doing well. In this film, we were really struck by the physical aspect involved in this role. You were saying that you had to get into really good shape, because you wanted to be truly authentic in this role.

KR: We really wanted to honour this sport, and I felt that it was really important to embody the discipline as a fighter. So, I trained for a year prior and started with a couple different trainers and then moved into Muay Thai boxing, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. It was pretty intense.

OCT: But it had to be because it’s an intense sport which I admire you for doing. You worked with top trainers and top choreographers to make sure that the scenes looked real. It really does look like you are beating the hell out of each other in this film.

KR: Yes, it does look real and it was a little bit scary at times. We had an amazing crew. Wayne Wells was our stunt choreographer, and he’s one of the best in the business. He really made sure that everything looked very authentic, and they also included some real MMA fighters. Pretty much all of the stunt performers were real fighters in real life.

OCT: We found it really challenging as viewers to watch some of the scenes where you get badly beaten in the ring. How did that affect you psychologically because the make-up was very intense to make it appear in one scene that you had an incredibly swollen eye. We realize that’s part of the sport and the landscape. Did this help you more with your role and how did it make you feel about looking at yourself in the mirror as your character does in the movie?

KR: That’s a great question. I have to say definitely it did affect me and it gave me a deeper understanding of the toll that this sport takes on people. It’s an incredible sport and it’s also a brutal sport. You must not only have the physicality, but you have to be super smart too. Having to put those prosthetics on and get super bloody it did add another layer to my performance and gave me a little insight into what it must be like to go through that. Honestly, it was wild to me because I can’t imagine having my own face beaten up like that. It would be terrible in real life.

OCT: We would like to mention something new in your life and that is, another movie that we haven’t seen yet, and you couldn’t give us a copy to review because it hasn’t been released yet, but we did watch the trailer. This movie seems very Hitchcockian and specifically with reference to the movie Vertigo. The movie is called Let Go. Can you give us a sense of when the movie is going to be released?

KR: Yes, it’s coming out towards the end of this year and it’s a psychological thriller. This movie takes place in 12 different countries across Europe so it’s a really fun, mind-bending road trip film.

OCT: The trailer has us hooked, and we can’t wait to see it. In the meantime, where can people see the movie that we talked about earlier EFC?

KR: You can watch EFC on Apple TV and Tubi. Find out more information on their Instagram @EFCmovie. My website should be up very soon and that is
KarleeRose.com and you can follow me on Instagram at KarleeRyanRose

*Karlee’s awards include best actress at the best actor and director awards (Platinum Award), best actress at the Los Angeles Film Awards, and best actress at the New York International Film Awards.