Ingrid Haas is a busy lady. Between live performance, a writing career, and onscreen turns in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Chelsea Lately, and most recently That Burning Feeling, we felt lucky she had time to answer some questions for us about the acting world, what it’s like to move to LA, and the importance of making your own opportunities.

SDTC: So, we spoke to you back in 2010, when moving to LA from Toronto was more recent. Do you feel super settled there now? Is LA home?
Ingrid: This is a tough one to answer because I think Toronto will always be home for me. It’s where I grew up and went to school. I feel very connected to the city because when I was at Ryerson University we would spend our weekends running around Parkdale and the Distillery District and we watched those areas develop and change. But, now I feel the same sort of growth and energy in east Los Angeles and that is very exciting! I feel more settled in LA after all this time, for sure. I really do love it here. I have great friends who like eating good food and laughing—and those are my only requirements for home. So, I guess LA is home after all? Glad we figured that out.

What was your first job that felt like a real ‘break’? How did you get it?
Have I had that yet? I’m hoping this interview will give it to me. So… hi. But if I had to choose, I would say without a doubt it was working with Chelsea Handler and her company, Borderline Amazing, on my (never picked up) NBC half hour comedy. That experience taught me so much, I am so grateful for it. Working with her on late night show “Chelsea Lately” gave me so much exposure and actually, I think that’s how the director of “That Burning Feeling” found me to be cast in his movie. Without Chelsea I AM NOTHING. Kidding. Sorta. Not really at all. Chelsea for prez!

On top of acting, you’re also a writer—you’ve got Angrid, your one woman show, and your comedy duo, and you contribute to Hello Giggles and a number of other humour sites (just telling you this so YOU know, of course)—how important has self-producing and creating your own material been to your career?
Hey, thanks for that. I like doing cool stuff! Writing is super important for me because it gives me the opportunity to express myself artistically and to tell a story about something that I find interesting. And as an actor, your opportunities can be very scarce. Writing my own material gave me the power to perform whenever I wanted. I started writing with a partner and then on my own once I moved to LA. Every time I sit down to write I can feel my brain working and the older I get the better that feels.

Any advice for aspiring actresses or actors out there? I’m always curious how anyone starting out in acting is supposed to deal with all that rejection right off the bat (asking for a friend) (the friend is me, scared of rejection)?
Hang in there, lady! Auditioning is a crazy thing and you can’t make sense of something that doesn’t make sense. So, don’t bother, that’s number one. What I do now is just have fun with it. I know that may sound too simple but I think it is. Especially when a script is really interesting and I really see myself in a character—all I can do now is enjoy performing it. Everything else is out of my hands. Then, I go and focus on other parts of my life like performing and writing and eating.

Can you tell us about the experience of working on That Burning Feeling?
Wonderful and cold—just like Canada. We shot it in Vancouver last winter and it was an amazing experience. I love the entire crew and the cast was amazing. John Cho, Tyler Labine and Paulo Costanzo—all of them are so funny and talented. It was a great experience, especially because I had never spent that much time on the west coast of Canada. I love Canada. I would love to come home more to work!

What’s up next for you? What are you excited about working on?
I worked on this season’s “Comedy Bang! Bang!” which should air in the next few months on IFC. Also, the film “DEAD SNOW: RED VS. DEAD,” which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, is coming out this fall! It’s a hilarious nazi-zombie Norwegian film (directed by Tommy Wirkola) that I am so incredibly proud to be a part of. And I’m writing my first feature which is fun and challenging.

You’ve been in LA for a few years now. How obsessed with hiking are you on a scale from 1 to 10.
I am allergic to physical exercise. Been tested and everything. So obsessed? Not really. But I do hike because it’s the best way to pretend you aren’t exercising while chatting with a girlfriend. In all honesty I kind of like it.

Follow Ingrid on Twitter: @Ingrid Haas