Inside From actress Elizabeth Saunders' life from co-star husband to Donna star's personal theory on horror drama
From season three continues to grip horror fans with many curious to know all there is about the actress behind the no nonsense Donna Raines.
US viewers were treated to From season three in September 2024 with UK fans eagerly anticipating its return across the pond and thankfully, the wait came to an end earlier this month.
With the show now back on Sky Max and NOW, From picks up from where the second outing left off with Tabitha (played by Catalina Sandino Moreno) now unexpectedly in the normal world after being pushed off the lighthouse.
Meanwhile, her family and the rest of the community trapped in the town continue to try and survive the best they can with Donna Raines (played by Elizabeth Saunders) leading the way at The Colony House.
And with the 58-year-old now back on the small screen, From fans are curious to know more about the From actress Elizabeth Saunders.
Born in September 1966, little is known about the early life of Saunders apart from that she was born in England and raised in Calgary, Canada.
She took to the small screen for the first time in the late 1980s for a TV movie called Almost Partners before taking on a number of minor roles in a plethora of shows and films over the years.
Some of these included Forever Knight, The Pretender, Goosebumps, Queer as Folk, Siblings and Arrows, Paradise Falls, Orphan Black, Schitt’s Creek, It, Clarice and The Shrouds.
It was back in 2022 that she joined the cast of From as Donna Raines and previously opened up to Radio Times about her character’s season three journey.
“Donna has to hold it [together], not just from the Colony House perspective, but she needs to lean out a little bit, but she's also maybe imploding a little bit," Saunders began.
“She has some breakdowns that are a different kind of level. They're not the [angry] level.
“They're really painful for her. [Donna's journey] is already at such a high when we arrive in series in season one [but] I feel like it's getting tighter and tighter, like the grips are closing in on her – on everybody.”
From is not only a crucial part of her career but also part of her personal life as she has been married to one of her co-stars since 1994.
Saunders is happily wedded to actor Cliff Saunders who is behind Dale, one of those living in The Colony House which is led by Donna.
While speaking to Let’s Dive In, the pair, who share two grown-up daughters, opened up about the “tricky” side of being a working-actor family.
“The secret is when one person is having dry spells, for some reason, the other person ends up getting work," Cliff shared.
“Also, we knew what we were getting into when we got into this business and this relationship.”
Elizabeth then stepped in to add: “Well I don’t know when you’re young if you really know, it’s sort of later that you go, ‘Oh, this is tricky sometimes’ and you rather have to role with it.
“And I think we’ve been fortunate in that Cliff has had enough work that’s boyd us for a lot of time and I’ve had more than enough work to be secondary but I also teach and I’ve had to expand my repertoire.”
Horror drama From, which debuted back in February 2022, is about a small town that won’t let its residents, or anyone else who visits, leave.
There is plenty of mystery surrounding the town with the question as to why everyone is forced to stay there, still unanswered.
But Saunders does have her own theory regarding the show’s plot, as she explained to the YouTube show The Movie Blog.
She commented: “I do have theories, they do shift. My main kind of theory is that this is a metaphor for life.
“That’s my theory and I have no idea if I’m right, because John [Griffin, director] doesn’t tell you.
“But I think the scary monsters, whether they be physical ones we see or the creepy things that are happening, that they’re all manifestations of what fear is and our own traumas but they have actually now shown up in this show as physical things that affect people.
“I do think there’s a lore there but I’m not sure which one it is when I look at the runic type letters and I’m always changing where I think that’s coming from.”